imported by Sir Donald McLean, and a breed known as the Comet Horse resulted. In the 1870s, McLean released a Comet stallion and several mares onto the Kaingaroa Plains and the bloodline mixed into the wild Kaimanawa Horse population. Other breeds were added to the Kaimanawa herds when riding horses escaped or were released from local sheep stations, and the cavalry units at Waiouru released horses when they were threatened with a strangles epidemic. It is also thought that in the 1960s, Nicholas Koreneff released an Arabian stallion into the Argo Valley region and the Arabian breed mixed into the Kaimanawa herds. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, horses were captured from the Kaimanawa herds and used as riding and stock horses, as well as being used for their meat, hair, and hides. Originally there were many herds that roamed the land owned by the British Crown and the native Māori, but many disappeared when large scale farms and forestry operations were built on the ranges, and also farm machinery decreased the need for stock horses. The Kaimanawa horses today have the most genetic similarity with Thoroughbred horses and Thoroughbred cross breeds. Land development and an increasing human population reduced the number of the Kaimanawa horses and the space they had to roam, and in 1979 only around 174 horses remained. In 1981, the Kaimanawa horse population, the size of the ranges, and the herd movements began to be officially measured. A protected area was formed in the Waiouru Army Camp for the Kaimanawa herds to live. Legislative protection of the Kaimanawa horses was similar to the kiwi bird and other native species. There was a rapid increase in the herd size following the protection of the breed, and 1,576 horses were living in the area by 1994. There is also a small population of feral horses living on the Aupouri Peninsula at the northern tip of the North Island. These horses live on the land owned by local Māori and are mostly unmanaged by the New Zealand government. The Wilson Sisters from Whangarei, New Zealand made the Kaimanawa horses a household name in New Zealand so that after the 2016 muster there were enough homes for all the suitable horses to be rehomed. Kelly Wilson has published seven bestselling books about the Kaimanawa Horses. For the Love of Horses is about their childhood and becoming New Zealand's best showjumping