New Zealand First leader Winston Peters' mission this Christmas is to get a leg over Richard and Rodney - his two Kaimanawa horses.

Mr Peters saved the horses from a culling in 1997 and has slowly been breaking them in since.

This Christmas, on a family farm north of Whangarei, he plans to try mounting the pair.

If successful he will be able to carry out a favourite pastime. "I like riding before dawn, when no one else is around."

He admits it's a delicate business, but he wasn't expecting trouble because the horses had become "very sociable creatures" and were too fat to put up much of a fight.

"I've got them quiet and eating out of my hand and now it's a matter of sitting on their backs in a non-hostile way."

He had a video on how to break in horses, which he was following religiously.

"It's only dangerous if you don't break them in properly."

Mr Peters befriended the horses with treacle-flavoured bran.

"When I whistle, they come running. They've got a sweet tooth."

He planned to start by putting a saddle on their backs without stirrups.

He would work on sandhills where the surface made it more difficult for the horses to buck.

The MP - referred to as a cowboy more than once - named his horses after the two ACT MPs because they were wild and needed taming.

"I want them to turn out like lambs," he said.

"The one that makes all the noise is Rodney."

Mr Peters said the holidays were the first opportunity he'd had to focus on the last stage of breaking in the animals.

"In this miserable place of Parliament it's something to look forward to."