Kohatu (which is Maori for 'stony flat') was originally the name of the property of one of the Kohatu Partners and her late husband in the Hurunui district of the South Island of New Zealand.

The first pony registered with the Kohatu prefix was the partbred, Kohatu Erin (b1989) by Barwidgee Erriff. During this time in the Hurunui, Lonsdale Moonwind was on lease from his breeder Mrs W Tatham.

However, lives change direction and in 1995 the Kohatu property was sold, and the ponies dispersed.

In 2000 the three individuals who now form the Kohatu partnership first met collectively. As with any group of horse enthusiasts, there was much swapping of stories (and tales of woe), and a general lamenting of the lack of sane, do-everything mounts. As none of us are over 5'2", the thought of scrambling onto large temperamental horses from gates and car bonnets was becoming less and less appealing.

Conveniently, we seem to have forgotten quite who it was that came up with the notion that perhaps we should breed ourselves a few good ponies to ride into our dotage (somehow, 'a few' seems to have gotten away on us), but the Kohatu stud name was dusted off, and the pony collection was started.

As individuals, all of us have many years of professional experience and expertise in many facets of horse work and horse breeding. The idea behind the formation of the partnership was that by combining our resources and skills, we could complement and strengthen our knowledge. We had also hoped that we would have a moderating influence on each other, and not get carried away by wild, exciting, ideas. There is, so far, only a little evidence that the latter part of the plan has worked.

Copyright 2007, connemarapony.co.nz