The story behind New Zealand's horse ambulance service

RNZ Digital Reporters, 2 August 2026

Ten years ago, two mates began ideating about what would be required of an ambulance for horses.

That backyard barbeque chat has since led to a world-first service: a fleet of 10 purpose-built ambulances, built to lower to ground level so that an injured horse can climb aboard once stabilised.

New Zealand is now the only country in the world with a dedicated horse ambulance at every race meet.

Dr Peter Gillespie, the vet behind the concept and recent recipient of the Brian Goulden Equine Vet of the Year Award, said the NZ Horse Ambulance Trust had been a "sort of side gig really, to my equine practice".

He'd been a race day vet and attended equestrian events many times over the course of his career, which began in the 1980s, and said during that time there had been a huge amount of advancement in the way injuries - particularly orthopaedic ones - were treated.

But he thought the way injured horses were taken off a racetrack needed to be improved.

"As luck would have it, I had a client whose husband was a transport engineer and at a barbecue one night we got talking about what would go into making a horse ambulance - one that could hydraulically raise and lower - and he said that was possible," Gillespie told RNZ's Nine to Noon.

"At the time I was on the NZ equine vet association, and we were looking at projects we could get our teeth into so to speak, so my friend and colleague Bill Bishop and I decided we'd run with this project and it started from there really."

Gillespie said they developed a short list of criteria: a horse had to be able to walk on at ground level, and it had to feel stable during the journey, meaning the ambulance's suspension needed to be pretty good.

The main hurdle was money.

"There was a fund in horse racing called the Racing Safety Development Fund, a government initiative that 50 per cent funded ideas that benefited horse racing," Gillespie explained. "We applied and were turned down as the rules were you had to be a racing club - but that drew attention from Thoroughbred Racing NZ and Harness Racing NZ, and they just got right behind it.

"We formed a charitable trust at that stage, that was 10 years ago... we built one and put it out there."

The first horse ambulance debuted at Addington Raceway in 2018. Within two months, orders were placed for another five.

Now, Gillespie said horse ambulances were at 700 events a year - about 12 to 15 a week. That included race meetings for both harness and thoroughbred, along with A&P shows and one-day events.

He said the support from the equestrian and racing industries had blown him away.

"We have to raise at least $200,000 a year to cover our operational costs, and to date, we've raised just over $2-and-a-quarter million from fundraisers, community golf tournaments - all sorts of places.

"Horses are such a beloved part of our community, for leisure, for racing, it's part of our DNA, so to speak."

Listen to the full RNZ interview here https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/871343/the-story-behind-new-zealand-s-horse-ambulance-service

The New Zealand Horse Ambulance Trust is running its annual 'Here for the Horse' appeal throughout August, marking a decade of care for New Zealand's horses. To donate or find out more, visit horseambulance.co.nz.