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Post by kunuma on Oct 3, 2013 15:10:04 GMT 1
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allyk
Pony Clubber
Posts: 184
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Post by allyk on Oct 3, 2013 21:55:03 GMT 1
Looks interesting, thanks for pointing it out kunuma.
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Post by Claire on Oct 4, 2013 23:09:23 GMT 1
Thanks kunuma, really want to watch this - hope it will be available in the UK in some shape or form.
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Post by nzponywriter on Mar 25, 2014 2:57:45 GMT 1
That looks great - is there anywhere to track it down? Good friends of mine here in New Zealand have spent the past two years working with 11 wild Kaimanawa horses, who run wild on tussock scrub in the middle of the North Island. The Department of Conservation requires them to be rounded up and culled every 2 years as they overpopulate the area if their numbers are not controlled. People can adopt a wild horse for $200 and they make amazing competition ponies - one pony mustered from the wild as a foal won the Show Jumping Pony of the Year class in 2012 and placed 4th this year. They have made a documentary of their journey with the horses, here is a teaser trailer that they released last year (so it's only the first year's progress, but if you search "Keeping up with the Kaimanawas" on YouTube and Facebook, or visit their website at www.windeaters.com you can find out more. It promises to be an extraordinary film, with plenty of highs and lows. (They ended up with 12 ponies, as one other 12yo stallion came to them having been mustered out as a 2yo and left unhandled for ten years. He was gelded and adapted quickly to domesticated life, and has now gone to a young rider who is training him as a trick pony.) Wind Eaters -
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 7:45:17 GMT 1
Great video!
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Post by Claire on Mar 25, 2014 11:11:37 GMT 1
Thanks for posting that nzponywriter and telling us about it. Fascinating stuff. Just shows what can be done with patience and kindness.
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Post by kunuma on Mar 25, 2014 16:14:00 GMT 1
Fantastic, the website and the details of the horses they saved makes you sad and happy at the same time! What stunning horses they are - I take it there are no indigenous wild horses in NZ so these are sort of ferals from escaped horses?? They certainly make very good horses, not the ridiculous Shetland crosses they breed en masse here. I've rescued and reared many wild ponies in my time, but never 11 at once!!Kudos to them!
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Post by nzponywriter on Mar 26, 2014 6:38:40 GMT 1
The Kaimanawas are recognised as a breed now, but nope they're not indigenous to NZ - no mammals are! And yes technically they are feral horses, rather than wild.
They are a mix of breeds, including Arab (an Arab stallion is known to have been released into the wild in the 1980s I think), Exmoor and Clydesdale. (The Exmoor blood is a funny one because you very rarely see Exmoors in NZ, but presumably they were more fashionable in the past and the line has continued out there as they're a hardy type. We do see plenty of Welsh and connemara ponies in NZ but other native UK pony breeds are rare.) Just from looking at the Wilsons' ponies as shown in the video above, you can see the Arab line in their mare Survivor's dished face, the Exmoor line in Keepsake's mealy muzzle, and the Clydesdale line in Major's Roman nose.
When they first started mustering the ponies to cull their numbers, it was done to protect the native tussock land (which is a national park) but has had a positive influence on the horses. The earlier ponies were a lot smaller (averaged 12.2hh - 13.2hh) and often came out of the muster very skinny and scrappy. The ponies coming out now are generally healthy, well-fed and average between 13.2hh -14.2hh. Horses mustered out as foals often grow to be over 15hh, so their height is very much influenced by their diet and overall health.
The ponies we are getting now are a nicer type, and my friends are keen to be more involved with the muster this year and help to ensure that not just the nearest 200 are rounded up, but that some kind of selection is put in place that would ensure that the herds led by the nicest stallions (such as Major) are left in the wild to breed better stock for the future. Unfortunately there will always be some horses that are unable to be rehomed due to injury - one of the reasons we have to cull the herd every 2 years is that the horses have no natural predators - we don't have wolves or bears or coyotes, etc.
The ponies took a LOT of work and handling, and it was a great education to watch their weekly updates on their YouTube channel. Two of the mares were being ridden only two weeks after the muster, but one of the mares took months before they could even touch her, and that was only done under sedation and only because she was so lame that they had to intervene or she would have died. She was seriously touch-and-go for a long time, and they battled with the decision to keep her alive many times but she continued to improve and had come to trust them, so they saw it out. She is now working lightly under saddle and has proven to be an exceptionally talented jumper, so the plan is to have her out competing next season and hopefully aim her towards Pony of the Year.
But I could go on for ages, so I'll restrain myself. The next muster happens in two months, and unfortunately I haven't got the facilities to take on a wild pony as I graze on Pony Club grounds (owned by the local council) that are in no way suitable. However the Wilsons have set up an event called the "Major Milestone Challenge" that will run at Equidays in October, where professional trainers are encouraged to take stallions from the wild and train them, bringing them to Equidays to show how far they have got them along in their training. It is more of a showcase than a competition and it is very much recognised that every horse progresses at a different rate. A willing, happy horse is paramount. They are also doing a further event at next year's HOYS which will be a further showcase of the horses' training. Last time I spoke to Vicki she said they were planning on taking 3 stallions for the challenge - but in a recent radio interview that she did, she's now upped it to 6 - 10. Considering she went to the last muster intending to bring home 3 and ending up with 11, who knows how many she'll bring home at the end of the day!
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Post by Charlotte on Mar 26, 2014 9:08:45 GMT 1
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