Each year the Department of Conservation (DoC) conducts musters of wild Kaimanawa horses on the sweeping ranges south of Lake Taupō. The size of the herd must be kept at a manageable level to avoid overpopulation. In the upcoming July muster, there are 132 horses who will be culled, with
Inside the Taupō farm taming wild Kaimanawa horses
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Kelly Wilson, 10-days after her riding accident, with Atahu, a stallion she was taming from the 2022 muster. Photo / Morgan Chandler-Bruce
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Following a successful show jumping career, Wilson went on to star in the TV show Keeping Up With The Kaimanawas alongside her two sisters.
In 2021, the Wilson sisters bought 48.5ha of rolling pasture with the vision of creating a sanctuary for Kaimanawa horses.
The sprawling farmland overlooking Lake Taupō and Mt Ruapehu is scattered with pockets of native bush and ponds that the horses can wander in.
The farm has grown to have the facilities for four fulltime trainers with enough training yards to take up to 45 wild horses.
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Department of Conservation senior biodiversity ranger Sarah Tunnicliffe said despite a “tremendously successful muster” earlier this year, the herd was still beyond the 300 horses considered to be sustainable for both ecosystem and horse health.
“Re-homing as many horses as possible remains critical to managing the Kaimanawa horse population.”
When Wilson first began working with wild horses in 2012, it felt markedly different to her experience of competitive riding: “I felt like it was my calling”.
Gaining the trust of a wild horse is a unique feeling, something that Wilson says is somewhat addictive.
“It never gets old.”
But that doesn’t mean it is easy.
In 2022, Wilson broke her neck and herniated a disc in her lumbar spine after falling off a horse during a training session.
The severe injury has haunted her, causing her to re-herniate her spine twice, and a third time on May 4, just as she was preparing for a fresh intake of horses.
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Spending four days in hospital and then three weeks bedridden meant Wilson had to step back completely from helping tame the horses.
She found a solution by lying in a sunbed beside the round pens beneath the cold, bright sky above the Wilson’s farm, watching the trainers carry out their work and calling out advice.
When the horses first arrive off the ranges, they often won’t look directly at a human, instead lowering their heads, or staring at a trainer with only one eye.
“For them, it’s very stressful being completely separated from their mares and offspring, then being put into stock trucks and often never seeing their families again,” Wilson said.
“The length of the journey or if they’re too shy to drink water makes it hard for them.”
By the end of their time on the farm, the horses can move easily into trucks and trailers, be haltered and led, and caught in an open paddock.
“It’s a real game of patience, the training style we use is really gentle and slow initially, which gives you a solid foundation through relaxation and stillness,” Wilson said.
It can take the trainers up to two weeks just to touch a wild Kaimanawa, but then that same horse can progress quickly within a few days to be as gentle as a domesticated horse.
Generally, most foals and juveniles can be trained within a four-to-six-week period, whereas mature mares and stallions can take between four to 12 weeks.
Tunnicliffe said herd numbers had been impacted by interruptions to the muster schedule during the Covid pandemic, and more recently because of the challenges caused by the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Mustering and subsequent rehoming required a consistent approach to maintain steady numbers, she said.
For the upcoming July muster, there are 39 homes that have been secured but 93 horses are still facing an uncertain fate. If homes cannot be found for these horses, they face the risk of being culled.
Wilson has spent time in the Kaimanawa Ranges tracking and learning the lineage of the wild herd and documenting the family relationships and histories of the horses.
“If a need arises to cull horses ... they’re actually horses that I know well,” she said.
“It drives me because they deserve a second chance at life.”
Applications for rehoming can be found on the Kaimanawa Heritage Horses website. Donations to help save the horses can be made through the Kaimanawa Legacy Foundation’s Givealittle page.
Eva de Jong is a New Zealand Herald reporter covering general news for the daily newspaper, Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday. She was previously a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news.
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