The first horses was introduced to New Zealand by Protestant missionary Reverend Samuel Marsden in December 1814 , and wild horses was first reported in the Kaimanawa Range in central North Island of New Zealand in 1876 . The Kaimanawa breed descended from domestic horses that was released in the late 19th century and early 20th century in the middle of the North Island around the Kaimanawa mountains . Between 1858 and 1875 , Major George Gwavas Carlyon imported Exmoor ponies to Hawkes Bay and crossed them with local stock to produce the Carlyon pony . These Carlyon ponies was later crossed with two Welsh stallions , Kinarth Caesar and Comet , imported by Sir Donald McLean , and a breed known as the Comet resulted . At some point during the 1870s , McLean released a Comet stallion and several mares on the Kaingaroa Plains and the bloodline apparently became part of the wild Kaimanawa population . Other horses was added to the bloodline through escapes and releases from local sheep stations and from cavalry units at Waiouru that was threatened with a strangles epidemic . It is also thought that in the 1960s Nicholas Koreneff released an Arabian stallion into the Argo Valley region .