Watch Tiraumea Sporthorses on TV ONE – Sat 15th, October 9am
Tune in to TV One on Sat morning 9am to Rural Delivery this weekend. Featuring the Tiraumea Sport Horse Stud.
‘Dallas and Kate Kinzett have been farming and breeding sport horses for more than 30 years, with the objective of producing horses capable of excelling at any discipline for any level of rider. “We are in for the long haul”, they say. Dallas and Kate moved to their Tutaki Valley farm in 1978, just over the range from Lake Rotoroa. The Kinzetts won the property in one of the last Lands and Survey ballots. The farm is now 370 hectares; 250 effective grazing, and the remainder part of bush-clad Mt. Baring. They are one of only three farms in the valley running beef cows and sheep, as the rest of the valley is in dairying. “We are still holding out,” Kate says. They run Hereford and Angus cattle as well as a Suffolk sheep stud.
Dallas and Kate inherited their love of horses, with their fathers jointly owning a thoroughbred stallion, Red Ink. Kate’s father farmed just south of Murchison and used horses for ploughing and developing pasture out of bush. He also used them for making hay and building old-fashioned stacks. Early on when Kate was eventing, she and Dallas were breeding thoroughbreds for eventing and showing. “As I got older I realized not everyone could handle thoroughbreds; they were a bit hot” says Kate. So they got into using heavier stallions with some thoroughbred blood, over their thoroughbred mares. Sport horses are all-rounders. “They are a nice type of horse that can event, show-jump, do dressage, hunt and be shown under saddle. They are also good for stockwork.”
