Māori Horse culture

Over the last two hundred years our people have been highly engaged in all manner of horsemanship. From working horses, horses as transport, horse racing to a broad range of sports. Māori riders and breeders have excelled at every level. Our rodeo riders, jockeys, show jumpers, dressage riders, competing internationally. Our rural communities are engaged in popular activities such as horse sports, beach racing and trekking. Every Māori whānau has a horse story, and for many our relationship with our horses is tethered to our identity.

The first horses were brought to New Zealand by the missionary Samuel Marsden in 1814, landing in Rangihoua Bay in the Far North. Our tupuna, who hadn’t seen horses before, were amazed by these large land mammals. Quickly our relationship grew and has ever remained since.

Highly valued, there are historic accounts of acres of land being traded for just one horse. Other accounts show that a shipload of prized harakeke (flax) for the linen trade was the going rate. Perhaps most notably Te Toki ā Tāpiri, the last great war canoe used in battle and carved from a giant Totara tree (which takes pride of place in the Auckland Memorial War Museum) was exchanged between iwi, with a coloured stallion named Taika. A significant payment, so valued was a horse. Our people quickly developed their own bloodlines after purchasing horses from Australia and Chile. Gifts of horses between prominent Rangatira such as Patuone to Te Heuheu ensured they spread throughout different iwi. The descendants of these exchanges seeded wild herds such as the Kaimanawa, leading to numerous Treaty of Waitangi Claims. Māori breeds such as those from Ngāti Porou, the Wiwi Naati can be traced in many of New Zealand's elite sport horse bloodlines. Photo Credit : https://teara.govt.nz/