Horse Drawn Funerals
For that added Elegance
Horse drawn funerals add that special touch to families saying farewell to a loved one.
Traditional Horse Drawn Funerals
We offer a range of elegant and traditional horse drawn funeral carriages. This is a very unique and special way to say goodbye and assure that the day will be as special as your loved one.
What we can do !
Choice of Grey or Black Horses
A Team of 2, 4 or 6 Horses
Two liveried outrider options
Mourners’ carriages
A selection of black, white, gold, silver, pink and rainbow hearses and a gun carriage.
Come to your home then on to the service
They can travel up to a distance of 8 miles
Choice of black, white, pink, blue or purple ostrich feather plumes.
Karen Bassett
We use Karen Bassett for our horse drawn funeral services and shes is one of Britain’s top carriage drivers and has competed as part of Team GBR at numerous World Four-in-hand Championships.
She is currently regarded as the most successful lady driver in the world today. Having founded the business in 2003 Karen and her team have done some very high profile funerals including the reinterment of King Richard III.
For funerals she provides a matched pair of horses, which are trained to stand quietly and are extremely reliable in the heaviest of traffic. Teams of four and six, black or grey horses are also available.
About Karen
A leading international horse team carriage driver with Team GB
What shes achieved
Karen driving Awi, Kora , Egor and Hagrid taking King Richard III to his final resting place at Leicester cathedral.
Horse Coffins
Horse coffin options for added horseyness
What will happen on the day of the funeral...
Here’s a run through of the process of having a horse drawn funeral..
Hearses
What colour hearses we can offer
Hearses
For horse drawn funerals we normally uses a pair of black Silesian or Hungarian horses, or a pair of greys, which are all trained to stand quietly and are extremely reliable in traffic.
The Driver and Groom wear traditional Victorian livery and the horses are turned out to a high standard in English leather harness, with traditional collars.
They usually wear black, white, pink, blue or purple ostrich feather plumes, but other colours are available. They also wear either black or white drapes.
Black Hearse
Traditional black carriage normally with black horses
White hearse
The white and pink horse drawn hearses are especially appropriate for a child’s funeral, or for those people who don’t want a traditonal black hearse
Rainbow hearse
A rainbow carriage for someone who was a bit more colourful.
Gold Carriage
Gold carriage for a bit of glamour.
Silver Hearse
Equally as impressive is th silver carriage with maybe a silver coffin to match or white.
Gun Carriage
As used in the King Richard III service.
King Richard III
22nd march 2015 the last journey of king richard
Experienced
Karen Taking King Richard III on his final journey
On 22 March 2015 — almost 530 years after Richard III left Leicester to meet his fate on Bosworth battlefield, and just over two years after his remains were rediscovered in ruins of Greyfriars church, hidden beneath a modern carpark – England’s last medieval monarch processed through the city one last time.
In a procession watched by thousands of people, the remains of the last Plantagenet king were taken to the cathedral that will be his final resting place
About Karen Bassett
Karen Bassett is a leading international horse team carriage driver, and has competed as part of the British Team at 8 World Four-in-Hand Carriage Driving Championships.
In May 2011, she was featured in the ITV programme ‘All the Queen’s Horses’, presented by Alan Titchmarsh.
On March 22nd 2015 Karen had the great honour of taking King Richard III on his final journey on the gun carriage through the city centre of Leicester to the Cathedral.
She began carriage driving at the age of 8 and started driving a pony team at the age of 12.
Since 1980, she has won the National Four-in-Hand Pony Team Championship 8 times, the National Four-in-Hand Horse Team Championship 5 times and is the 2011 and 2014 National Four-in-Hand Pony Team Champion.
At Saumur in 1995, Karen made history by becoming the first lady ever to win an International Four-in-Hand Carriage Driving competition. A record she still holds to this day.
In 1996, Karen was part of the British Team when they won a Bronze Medal at the World Championship at Waregem in Belgium, and finished 12th in the individual placings.
The 2004 World Four-in-Hand Carriage Driving Championship was a good year for Karen. She finished 12th overall, was the highest placed British driver and was the Leading Lady Driver.
At the 2006 and 2008 World Four-in-Hand Championships, Karen retained her title as the Leading Lady Driver. Still to this day Karen is the most successful lady driver in the world.
What Happens on the Day
Getting ready
The horses will arrive at our premises and will be prepared for the journey.
We will then travel to you
If the distance is too far (roughly more than 8 miles) you might need to come to us and we can all set off from our premisses.
We will travel to service destination
We will travel to the service following the horses
If theres comittal elsewhere
We will travel from the service to wherever the commital is, ie: crematorium or cemetery graveside.
