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Equinews/ Volume 5, Issue 2
K A U A I , H A W A I I In another part of the world, Doug and Justine Albrecht employ their beloved Clydesdales to make wishes (both their own and their clients') come true. Mr. Albrecht explained, "I grew up helping my father, who was a logger in Alaska. He drove teams of Clydesdales in the national forests there. I learned how to drive at an early age, and even before that I learned to love the horses. It was a dream of mine to some- how make a living with my horses." The Albrechts realized their dreams in 1986 when they transported a group of Clydesdales to the island of Kauai to set up their business, Plantation Carriages. They provide carriage trade for the island's hotels and take visitors on tours through Kilohana, a historic sugarcane plantation. They delight in sharing the history, flora, and fauna of the island, as well as that of the industry that supported its inhabitants before tourism became more lucrative. The carriages pulled by the Albrechts' horses include a black and red fringe-topped 1905 doctor's buggy, a 1914 Velie buggy, a huge red wagon used for plantation tours, and a French wedding carriage built before 1827 that has carried over 2000 brides to their weddings since 1986. A special vehicle, an 1827 sleigh equipped with wheels cleverly hidden beneath the blades to handle the lack of snow on the island, delivers Santa and his gifts to local children. While driving a favorite team of horses through an island paradise might seem like a fairy-tale job, it comes with strings attached. Mr. Albrecht explained, "Living on an island pre- sents some challenges in providing proper nutrition and veterinary care for our horses. I do all my own farrier work and about 70% of the veterinary work because the nearest veterinarian is in Honolulu which is on another island. My horses cannot eat the local grasses, so I must import all their hay and feed. Each horse eats about 35 pounds of alfalfa and about 15 pounds of grain a day. That begins to add up when you consider that we have six horses." Because veterinary care comes at a dear price and because his horses are like family members to him, Mr. Albrecht has developed deworming and monitoring sched- ules to ensure their continued good health. He said, "We must be very careful about parasite control. We do not have cold enough weather to disrupt parasite life cycles. My hors- es have been on the same pastures for 15 years, so we deworm them every 30 days with a specialized liquid wormer prescribed by my veterinarian. We also tube-worm our horses every three months and monitor fecal samples to be certain that our program is working." The warm weather provides other concerns for the Albrechts, who watch their animals closely for water con- sumption, defecation, urination, and attitude changes that might indicate a problem. Mrs. Albrecht creates a careful schedule for the company so that every horse is rotated through a cycle of work that includes at least two days off a week. The vigilant care for their animals and the enjoyment they share with their clients were responsible for Mr. Albrecht being named the 1992 Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Hawaii. All the effort and expense involved have proven to be a labor of love for the husband and wife team. They and their two children, a ten-year-old son and a seven-year-old daugh- ter, tell people that they are "living in paradise and just horsing around."
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