If you love horses, saving a wild horse from slaughter is one of the most rewarding journeys you could undertake. Wild horses do, however, require more time and experience than domesticated horses, as well as a property with suitable facilities, so the decision to apply for a wild horse from the muster shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Unlike horses born in captivity, a horse mustered from the wild will have never been touched by humans, nor contained behind fences. It will have never been exposed to vehicles, people, pets or domestic livestock, nor will it understand how to drink from a water trough or eat hay or hard feed. In the early days, fresh from the muster, wild horses don’t know anything about being haltered, tied up, covered, yarded or being loaded onto a truck or trailer. Even being alone, without other horses for company, will be a foreign concept for a wild horse that has grown up with a family band. All of these things, which you can take for granted with domesticated horses, are things your wild horse will need to be taught. It will be your job to ensure that your horse is able to learn these lessons so that it can thrive among humans.
The more time and experience you have, the easier it will be for your horse to gain trust in people and make the most of its second chance at life. But the opposite is also true: if you lack the time and experience to give a wild horse the best start possible, you can unintentionally sabotage their ability to have quality of life in domestication.
So, how do you know if you are ready for your first wild horse?
If you’ve worked with a lot of young and difficult horses and ponies, like my sisters and I did growing up, you probably have enough skills to learn on the job. Nothing you will have encountered so far will be quite like training a truly wild horse, but it will be an exciting challenge to further your horsemanship. If you’re open to learning and willing to adapt and evolve your training methods, there’s a good chance that you’ll have every success and it will transform your life for the better.
For others, the concept may be overwhelming and they’ll be left wondering whether they are ready. If your heart is saying yes because you have the time, money and love to invest into a wild horse and want to save one from slaughter, but your head is saying no because you’re unsure whether you have the experience or facilities, there are several ways to make it not only possible but also set you and the horse up for the best chance of success.
A popular option, if you’ve had some experience with young horses but aren’t sure you’re ready for a totally wild one, is to have your horse delivered to a professional horse trainer for the initial handling. (Kaimanawa Heritage Horses has a list of approved handlers on its website; all of these will have passed reference checks, had their properties approved to ensure that the facilities are suitable, and will have handled wild horses from previous musters.)
Before the horse comes to you, it will have learnt how to be haltered and led, have all four hooves picked up, be loaded on a truck or trailer, and be paddocked behind standard-height fencing. This means that your level of experience and facilities won’t have to be as advanced as they would be if you were taking a horse directly from the muster, and it will also reduce the time you’ll need to invest in that intensive initial handling. Even then you’ll still get a real wild horse experience — just because your horse will have a basic understanding of being handled when it arrives at your property, this doesn’t mean it will behave like a domesticated horse right away and there will be plenty you’ll need to teach it.
Rather than sending your wild horse away for handling, another option is to base yourself with a professional and train your horse under their mentorship. This is often the less stressful option for the horse. Rather than learning one language from a professional and then having to adapt to your style of handling, both horse and handler are able to learn together and form a relationship from the start. This will also give you the skills you need to tame a wild horse by yourself in the future. This option is often not possible, however, as it requires people to be based at someone’s stables for an extended period of time.
There will always be people who think they’re ready for a wild horse but truly aren’t. At the other extreme there will be people who are more than capable of offering a wild horse an amazing start to domesticated life, but are second-guessing themselves. If you really aren’t sure, find people who have tamed a wild horse before and ask questions. The more knowledge you have, and the further you get through the process, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to tell whether you’re ready or not. In New Zealand, Kaimanawa Heritage Horses (KHH) has a comprehensive approval process for those applying for a wild horse to help prevent people taking on horses unsuited for them, as should anyone offering initial handling; by asking the right questions and checking references, they should be able to help you gauge if you’re ready or not.
Taking on a wild Kaimanawa is a bit of a lucky dip — although efforts are made to try to match your preferred age and gender, you never really know what’s going to be mustered and therefore what you’re going to get. That means you need to be willing to find purpose and value in any horse that is assigned to you, no matter its age, size, soundness or talent; to be someone who’s open to learning from that horse and, most importantly, is committed to doing right by it. These horses need someone who will give them the time and patience they need, someone who will be emotionally invested in the journey of working with a wild horse and empathic with their needs. This type of person is surprisingly hard to come by in the horse world, as I found when selecting suitable people for the workshop. Although the eventual participants seemed an unlikely group of people, all from different backgrounds and levels of experience, there was one common theme: they were all willing to learn alongside their horses to ensure that their Kaimanawas had the best possible start.
What facilities do I need?
If you’re going to have your wild horse delivered directly to your property so you can do the initial handling yourself, it’s important that your yards and paddocks are suitable. The KHH team does a property check to ensure that both you and your property are suited to taking on a wild horse, and also to give you time to make changes or repair your facilities if required.
STOCKYARDS: You will need good, strong stockyards with a minimum height of at least 1.8 metres and with a loading ramp. A wild horse can — and will — jump out of anything lower. For mature horses, or multiple horses, it’s even more important to have sturdy yards. If you’re unsure whether your facilities are up to standard, the KHH team will be able to offer suggestions. Sometimes well-placed scrim is all you need to make a fence more visible, or to increase the height of the yards.
YARD SURFACES: The surface of your yards must be suited to a wild horse’s hooves and allow it to comfortably lie down to rest. Large rocks or gravel can cause hoof abscesses, so the base should be dirt, sawdust, bark or sand. Even if your stockyards have grass, be cautious in muddy conditions: many yards have a rock or concrete base beneath the dirt. If your horse’s hooves punch through the hard surface this can cause lameness.
COMPANY: Wild horses are herd animals, so if you have only applied for one horse, you need an additional yard or a small paddock that a quiet domestic companion can stay in. It’s important that the companion is never out of your wild horse’s sight, to ensure that the wild horse doesn’t become stressed or depressed.
PADDOCKS: Ideally your wild horse will stay in the stockyards only for a matter of days or weeks, so you also need paddocks with suitable, safe fencing for your wild horse to transition into. If domestic horses can escape from your fencing, it won’t contain wild horses either.
NEARBY FACILITIES: If you don’t have yards of your own, the yards you do use should be close at hand. Wild horses need to be fed and watered regularly, so you’ll need to visit your horse at least two or three times a day.
What does it cost?
The fee for purchasing Kaimanawa direct from the 2022 muster is $250 for one horse, and $220 for each additional horse. A mare and foal combination is $400 for the pair, and $370 for additional pairs. This includes property checks, horse registration, a year’s membership to Kaimanawa Heritage Horses, a worming paste and a $75 gelding rebate (for colts).
You also need to pay the transport costs to get your Kaimanawa to your property, or to that of a trainer if you are paying someone else to do the early handling. Obviously this depends on distance, and prices will start from around $150.
If you get a colt or stallion, you will also have to budget for him to be gelded, which costs about $500.
Can YOU save a Kaimanawa this year?
APPLICATIONS FOR THE UPCOMING 2022 MUSTER CLOSE APRIL 1. It is anticipated that around 160 horses will need rehoming this year. Please visit https://kaimanawaheritagehorses.org/ for more information and to apply.
Extracted from Taming the Wild by Kelly Wilson, published by Penguin Random House NZ, RRP$45.00. Text © Kelly Wilson, 2019. Photography © Kelly Wilson, 2019
