Miniature pony Opi was tied to a tree for years, becoming increasingly stressed and very aggressive.
When Chloe Phillips-Harris rescued him, she was shocked to find that, despite his diminutive size and her years of experience taming hundreds of wild horses, he was the most dangerous one she’d ever worked with.
“He would just knock you over,” remembers Chloe, 36. “If left alone, he’d be manic, walking nonstop without eating or drinking to the point of exhaustion. Previous owners had left him so unsocialised and angry, and he became a little bit insane.”
Less than a year later, with her consistent patience and training, Opi was a tame, happy horse. She got him competing in the inaugural Born To Run Adventure Racing 100km Great Northern Gallop.
The unique endurance event matches runners and walkers with one of Chloe’s rescued miniature ponies – at the moment, she has 46 – as they race through the Far North.
Regularly approached by people asking her to take in their sick or severely in need miniature ponies, Chloe had always wanted to help, but didn’t have a purpose for the ponies until she began dreaming up Born To Run Adventure Racing.
“I’ve ridden hundreds of kilometres across Mongolia [for the world’s longest horse race, the 1000km Mongol Derby on semi-wild horses]. I know a lot about what horses are capable of endurance-wise, no matter their size,” she says. “I also know from my experiences the amazing things that people get out of journeys with animals.”
So what do the ponies think of their new lease of life as athletes?
“They love it. They’re totally in their element,” enthuses Chloe. She explains it’s unfortunately too common for inexperienced owners to buy miniatures because they look cute and cuddly.
“Some of them are super-competitive and have to be matched with runners because they insist on being out the front winning.
“We have two identical mares we call The Red Sisters and they’re not here for the cuddles – they love winning! They’re super- athletes in a pocket-sized package. If they were big horses, they would be the Melbourne Cup winners of the horse world!”
Just like humans prepping for a marathon, the ponies also follow a training programme. Theirs includes group running on a track system, individual distance walks and runs with Chloe and others, interval training and plenty of exposure to different people.
So many miniatures have left a hoofprint on her heart, including the failed show pony Sebastion.
“When we first got him, we didn’t even know if he would be able to run. He had such an unusual gait,” she remembers. “He kind of waddles like a duck and does not look athletic at all. But in the 24-hour race, where you do as many laps as possible in that time, he did 84 kilometres worth of laps without his heart rate ever going over 56 beats per minute.”
Vets always check the horses before, during and after the race.
There are also plenty of ponies who are happy to sweetly wander or jog along at their human competitor’s pace.
“It makes the horses happy,” she says. “And it’s good for the people to gain confidence, and get out in nature doing something they might not otherwise do. It’s hard to be sad with a mini bouncing along beside you!”
This year is the fourth of the events for Chloe, who’s also flat-out taming and rehoming wild horses from the Far North and preparing for the upcoming Kaimanawa muster, where 279 wild horses from the central North Island Waiouru Military Training Area will be removed and hopefully rehomed to manage the wild population.
She also runs an expedition company that takes people to Mongolia for the coldest camel exhibition across the Gobi Desert, and the longest multi-animal expedition in the world on horses, reindeer and camels.
“I love that feeling of being a little out of my comfort zone,” laughs Chloe, who got her first pony at seven years old.
“When I was 15, my mum, brother and I moved to a farm that was completely off-grid with no electricity. Those were early lessons in resilience and figuring out how to do things.”
It’s an attitude that has served Chloe well since.
“Every idea I’ve come up with, someone’s told me it’s a horrible idea,” she shares. “That’s true of my work with wild horses and starting an endurance event for minis.
“People said, ‘Why? No one will ever do that?’ but now we have people fly in from overseas for the race,” she smiles.
For more information, visit borntorunadventureracing.org
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