75 Years Anniversary
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75th Anniversary Dinner
A 75th anniversary dinner will be held in the Banquet Hall at Parliament Buildings, Molesworth Street, Wellington on Friday 27 June 2025 at 6:30 PM. We will celebrate this milestone, acknowledge this year’s award recipients and also recognise our most recent Hall of Fame inductees. Click the following link to purchase your tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/nz/events/landing/14853?
ACCOMMODATION
Wellington has a number of great accommodation options for you to choose from. As we will be holding Combined Disciplines Conferences and AGMs over the weekend (28th & 29th June) at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, we have special rates available (until 26th May) that you are welcome to take advantage of, or book another hotel of your choice:
James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor
Click the link to book accommodation at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor: http://bookings.ihotelier.com/bookings.jsp…
Room Type and Rates:
Terrace Room – $189 per night per room (Breakfast Included in rate for 1 person), $219 per night per room (Breakfast Included in rate for 2 people)
Executive Room – $249 per night per room (Breakfast Included in rate for 1 person), $279 per night per room (Breakfast Included in rate for 2 people)
Method of Payment: All guests to book & pay direct. Prices include GST tax of 15%. Rates quoted are per room, per night on a single, double or twin occupancy. Rooms & rates are held until 26th May 2025. After this date all rooms and rates are subject to availability.
The Very Beginning
“January 1950, the very beginning – that in itself, though, is a misnomer, for prior to that first abortive little meeting in Wellington much work had already been accomplished by the prime movers of the New Zealand Horse Society.
Mr Richard S. Pilmer of Waiteko, Masterton, along with Mr Duncan Holden of Onga Onga, Hawke’s Bay, had established in their own minds from much groundwork that there was great need for a formal organisation to represent and weld together the various competitive horse interests in the country; to bring the horse show community up to date with the methods and types of competition available, and eventually choose from these a team capable of representing this country in the 1956 Olympiad in Melbourne.
With this end in view, they had contacted the Secretary of the British Horse Society to ascertain the mechanics of entering a team in an Olympiad, for they and many others were aware that New Zealand had plentiful raw material, both horses and riders, capable of being trained up to international standards. They were aware too of the considerable time and money such a venture would involve, and of the organisation required nationwide to bring it to fruition.”
A second meeting was timed to coincide with the Wellington Winter Race Meeting and AGM of the NZ Hunts Association. A public meeting of 44 representatives from equestrian organisations throughout New Zealand was held in the Dominion Buildings, Wellington on Friday 14th July 1950, and a national organisation was formed and named the New Zealand Horse Society.
[Source: Herbert, T. 1991. Riding Forward – The Story of the New Zealand Horse Society. CHB Print, Waipukurau, Hawke’s Bay. ISBN 0-473-01434-3]
