‘Fast-moving and high-energy’ seems an appropriate forecast for this Chinese Year of the Fire Horse.
Margaret Evans
As the geo-political scenario heats up over oil in our motorised world, I’m reminded that Waikato is our remote nation’s equine centre, horses contributing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, multi-faceted, with economic, social, cultural, and historic impact.
This is the first Fire Horse Year since 1966. Back then we re-elected Prime Minister Keith Holyoake and National for a third term, Dame Te Atairangikaahu became Arikinui the Māori Queen, we were visited by US President Lyndon B. Johnson as Vietnam War concerns grew, and China’s cultural revolution began.
Today, horses remain significant here: That’s in breeding and betting, racing, training, riding, recreation, and events of all sorts, well-illustrated in current proposals for a combination purpose-built equine centre on 164 hectares in Tamahere – merging Te Rapa, Cambridge and Waipa racing and hopefully bring back the crowds?
This month (April), there will be a new ‘up close’ equine opportunity when Waikato A&P Society launch their new ‘All Breeds’ horse show at Claudelands Event Centre. The list includes: Irish Draft, Warmbloods, Donkeys and Mules, Arab, Golden Horse, Pinto, Standardbred, Thoroughbred, Heavy Horse, Gypsy Cob, Shetlands, Welsh, Connemara, Fjord, Horses of the Americas, Morgan, Paint, Apaloosas, Quarter Horse, Halfinger, Miniatures, Iberian, Freisan, Australian Stock Horse, as well as our unique Kaimanawas.
Last month was the 150th anniversary of the first sighting of the Kaimanawa horses, escaped mounts who created this new clan freely roaming in Waiouru’s vast lands, now annually mustered and monitored, and trialling contraception controls as well as adoption rather than slaughter.
Since 2003 the public-community Heritage Horses partnership has resulted in some 600 Kaimanawas re-homed and active. The core herd is maintained ‘in the wild’. They are a national treasure, but ongoing support from DOC and NZDF is not guaranteed.
A community monument is now planned for the grassy knoll near the National Army Museum on SH1 and a fundraiser underway. This Kaimanawa bronze by artist Matt Gauldie (known for his War Horse in Hamilton’s Memorial Gardens) will remind us of the significance of horses throughout history. Timely.
The war horse memorial statue was created by artist Matt Gauldie
The horse and foal statue in Cambridge watch protesters in Cambridge. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The Waikato Hunt is turning 135 years old this year. The first meets were organised by Hary Webster-Bullock at his home at the Hamilton lake. Later this month there will be a celebratory hunt at Ngaroma where hunters from all over the North Island will be invited to follow the Waikato hounds.
It was in December 1814 that New Zealand’s first horse was gifted by Samuel Marsden to Ngapuhi rangatira Ruatara, to mark his time at Parramatta. Eyewitness accounts record the Active’s arrival in the Bay of Islands with passengers including Ruatara (and Hongi Hika), as well as “unruly cows”. Marsden rode up and down the beach “to the disbelief of the gathering”. “To see a man seated on the back of such an animal they thought the strangest thing in nature”.
That I comprehend, as I did Queen Elizabeth’s whisper to me in 1990 as she headed for Sir Patrick Hogan’s and an inspection of the world’s (back then) most exclusive (and expensive) stud Sir Tristram: “What’s he like?” and I knew she meant the horse.
Immediately I explained his equine enthusiasm, knowing Patrick was well prepared to demonstrate that. A week later, at a crowded reception on the lawn at Government House in Auckland, Her Majesty’s quiet words to me were unforgettable: “He was wonderful”. Unmistakably a horse person…
Last year the UN General Assembly declared for the first time that July 1 would be World Horse Day to celebrate the role of horses and to “tackle the challenges they face”.
“Giddy-up”, Deputy PM Winston Peters and Ministers Tama Potaka and Louise Upston. And please clear the obstacles.
1990 Queen at Hamilton Airport with Mayor Margaret Evans.
