A Department of Conservation worker who has monitored the Kaimanawa wild horses for 20 years says he has never known one to attack a person before.
A old man was flown to hospital on Saturday with a fractured femur after one of the animals knocked him off his motorbike and repeatedly kicked him.
Rescue services say the 57-year-old was riding with friends in the foothills of the Kaimanawa ranges when they saw about eight horses heading towards the track to cross in front of them. One of the horses knocked the man from his bike an stomped on him.
Bill Fleury says he has never known them to cause injuries to humans, but one of the reasons his team began reducing the number of the horses originally was the proximity of young aggressive colts to a children's riding club.
The Kaimanawa horses are counted every year and a cull takes place to keep their number at 300, a herd size considered sustainable.
