NATCHEZ — As the heat of summer seems to intensify with each passing day, some working outdoors don’t seem to mind.

Those working hardest in the heat are the horses and mules employed by Southern Carriage Tours.

Each day the animals lug loads of sightseers back and forth across town, often in the hottest part of the day.

And while the labor may appear inhumane or excessive to some, the consensus seems to say otherwise.

George Vines owns Southern Carriage Tours and said the animals he uses were bred for labor.

“These horses were made for working,” he said. “They can handle it without problems.”

Attorney for the Natchez-Adams Humane Society Nan Garrison said she regularly gets calls from those concerned for the horses.

“We get constant complaints,” she said.

And Garrison and the carriage drivers actually have something in common.

The carriage drivers said they also regularly receive questions and concerns about the health and wellbeing of the animals.

“People always ask us if they are OK,” driver Cecil Folds said. “And they are OK.”

Folds and fellow driver Alan Gunn said the horses are watered regularly throughout the day and spend much of their downtime in the shade.

Gunn said when the horses are at the stables they spend much of their time just standing in the sun.

“That’s what they were bred to do,” Gunn said of the horses’ work.

Passerby Clinton Owens said he believes the carriage tours are good for the city and help the economy.

Owens said he does not have a problem with the work the horses do as long as they are cared for.

“They just need to take care of those horses,” Owens said.

Local veterinarian Dr. Byron Garrity said the hardworking horses are taken care of.

Garrity treats the carriage horses and said their owners are concerned with their care.

“It’s a business,” he said. “Those horses are their investments and they take care of them.”

Garrity said the carriage horses seen downtown are bred for working and cost more than average riding horses.

“Protecting those horses is in their best interest,” he said.

Garrity said he regularly receives calls when the horse’s owners think there could be a problem with a particular animal.

Garrity said when an animal is ill or unfit to work it is routinely given time off.

And the horses get more days off than many of their human counterparts.

Folds said the horses normally work one or two days with the one of two days off.

“They have a pretty good schedule,” Folds said. “And we’re only here from 9 to 4.”