Urban cowboy harnesses horse power for good - SA news...

July 15, 2008

PEOPLE NEWS

Urban cowboy harnesses horse power for good

July 8, 2008By Atiyyah KhanAfter seeing Liz Fish's documentary Urban Cowboy (currently showing at the Encounters Film Festival), the scene of a cowboy riding a horse on green hills against the backdrop of a Cape Town highway inspired me to travel to the Oude Molen Eco Village to track down Kendre Allies.Driving through the sustainable community, I am surprised to find such an organic way of living in the middle of a city. Farmers, tractors, gardens, hay-stacks, animals and vegetation are all around.As I arrive, I find Allies, riding a bicycle in circles, waiting for me in front of the horse paddocks. The 27-year-old smiles brightly and leads me to the farm stall where we order coffee. Instead of a rough, reckless wild type, I find that Allies is a soft, sensitive man with a big heart.Allies runs the horse farm here. He raises horses, gives riding classes and uses the horse-cart business to transport organic produce.But things were not always this way for Allies, as Fish's documentary illustrates. He's been through rough times.Raised in the Cape Flats, Allies was surrounded by drugs and gangsterism from a young age. "The only way I knew about horses was going out in a cart, and collecting scrap metal for an income. There were lots of drugs and crime around me at the time. I was mostly involved in the crime, trying to get metal to make money."As a rebellious teenager, he dropped out of school when he was 15, but was lucky enough to land a job as a stable hand at the Oude Molen riding school. "I was quite a naughty child, when I left school I started selling organic produce on the carts here." He was given a horse by his grandmother, whom he talks about lovingly in the documentary."When my granny died, I inherited some money, so I invested that and bought the horses. I own the farm now. And starting with six horses, I now have 38 horses."Allies also has projects in Ceres and other nature reserves. He has done stunt-riding in Switzerland, and been in a few films."On the Cape Flats they say it's a rich man's sport, because horses cost a lot of money, especially their upkeep. To have so many horses is a big joy for me, because I love them, from the wildest to the most tame, they're really sensitive animals."Allies encourages kids from the Cape Flats with similar backgrounds like him to get involved with the horses

. "In the Cape Flats, especially in Garden Village, it's like a drug-haven and young kids get easily influenced."Allies teaches the kids how to save any money they make on the farm and has one of his riding instructors tutoring them in school subjects. "Now they come after school to hang out here and play with the horses."When I was a kid, I used to play cowboys and crooks. In movies, there's always the cowboy and when he talks everyone listens. In the Cape Flats, when I talk, young people listen and respect me. I don't talk down to them, I'm like their boeta."Allies also provides rehabilitation for horses that are in bad condition in the Cape Flats, organising medicine and treatment for them, in association with Blue Cross and the SPCA.He is a busy man, working seven days a week. "Running a horse farm is a full-time job. I don't get funding from anyone. "Natural horsemanship is the only way I know, which is learning by spending time with the horse. Now I can take the wildest horses and make them calm. But I've been thrown off many times."In June last year, Fish thought of doing the documentary after watching Allies at the farm when she took her kids there for horse-riding."She saw lots of young kids approach me, and then she asked me if anyone had done a documentary about me."I told her, the best way is to move around and observe what I do daily."The documentary took about six months to film."It was quite a challenge, because I wasn't sure how much to tell her. But I realised that I've got nothing to hide. That's the very first time I exposed myself like that."His opinion on the documentary? "Well that is just plain me. When I saw it, I said that's exactly who I am, with all sides of my personality even my tough side or my soft side. If you really want to know me, you'll find me in there."I'm grateful because this is what I want in life and this is what I strive for. I make these horses my children, because I don't have any children. I can tell the horses how I feel and I'm relieved when I talk to them. I've become much calmer since being with my horses. They've taught me patience and changed my life."

Catch Urban Cowboy at the Encounters Documentary Festival at the V & A Waterfront, Saturday at 6.45pm.