Jenny | Ōpōtiki, Bay of Plenty

“He was a Sioux Indian and he came out here to help the Tūhoe with their horses, and he was a descendant of those at Little Bighorn, and he was the most incredible guy I’ve ever seen.

What he didn’t know about horses wasn’t worth knowing. I really admired him and liked him, because he was just such a fantastic person and he was an American Sioux Indian. His name was Lakota.

I’ve already admired American Indians, and I certainly learned he was very spiritual, and he was totally obsessed with horses, and their environment and of course, they always have been, the American Indians. They’ve always been great conservationists, and they’re really spiritual. 

I’ve been around horses since I was two years old, and I’ve been in love with them ever since, and I’ve had horses all my life, and when I came here, I saw how they were ill-treated and abused, and not looked after, and I was horrified. Ever since then, I’ve tried to steer people in the right direction so they can look after their horses better.

Everyone’s different. No two people are the same, so you’re always getting people that are different, and it’s important to connect with them, because we all live in the same world.

My father came back from the war, and he got a farm balloted. It’s near Pongakawa, and between Pongakawa and Ōtamarākau, and every returned soldier got balloted 100 acres, and I grew up on the farm. When I was 14 we moved into Tauranga, and the novelty soon wore off about the city. I hated it. So, I was always out in the country as much as I could be, and I’ve done a variety of jobs but a lot of them have been in the country on farms, because that was in my blood, and of course, I’ve always been involved with horses.

I’m part Māori. My dad was of the opinion that we were all Kiwis, and I grew up with that. So, we’re all the same, and there was never any difference in the races, and that’s only just a fairly recent thing that I’ve noticed, but before that we were all just one people.”