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A new life for old horses in the Cobb & Co team

Home Yarns Outback Life A new life for old horses in the Cobb & Co team

If you’ve been on the Outback Pioneers Cobb & Co Stagecoach Experience, have you ever wondered about the horses we choose and what’s involved in training them? Here’s the story for horse-lovers everywhere.

No racing please

The best horses for our Cobb & Co Stagecoach are often retired trotting or pace horses that have outlived their useful life on the track and may be about to meet a sad and premature end. We buy these horses and try them out, swapping them into an experienced team to see how they react.

We’re looking for reliable and predictable horses that haven’t been bred to be too competitive. We don’t want them to try to race when they get alongside other horses in the team! A calm disposition and teamwork are absolutely essential for the safety of our guests.

We constantly introduce new horses, buying 20 every couple of years, of which about half will make the grade.

The right horses quickly adjust to their place in the traditional team of five.

At home in the outback

Many of our horses are the Australian Stock Horse, which has a history stretching back to the the first nine sturdy horses brought out to Australia with the First Fleet. In the 20th century, local stock horses were bred with the American Quarter Horse.

The Australian Stock Horse is bred for intelligence, courage, toughness and stamina. A bit like the rest of the folk in the outback!

A happy retirement

When our Cobb & Co horses have done a couple of years work, or when any of the horses we buy don’t make it into the team, they are retired to the paddock where they can enjoy a well-earned rest.