For the Love of Horses

This is the touching, heartfelt story of three sisters going through adolescence and then realising their childhood passion and their unforgettable journey to tame New Zealand’s Kaimanawa horses.

For the Love of Horses is a story with humble beginnings in rural Waikato and Northland.

From the trials and tears of Pony Club, to the joy of riding bareback and the pressures of adolescence and competitive showjumping, it follows the Wilson sisters’ remarkable rise to success at the highest level of competition. It is also the story of an unlikely childhood dream coming true. Every second year in the wilderness of the Central Plateau, Kaimanawa horses are rounded up and sent to the slaughterhouse. In 2012 the Wilson sisters became aware of their plight and decided something needed to be done. Their days in the wild might be over, but did the horses deserve a death sentence?

In For the Love of Horses, Kelly Wilson tells the story of how they embarked on a courageous journey to tame horses that many people believed were untrainable.

Kelly is a freelance designer and photographer (many of the images in the book are taken by Kelly) for both the New Zealand and International equestrian industry and has won awards for her photography and design. After six years away from the competition arena for study, travel and work commitments, she made her comeback in 2012 with success in the Amateur Rider series and in open classes to 1.25m. Unlike her sisters, who are among the most successful riders in New Zealand and consistently win at Grand Prix level, horses are just a hobby for her now. She has owned her mare Ngahiwi Showtym Dancer for three years and more recently started competing Showtym Copycat. In 2013, alongside her sisters, they won the FEI Solidarity Award for their work with the wild Kaimanawa horses.

Random House NZ

RRP $45.00

Trade Paperback

Also available as an ebook