Page 12 - Fiji Traveller 9

A sanctuary

for horses and the people who love them

By Samantha Magick

It is Saturday morning and The Horse Sanctuary Fiji is a hive of
activity. A group of young girls are clustered around newly arrived
‘minis’, shampooing away months of dirt and trimming the manes
of the diminutive horses, while debating what names to give them.
Other riders are taking their horses for a walk to the river, with lots
of stops for grazing along the way. Even more horses are being
brushed, sponged, and fed coconut meal and lentils.
Sanctuary founder Morika Hunter is beaming.
“I love it because that is when our kids and families arrive. I
absolutely thrive on seeing these kids. I just love it. Some of them
come in and they're really scared of horses, and the next thing,
they're the experts in a few months. I love witnessing [them] giving
love to these horses that have come in from terrible situations, and
the horses just get absolutely wrapped in love. And these children
absolutely love the fact that they've got these buddies and they can
team up with these horses and have these great, great adventures,
or scrub them up and shampoo them and do their hair or whatever
they want to do. That absolutely gives me the most joy.”
Hunter founded the sanctuary with her daughter Nylla. Having
grown up with horses in Savusavu, a few years ago, she acted
on her dream of getting horses for herself and her children. But
despite juggling an already busy professional and family life, and
understanding how poorly treated local horses often are, she quickly
moved to bringing the “worst of the worst” to the sanctuary.
With the arrival of four minis from nearby Wainadoi on the
morning I visited, Hunter, her husband and family, staff and many
enthusiastic volunteers, are now caring for 41 horses.
“It truly has become a sanctuary,” Hunter says. “It’s obviously
a sanctuary for the horses, but what we find too, is that it is a
sanctuary for families, for kids, for people. We even have children
with autism that come and it gives them a lot of confidence. So it’s
really a sanctuary in a sense for all, with the appreciation of just love
and respect and care for nature and animals.”
Many of the horses now at the sanctuary were rescued from
tourism areas or had been left tied up and not checked on, in other
parts of Fiji. While not all horses can be saved, the glistening coats
and energy of many of the horses at the sanctuary, many who
arrived there with horrific injuries, is testament to what love and care
can do.
Case in point, Chief. When Chief first arrived, Hunter thought he

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