Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
Four wild brumbies saved from potential culling have arrived in Melton from Kosciuszko National Park to be broken in.
At 23 Maddison Buckner has been breaking-in horses for eight years, and has just received four new brumbies to train.
She said she will spend about three months training the horses before finding them a permanent home.
The process requires slowly building trust with the animals, introducing new items slowly, until you can eventually ride them.
“They’re cool, they’re really smart. They’re different from other horses. Only the toughest survive out in the wild,” she said.
She said breaking-in wild horses is dangerous, but she likes the challenge.
“I like that bit of adrenaline rush, and the reward of it – the problem solving that comes from working with horses,” she said.
“Domestic horses can actually be more aggressive when they’ve had bad experiences with humans, but brumbies are blank canvases.
“They’ve been really good … the stallion who is almost 15 has already got a halter on and I can brush him.”
Liam McNally
