Te Hapori Hōiho
Make a koha
Every Māori whānau has a horse story, and for many our relationship with our horses is tethered to our identity.
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 and dressage riders compete internationally. Our rural communities are engaged in popular activities such as horse sports, beach racing and trekking.
The first horses were brought to New Zealand by the missionary Samuel Marsden in 1814, landing in Rangihoua Bay in the Far North.
Our tūpuna, who hadn’t seen horses before, were amazed by these large land mammals. Quickly our relationship grew, and it has remained ever since.
There are historic accounts of acres of land being traded for just one horse, and of a shipload of prized harakeke for the linen trade being the going rate. Te Toki ā Tāpiri, the last great war canoe used in battle and carved from a giant tōtara tree (now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum), was exchanged between iwi for a coloured stallion named Taika.
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, spread them 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.
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