Facts

The 38 Zingaro horses (including two stand-bys) consume about 640kg of food a day, or about 17kg of fodder per horse. The horses tuck in each night to bedding made up of sawdust, which weighs a cumulative 400kg per day.

The stables are closed at 10pm and the grooms bring the horses breakfast at 7am, giving the animals a good nine hours of sleep. The horses must adhere to a strict diet. They have a balanced breakfast of straw and mixed cereals (straw at 7am, cereals at 8am), a lunch of hay (noon) and cereals (1pm), a snack of hay at 4.30pm, and a hay supper after the show.

The Argentinian horses weigh about 400kg to 500kg, and the two carthorses weigh 800kg. In comparison, the donkey Fiston des Castilles weighs 250kg. The average age of the horses is 12 years old - or 30 years old in human years.

The show horses must exercise each day to maintain their fitness and svelte figures, and they do so by walking for at least an hour each day. There are two different groups of Argentinian horses - the cream ones, named after Greek gods Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes and Eros; and the black ones, named after famous bullfighters Bombita, El Viti, Manzanares and Ek Cordobes.

Other horses include the two carthorses, Loulou and Monoi, and Clovis the halflinger pony, Lobero the Portuguese horse and Meia Lua the Lithuanian carthorse.

The show horses are on stage for about 15 minutes in total, often appearing several times during the show - once for horse acrobatics, once running freely and finally with a cart. The horses are probably better versed in the Romance languages than the average Hongkonger - the stable hands and grooms speak to the horses in French.