Organisers of the Kaimanawa wild horse muster are desperately trying to find homes for 100 horses after the date has been pushed forward.
The shortened timeframe has also sparked concerns for the wellbeing of young foals, with fears they'll be too young to leave their mothers.
Finding homes for 100 wild horses isn't easy at the best of times, let alone when the time to do it is unexpectedly cut short.
The Kaimanawa wild horse muster usually happens around the end of May, but this year the Department of Conservation (DOC) set the date earlier, for the end of April.
"That's meant a whole month out of our campaign to find good homes for these horses," says muster coordinator Simone Frewin.
Ms Frewin says even a couple of weeks is significant in the development of a foal. She says a lot of the horses will be pregnant or the newly born foals, too young to wean from their mothers.
"Our concern is that there's going to be a lot more of those foals now. Four to six weeks can make a huge difference in the life of a foal, and it's going to be a very stressful process for them, being mustered in by helicopter."
In a statement, DOC said it's only bringing it forward by a couple of weeks and that's to better manage operational risks and avoid postponing it due to the weather, which happened last year.
Right now only a few homes have been found. Places are still needed for more than 90 horses.
"So it's a fair number of homes to find, when we need to ring two references for each one and go and do physical home checks of each property as well," says Ms Frewin.
Adopting a horse costs around $250, and the organisers prefer them to be adopted in pairs so they can provide companionship for one another.
Newshub.
