During a tour of the stables of Vienna's famed fiacre horses, carriage driver Marco Pollandt explains how the animals cope with the increasingly hot weather and how much respite they get. As much of Europe stifles under the summer heat -- with temperatures reaching record highs -- Vienna's fiacres fret for their existence as animal rights activists are turning up the heat. They urge that horses not be allowed to work as soon as temperatures rise to 30 degrees Celcius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) -- a demand that fiacre drivers say will destroy their centuries-old profession. "We can all live with the (current regulation, stopping work at) 35 degrees but going down more is actually not good for the horses, and we also have to discuss the economic results of this," Pollandt tells AFP. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES