Kaimanawa Heritage Horses is run on donations from the public and time from volunteers and we appreciate any assistance offered to us. We currently have 19 horses in our care who are all welfare cases from previous musters. We guarantee to look after every horse that comes out of the ranges into domestic life.
Some of these horses will be with us for life due to their ages, health issues or previous histories while others are only temporary residents until we can find them a family of their own.
Several of these horses are lucky enough to have permanent sponsors who regularly contribute to their costs and in return get a regular run down on their progress.
Each of these welfare horses costs us a minimum of $60 per week for the basic care of grazing, hard feed, hay, handling, supplements etc.. On top of this weekly cost we also have other costs of dentistry (approx. $100 per horse) farrier (approx. $40 per horse every 6 weeks) plus the vet costs such as gelding or injuries etc.
Sponsors can choose which horse they would like to help, or a member of our welfare team will assign you a horse based on who has the highest need at the time. Some of the welfare horses are shown below.
There are a number of areas where sponsorship opportunities are available.
Urgent Welfare Cases
From time to time we have horses who are in dire need of urgent and long term assistance. We recently received 10 horses who are some of the worst cases we have seen in a while. These horses will be with us for some time as we first have to get their condition and health back to normal before we can even begin to think about their training. Once they have improved enough to begin their training, they will all need to be assessed by the vet so we can determine if they are likely to suffer any long term effects to their health. Once this assessment is complete, we will then start to get an idea of if these horses will be suitable for rehoming in the future, or if they will become part of our permanent resident team.
Permanent Residents
These horses will be with us for life due to their age, health issues or previous histories.
Some of these horses are lucky enough to have permanent sponsors who regularly contribute to their costs and in return get a regular run down on their progress.
Temporary Residents
These are the horses that comes to us for a variety of reasons, who are suitable to go on and find a purpose in life with a family of their own. Some of these horses need to stay with us a little while so we can ensure their health and training is established.
Muster Horses
We do everything possible to find approved homes for every horse from each muster. For us to be able to save any horses from the muster, we need to consider the following things:
- How much space do our current welfare and foster homes have available.
- How much space do our approved trainers have available.
- How much extra food do we need if we squeeze in just one more horse…..
For each horse we save, we also need to ensure their care has been covered for at least six months. This ensures they get the best start to domestic life and can go on to find a new home once they have been handled. Often it’s the older mares that we struggle to home, so we have to prepare for the likelihood of more longer term residents.
Other Sponsorship Options
We have a growing list of people in the South Island who would love to open their homes to a kaimanawa horse. Due to animal welfare laws, kaimanawa horses must be handled before they can travel across the straight. The purchase price of the horse, the transport costs, the training costs, and the transport costs to the South Island puts the dream out of reach for many people. If you would like to help get a horse to the south island by sponsoring a travel rebate then please get in touch.
You can see what horses are currently in our care by visiting the KHH Horses page of our website. You can also find details about our urgent welfare horses on our Facebook Page. Sponsors can choose which horse they would like to help or our welfare team will assign a horse based on who needs help the most.
If you would like more information about what horses are available for sponsorship or how you can help, then please email us.