Kaimanawa horses now thriving

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 270, 17 January 1989, Page 5

Kaimanawa horses now thriving

Once hunted to the point of extinction, the Kaimanawa wild horses now thrive in the harsh high country of the North Island's Desert Road.

But their rapidly increasing numbers pose a threat to the fragile native plants of the area, according to the January-March issue of -New Zealand Geo-

graphic. "In the developing ecological tussle, the horses are again in the firing line," says New Zealand Geographic editor Kennedy Warne.

"Back in 1979, their numbers were estimated at only 170. They were being slaughtered for sport and pet food and their territory was being eaten away by farmland and forestry." Now, thanks largely to the de facto protection of the Army at nearby Waiouru, says Mr Warne, the herds have been increasing by 20 per cent a year. "The latest census, conducted by the Army last April, identified 760 animals. This increase is now threatening ancient native flora in the region and raising political questions

about the management of an exotic species about who owns and is responsible for the animals." It seems, according to research conducted by a local whose family has lived in the region for 130 years, the horses could date back to a gift in 1844 of a horse to chief Te Heuheu's son by Tamati Waka Nene of Hokianga. The horse eventually found its way to the Volcanic Plateau. During the land wars a number of horses escaped from the Armed Constabulary and these

joined up with escaped Maori-owned animals to form the nucleus of a feral herd. The genetic make-up of the horses was also significantly enhanced by local breeding in the 1870s to form a hardy breed of horses, perhaps unique. Says Kennedy Warne: "The Kaimanawa horses may be a unique species, having evolved naturally from Welsh and Exmoorcross strains and developed at altitudes of up to 1500m in an ecological area that possibly has no equivalent on earth."