Wild Horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

FACEBOOK PAGE

2012-01-22T14:25:00.001-08:00

I will continue to use this blog for longer stories about the wild horses, stories about those who have been gentled, and about some of the owners, but since Facebook is so popular and easier to use as far as adding photos and comments, I and some of the others who follow the horses, will be using the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry Facebook site for publishing more information and photos of the horses. Please join us there and help up spread the word of the beauty and value of the horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

HAWK, THE SADDLE HORSE

2012-01-14T20:05:00.001-08:00

Difficulty accessing this blog has, for some time, kept me from reporting on the wild horses or those being trained, but I have recently fixed the problem and will try to post some updates before the next season starts.

I will get to updates of the bands remaining in the park, but first must share more of Hawk's story, because I am so excited at the progress he has made.

By spring of 2011, Hawk was doing everything he needed to do to be ready for his under saddle training. He was obedient and gentle with every part of his handling and enjoyed each new aspect of his training. It was time to start the riding. Since I have not started a horse since my 11 year old gelding, and since Hawk has always been extremely timid and sensitive, I had decided to find a natural horsemanship trainer to start his under saddle training. Birgit Schwartzenberger had bought one of the stud colts from the park; in my many conversations with her, I had decided she was the perfect trainer for my sensitive boy.

We took Hawk to Birgit on one of our trips to the park so that he would have company in the trailer for such a long trip. He seemed to accept his new, temporary home very well that first day. I was wondering how he would accept a new leader in his life since I had been his only handler for his first 1 1/2 year in captivity. Birgit had told me that she starts every horse as if it had never been touched so that she would know how it would respond to her and so that there would be no holes in it's education. I was pretty confident in the things I had taught Hawk, but was not surprised that he would struggle to accept and trust this new person. The first report Birgit gave me was that he was unwilling to give her 100% of his trust. She said some horses took months, even years to fully trust, but she would not skip this vital step in his training. She was hoping he would one day yield himself completely, especially his right side, to her patient persuasion; it might be the next day or several months down the road. The good news was that what he knew, he knew well. She was amused at how much he liked to play games and play with obstacles. He had also gained a friend, a goose; they became unlikely buddies and playmates.

After a few more weeks, Birgit called to report again on Hawk's continuing education. This time she was delighted to report that he had began to trust her and give his whole body to her. She was not riding him because, at first, he would not stand perfectly still with nothing on his head and allow her to saddle him. Even though he had been fine with my English saddle and small western one, he wasn't sure he wanted her big western saddle with all it's attachments. More time, patience, and determination on Birgit's part convinced him that it was easier to let her saddle him than have to run around the round pen. She was planning to ride him the following weekend, when her husband would be home to pick up the pieces if there was a wreck, though she knew Hawk would be fine.

I was anxious to hear how the first ride had gone, but waited for Birgit to call because I knew she would when she had time and something to tell me. The next report was again a bit of a downer for both of us. Birgit was pleased that Hawk did not attempt to buck, but he also did not want to move. It seemed pretty logical to him that he should stand still no matter what she did with him. We had both been teaching him that for the last 20 months, so why would she suddenly change the rules? Actually, he knew very well how to move away from pressure when his leader was beside him, but he could not seem to transfer those cues to having her on his back. Birgit is not one to use spurs or whips, so it took a little longer, again, for him to understand that she wanted him to move forward, but he eventually got it and began to walk around the pen. She had hoped again that the light would go on and he would start feeling OK with moving forward with her on his back, but he seemed confused or unwilling to accept this new arrangement, so each day was a challenge. Having trained wild horses before, Birgit found that they were more comfortable and willing to move out when they were out in the open, so Birgit took him out to the yard and into a field. What happened next surprised even her; he ran. Well, that was not in the plan, so she stopped him and took him back to the pen for more training.

Weeks went by with less progress than Birgit wanted to see. He was starting, stopping, turning and backing, all on light cues, but he just did not seem to enjoy having her on his back nearly as much as he liked having her next to him. It was soon time for me to pick him up, and Birgit was still not satisfied with where he was in his training, but she assured me that he had no holes in that training; he just needed time to get used to the riding. When I came to pick him up, we spent a couple hours working with him so that I could see what he had learned. He was timid and unsure, but he did what she asked. Again she reassured me that I could take it from there or, if I just wasn't comfortable with riding him, just give him more time to grow up and bring him back the next year.

Well, even though Henry was gone most of the fall, Hawk and I did "play" as much as we could in the round pen. I took him back to the beginning too, going through all the steps before stepping up on him. At first, he was uneasy; he even took a little frightened jump once in a while, but just one jump at a time and not too hard to sit, even with the English saddle. We started by having Henry ride Fire around the pen so that Hawk could follow him. That worked well, so that by the time Henry was gone to SD, Hawk knew he was supposed to walk forward. Sometimes he would get stuck and I would have to bend his neck around the side until he stepped forward. It also helped to walk beside him and give him the verbal cues as well as the pressure on his side. He was pretty good with verbal cues when free lunged in the round pen. Little by little he became more comfortable with the riding around in the pen. I slowly added cones, a rail, and the bridge. He began to enjoy walking around and over the obstacles. One day it was time to ask for the trot. Since I knew he would be startled if I asked too much, I just used the verbal cue to trot. He trotted! Then he realized he was trotting with me on his back; it freaked him out a little and he stopped, but I just reassured him and asked him again. Each time got easier for him.

When Henry got home again in December, it was time to move to the big arena. He was fine with that and seemed to enjoy having more space. He still wasn't completely comfortable with the trot and only wanted to trot in a straight line. That was OK. Again, I started adding obstacles to give him something to think about. It worked well for him. He became more and more interested in trotting, even trotting over the rails and around the cones. He was like a kid at an amusement park with the cones, rails, chair. Oh, and best of all, the bridge. Hawk loves the bridge; he thinks he should go over it every time around the arena.

I may not have made what some would think was a lot of progress with riding Hawk. We are still not cantering. He isn't doing fancy figure eights, roll backs, and sliding stops like some three year olds, but he loves to "play". He hangs his head over the gate after I have let him go because he isn't done playing yet. He has been an unusual horse all along in that trust came slowly, he had to have each new aspect of training introduced slowly and carefully. I believe that, if I or the trainer had pushed him too hard and too fast, he would have rebelled or become a horse that would tolerate something for a time and then blow up. Because we took our time and allowed him to use his own timetable, he is a happy, curious, interested horse who develops an incredible bond with those he knows. I could not ask for a more enjoyable riding partner. I think he looks forward to our sessions as much as I do.

2011 INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS

2011-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Though, because of the weather and unexpected budget cuts, the 2011 observations have been a challenge for all involved, I have seen some rewarding behaviors with the bands. Thunder and his mares are most often a challenge to get close enough to evaluate for condition and pregnancy. They have been coming up on the flats on the east side of the park quite regularly, so it pays to be patient and wait for them to appear on top and avoid having to search for them in the breaks below. On a warm morning in April, I found them grazing near the southeast corner. Not wanting to disturb them, I walked in to about 200 yards and sat down with my scope to get a behavioral observation. It is impossible to see them on the upper flats without them seeing you, but even though they had seen me come in, they were OK with me watching from that distance. The mares quietly moved along as they munched what they could find of the new green grass just poking through. Though I was sure Thunder had seen me walk in and sit down, after about 20 minutes, he decided to check who this new intruder was. We don't like to see any reaction to our presence, but it was not to be avoided that morning. Thunder trotted around me to the north to get down wind of me and get a better look. Usually, if he approaches, he comes alone, but this time the mares and yearlings started to follow. In family groups they trotted past me and formed a semi-circle east of me about thirty feet away. I just sat on the ground snapping pictures as they, all lined up side by side, looked at me as if the question what I was up to sitting out in their new grass. After a few minutes they walked away and resumed their grazing. It was a rare visit by some of the most skittish mares in the park and I relished the gift they had just given me.

One of my other challenges earlier this spring was to find Sidekick to record any new foals. Sidekick and his band had been hanging in the area east and southeast of Buck Hill most of the last month. Generally a team would go in on horseback since it is a long hike from anywhere, but I didn't have my horse with me this trip. Earlier, one of the Biologists had seen Bella from afar and determined that she was close to foaling. I wanted to check on her so started in from the east side. Sidekick saw me, but was unconcerned, but when Bella saw me, she moved off to the west with her new foal. I sat down and started a study with them. They were moving among the breaks and sagebrush, so it was difficult to see them all from my distance. I had to get a little closer. Sidekick had moved to the bottom of a clay butte to the left while his mares grazed on either side of a butte to the right. My only way to see them all was to try to get on higher ground. Since Sidekick was paying no attention to me, I headed for a rise beyond him. Bella, by that time had settled in to grazing. I was able to get to the small rise and sit down to wait for the other mares to come over the top and join Bella. As I hoped, the other mares gradually came my way over the small butte to graze with Sidekick and Bella on my side of the butte. I was now committed to stay where I was because I did not want to frighten them. I was able to start a new observation while Bella and her new foal laid down and slept about 60 feet from me. Still not wanting to frighten them and needing to determine the sex on the foal, I waited until the foal rose to nurse. The little filly pestered her dam until Bella stood and allowed her to nurse. Bella then turned and brought her week old filly within 30 feet of me as if she knew I wanted to get a photo of this pretty little bay. After they had moved off and Mist had allowed me to determine that she was close to foaling, I walked back out the way I had come, marveling at how trusting these horses are of me. I truly think they remember those who have tracked them in the past and sometimes even welcome us into their herd. The little filly's name is Larkspur.
On that same trip, I saw Sidekick and his band from Buck Hill one cold snowy morning. There was a new foal, so I had to slide down Buck Hill to check out this new baby of Mist's. They were in the exact place where Eileen and I had been caught in the terrible storm that had damaged 100 home in Dickinson a couple years earlier. This time the ground was sloppy with melting snow. I didn't take time for a study this time but walked in so they could see me and know I meant no harm. To my surprise, I realized it was Ember's Girl who had foaled, not Mist. The little foal was very new and miserably cold. Every time it tried to lay down, it would immediately get up again because of the cold snow. I was able to get close enough to get a photo by kneeling in the snow, but since it was a dark, cold day and a dark foal, I was having trouble telling the sex. After Sidekick had come by to check me out, I finally got on my stomach to get a shot of the little one's under side. Having me flat on the ground upset Embers' Girl and she uttered a strange alarm, so I popped back up again. She was fine with me again as long as I stayed upright. Checking my photos confirmed that the new foal was a colt. I thanked Embers' Girl for her patience and headed back to the top of Buck Hill through the muck and up the slippery slope to the car. We called the colt Hawthorn.

Another week, after our riding team had covered the whole area by horseback and never seen them, I walked to the east rim with a scope was lucky enough to find them on top of a flat butte. Al had ridden on that butte the day before, but no ones knows where they were hiding. Again I took off on foot for the bottoms southeast of Buck Hill. This time I could see them from quite a distance without them seeing me, so I started a study while walking in. I could see that the expected foal from Mist had been born and Mist was already in her foal heat. I was struggling to see all of them so decided to move around the south to higher ground and have a better angle on them. Unfortunately, by the time I got to my vantage point, they were coming down for water. I had to retrace my steps and get an advantage from another small butte. Mist and Snip's Gray were uneasy seeing me there, but there was nowhere else for me to go where I could see them. I sat down to east my lunch and wait them out. I was finally able to get my 30 minute observation just before they moved behind another small butte. Knowing I didn't have time to find any other bands that day, I decided to go in to determine the sex of Mist's foals and maybe get a photo. I carefully crawled onto a tiny outcropping and watched as they grazed. Eventually they were on all sides of me, seeing me, but now not caring that I was close enough to photograph the foals. I was able to photograph tiny Primrose, one of Ember's last foals, a cute bay roan filly.

In all of these instances, the horses accepted me when I was patient and allowed them to see and smell who and what I was. These experiences are gifts that I will never forget. There is nothing like the feeling of acceptance by these marvelous animals.

THE STUDIES AND STRUGGLES OF 2011

2011-04-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

The feral horse studies of 2011 have been difficult and frustrating with the weather and ground conditions in the Park this spring. Though we were supposed to began the study in March in order to find all the foals, we were held back by storm after storm. It would be safe to say that there has been a snow storm at least once a week since our target date of March 15. With only one full time person, our new tracker and office manger, Maggie, it has been a daunting challenge to even find all the bands. If not for the help of the Biologists, Mike and Wade, we would still be looking for some of the more remote bands, since it has been so wet that even Al and his horses were prevented from getting out.

With the hard work of the biologists, Maggie, Al, Jennifer, Henry and me all the bands have been accounted for and, to date, 12 foals have been found. Most of the bands were as they had been when we finished the 2010 observations in November, but there have been some changes, as there always are. Embers, the oldest stallion in the park, has lost his two mares, Bella and Mist, to the younger stallion, Sidekick. Bella has already dropped a pretty bay filly, Larkspur, that should roan like her sire, and Mist was about to pop the last time I saw her. Sidekick's mare, Embers' Girl has a new colt named Hawthorn.

Some of the red roan mares appeared to be trying to play some tricks on our trackers early this spring. There was a red roan mare with Mystery that they assumed was Shale, who had a yearling filly with a star with her, but the red roan mare from Gray Ghost's band, Ginger, was missing her yearling filly with a star and Nordie, the red roan mare from Little Sorrel's band, was nowhere to be found. They also had seen a few horses that didn't seem to fit the description of any of the bands. Maggie had never been able to get close enough to them to identify who they were, but they had a new dark foal with them.

When I was finally able to get out, we were able to figure out the puzzle. The unknown band turned out to be Smokey and Shale from Mystery's band along with Shale's yearling filly, Teepee. Smokey had a new foal that we called Crocus. Then who were the red roan mare and yearling filly with the star now in Mystery's band? Finding them again that day, we were able to determine that they were Ginger and her filly, Whiskey, from Gray Ghost's band. There was only one more piece of the puzzle to figure out; the red roan mare with Gray Ghost had to be the missing Nordie!

With all of that mix up straightened out, we were able to determine that we had only lost one horse over the long, cold winter. The broken, Randy, who had been badly injured in stallion fights, had finally succumbed to the draining task of digging for grass through the deep snow. It was a blessing for him to finally die.

It wasn't long before the horses started playing their tricks again, but this time Maggie was on to them. Nordie somehow found her way back to Little Sorrel and was replaced in Gray Ghost's band by the dark red roan mare, Tanker. It must have been a pretty intense fight between Little Sorrel and Gray Ghost, because Tanker was Little Sorrel's darling who stuck to him like glue. One day I was watching Gray Ghost's band and thinking how boring they were making my job; the next day he had taken the two mares Mystery had lost. I had seen Mystery running from the area, but the emaciated Gray Ghost had been strong enough to win the mares. By then, Shale also had a new foal, a bay filly we called Lupine, but Smokey's foal turned out to be a colt, not a filly, so we had to change his name to Prairie Smoke.

We gave the name Crocus to a beautiful flaxen chestnut foal out of Flame until I saw the foal up close and found out that Crocus was also a colt! We named him Flax! Two other foals in the Double band are Frosty's Fool, a cute black filly born on April 1st, and Indian Paintbrush, a bay filly out of Pretty Girl.

The two latest foals hadn't been named yet but our very first foal was out of Raven, the pretty little Esprit. Another one of Mystery's mares, Cheyenne, had an extremely active little bay filly, Sumac. Copper continued passing his color on in his new filly, Buttercup, out of River.

I will soon add photos at the bottom of this blog, but 10 of the foals are up on the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry page on Facebook.

The NORTH DAKOTA BADLANDS HORSE

2011-03-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 2009, when we knew as many as 90 horses could be destined for removal from the Park and could be sold at public auction, my husband and I started an organization for these horses. The North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry was established to recognize, appreciate, promote, and register the the horses that were sold from the Park in that 2009 sale as well as any sold at past and future TRNP sales. To explain why we would want to start a new registry, I will give some history of these horses.

The horses from TRNP have a long and colorful history; they carry the blood of hundreds and thousands of wild and domestic horses who came before them. For centuries their heritage parallelled that of other wild horses in America. After being brought to the new world by the Spaniards, many horses escaped, reproduced, and dispersed. They soon caught the attention of the indigenous peoples of Central and North America who recognized the advantage of speed, strength, and stamina that horses could give them in daily life, hunting, and battle. The horse changed the lives of native people forever. When early American explorers and settlers brought more imported horses with them, either by intent or accidental breeding, these larger European horses interbred with the sturdy Mustangs and spread throughout the continent.

Early horses running in the North Dakota badlands carried traits of the Mustangs as well as those of horses brought by ranchers and farmers when they settled the area. At the time when the US Army was involved in various skirmishes with the Mexicans and Indians, horses were also bred in the badlands as Army remounts. As horses lost their popularity and grazing lands in other parts of the country, and farmers and ranchers in western North Dakota went bankrupt with the harsh conditions, hundreds of horses were dumped in the badlands to fend for themselves. Because they used a grazing practice known as free range, with no fences, all of these light saddle horses, draft horses, and Indian ponies ran together. Many breeds made up the badlands horse, including, Thoroughbred, Morgan, Percheron, Quarterhorse, Mustangs, etc. Early records record the Griggs QH mare, the Blue Nunn QH mare, the Orphan Brown mare, considered to be Thoroughbred, the Barnhart mares called "Indian Type" as well as several of unknown origin, the Crippled White Stud, the Fat Gray mare, and Pink Nosed Stud, and the Wild Gray.

When TRNP was established in 1947 and the fence was completed in 1957, many horses were enclosed within the Park. These horses were, at first, considered trespass animals and almost all of them wore brands. They were relentlessly rounded up and sold or broken by local ranchers. Tom Tescher and his brothers had a hand in the management and roundups of the horses for decades. After almost being eradicated in the late sixties, the wild, feral horses began to gain some recognition as being a representation of what Theodore Roosevelt saw when he live in North Dakota. Since that time the horses have been managed as a demonstration herd, though they are still rounded up and sold periodically.

Because their numbers were so low in the sixties, Tom began to see the results of inbreeding in the form of swayed backs, crooked legs, over sized heads, and weak hind quarters. It was decided to take out the stallions who had maintained bands for several years and introduce some new blood. In 1981 seven outside horses were introduced, three BLM Mustang studs, a Quarterhorse stud, an Arabian stud, named Tyger II, who was turned out with a QH mare, and the Brookman Stud, which was a Shire-Paint cross. The QH stud was soon injured and removed, the BLM studs ran with other lead stallions and had limited success in reproducing, the Arabian stud did breed the QH mare, but is not known to have bred any wild mares, only the Brookman stud gained a large band of his own, successfully passing on his blood. Another QH stud was released a few years later and ran under a wild stallion, but he too was soon injured and removed. After much investigation, I am convinced that he was not successful in breeding mares. Though The Chestnut, sold in 2000, was accidentally called half QH, it is apparent, by Tom's records, that his sire was Painted Canyon, a wild horse. As of the 2009 roundup, the only recently introduced blood that still existed in the park was Arabian in a small number of horses and that of the Brookman in a larger number of horses.

Over the past several decades others have taken horses from the Park and began a breeding program to preserve them. The Nokota Horse is the result of that effort. To avoid severe inbreeding because of the small gene pool, those early horses removed from the Park were also crossed with domestic horses of QH and Paint breeding. Read more about the Nokota Horse from several on-line web pages. The Nokota Horse came from the same stock as the North Dakota Badlands Horse, but have evolved into a slightly different type because that smaller gene pool.

Since the Nokota registry appeared to be closed to horses coming out of the Park in 2009, it was necessary to have some way to keep track of them. Over the past year and a half, 40 horses have been entered into the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry. There are horses registered as far away as California and Washington state, with most of the registered horses residing in Minnesota. A data base is maintained on all the horses in the Park and sold at the auction with lineage information going back over six generations, so owners of North Dakota Badlands Horses receive a six generation pedigree with registry.

If you own a horse from TRNP or whose lineage can be traced to the park, your horse can be registered and you can become part of a small, but growing community of enthusiastic supporters of these beautiful, unique horses. People who know the horses, know that they speak for themselves in their trust, trainability, willingness to please, common sense, and heart, but we, their human friends, need to work together to help them tell their story of survival and courage to the rest of the world.

For additional information about the organization or the horses, contact me at horsetracks@btinet.net

CHIP GOES TO SCHOOL

2011-03-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

We have exciting news about one of our star colts from the 2009 roundup. Chip, aka Badlands Bill or Wild Bill, was the youngest foal to be sold at the 2009 auction. He brought the highest bid, but days later lay near death of pneumonia. Nursed back to health by dear friends, Nola and Dave Robson of MN, he has since traveled across the country to his home with Eileen Norton and Bill Schlichter in southern CA. While visiting Eileen and Bill last month, we witnessed the expertise of world renowned trainer, Carolyn Resnick as she worked with all three of Eileen and Bill's wild horses at the same time. Carolyn has graciously decided to train Chip and bring him back to his natural instincts. Read the story and follow Chip's progress on Carolyn's blog, Carolynresnickblog.com.

Look to the end of the page for photos.

S BAND

2011-02-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

As you have probably noticed, some letters are missing from this list of lettered bands. The letter of the band stays with the stallion if he still maintains a band, even if it consists of different mares. If a stallion dies, is sold, or just loses his band and becomes a bachelor, that letter sometimes goes to the young stallion who takes his place. In the case of Granite, High Star, Shadow, Oliver, and Rookie, the mares were taken by already established band sires, so the letters have not been filled. For that reason the S band is the last of the family units for now. The bachelors are the Y's and will be covered later. As young bachelors establish their own bands some of the missing letters will be filled.

Silver has been a band sire for almost three years now. He had picked up all of Curious George's mares in the spring of 2008, but soon lost all but Daisy to Copper. That spring it probably wasn't too hard to get Maddie from her sire, Cocoa, because sires often allow their daughters to be taken by another stallion. Daisy's filly from 2009, who was sold to a family in Bismarck, was very likely Silver's because she was born an overo, but turning gray.

When Copper gave up Big Red in 2009, Silver picked her up along with Firefly, who had come from the double band and been with Sidekick for a time. The two mares became fast friends and are almost inseparable now. Neither had foals in 2010. By spring of 2010, Maddie had gone to Brutus, leaving Silver with the mares he has now: Daisy, Big Red, and Firefly. He briefly had Bentonite in the summer of 2010 but she is now with Copper. In 2010 Daisy foaled his solid brown filly, Lakota, who has not shown signs of graying yet.

Q BAND

2011-02-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

Brutus has also been an interesting stallion to watch as he matures throughout his life. The first we saw him show interest in finding mares was when Escape was still outside the north fence, but he was not the one to be there when she returned. In the fall of 2008 we saw him with Dolly and Autumn. He was not to keep them long; by the spring of 2009, they were with Cocoa.

It was some time that spring that he picked up Sweetheart. We did not see how that came about, but based on the observations throughout the past two years, one could guess that she foaled and either lost the foal at birth or lost it during the fights that occur during the foal heat.
The first two weeks are the most critical time in the foal's life; if they can survive birth and the foal heat, they usually make it. Whatever happened, Sweetheart came away with no foal that spring.

Brutus also won Cheyenne that spring along with her gorgeous filly, Auney. Over that summer, Brutus tried valiantly to win more mares. His fight with Red Face, Satellite, and Singlefoot is recorded in this blog in a 2009 post called, "The Four Stallion Fight."

Coal briefly took Brutus' mares in the fall of 2009, but luckily for him, he did not come into the roundup with them. Auney was sold at auction and went to Washington state, while Cheyenne and Sweetheart were returned to the park.

Brutus lost both of those mares back to Singlefoot after the roundup, so he was again on the prowl for mares. When Oliver was sold at the sale, Escape became available to Brutus and he somehow tangled with Silver, winning Maddie in the end. Maddie foaled a cute sorrel colt from Silver that we call Tomahawk. Tomahawk was the only foal for several months, but kept himself entertained by bugging Escape. (see photos below) His color change has also been remarkable. He went from light sorrel, to dark, flaxen chestnut, to dark gray. Late in June he got a feisty little playmate when Escape foaled Vamoose, the only offspring of Oliver. Unfortunately for Tomahawk, Escape and Vamoose were stolen by Blaze in September, leaving just him and his dam with Brutus.

P BAND

2011-02-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

Our boy, Copper, has had an interesting history in the few years he has been a band sire. He is a son of Embers, like my husband's horse, Embers' Fire, but by a different dam. Fire's dam was sold to one of the Nokota breeders, but we do not know the whereabouts of Copper and Pale Lady's dam. She was a light red roan who looked a lot like Pale Lady.

When Copper matured enough to start looking for mares, he picked up the beautiful filly, Diamond. We hoped she would stay with him, but the next spring, she was with Blaze and Copper had several of Curious George's mares. Throughout the next year, he had the Curious George daughters, Big Red and her Curious George son, Roosevelt, and Raven with her young filly, Ellison. Another Curious George daughter, Cheyenne and her filly, Auney, had been taken by Brutus. The older mare, Chubby, also had a Curious George son, Charlie, at her side. By the time of the roundup and sale in the fall of 2009 Copper had given them all up for most, of High Star's mares. High Star disappeared some time between the end of July and early September and we never saw him again. Copper's mares ran alone until the sale, after which Roosevelt went to Washington state, Ellison went to Minnesota, and Charlie went to California, by way of Minnesota. (but that's another story)

Since fall of 2009 Copper has had Spotted Blue, River, Angel, and Strawberry. Bentonite and her filly, Cowgirl, came back to that group some time in the summer of 2010 after a short time with Silver. As far as we know, Copper only has two offspring, both from Chubby. Badlands Bill, better known as Chip, her 2009 colt, was the last one foaled that summer, so he sold as a very young weanling and joined his big brother, Charlie in Minnesota. He was very sick while still in the park and would have died if not for the care of his Minnesota friends who nursed him back to health. His little sister, Chica, from 2010 looks a lot like him.

Copper is playing daddy to the naughty little Cowgirl along with Angel's colt, Wing, both High Star babies. Strawberry's filly was injured when Embers tried to take them during the foal heat and later died. We should see some more Copper babies this spring. I wonder if any of these will be dun?

O BAND

2011-02-11T04:42:00.000-08:00

OK, I have to confess something, Thunder Cloud's band is my favorite. Maybe it's because Thunder always puts on such a good show, strutting around like a proud rooster when we approach and driving his mares to safety when we get too close. Maybe it's just the fact that they are very difficult to approach and, therefore, very rewarding when they are finally persuaded to let me photograph them. Or, maybe it's the fact that Thunder is the sire, and Rain the dam of our Hail, and Pale Lady is the dam of our Hawk.

Thunder Cloud and Hawk's sire, High Star, were full brothers, though High Star was much more refined. He probably looked a lot like their famous grandfather, Midnight, who charged the helicopter during and roundup and ran under it back to freedom. Thunder greatly resembles their sire, Lindbo Blue, who maintained the largest band in the park for many years. He was a dark blue roan with just a hint of white on his side and a white ring around his eye to reveal the overo coloring of his dam, the old Spotted Blue. She produced foals for close to 20 years. Their dam was another old mare who, like their sire, traced back to the old lines, going back to the original, wild herds that existed before the park was established.

Thunder has had Rain and Winter for several years, along with Rains bay filly, Cedar. Rain foaled a precocious black filly, Buckaroo, and Winter, the pretty bay roan filly, Boots. Pale Lady proved herself to be just as brave and independent as Midnight; she was the only mare to escape the 2009 roundup, and took with her her strikingly handsome dun colt, Marquis. Last year she again produced a dun, but this time a very unusual dun roan, Reata.

N BAND

2011-02-11T04:11:00.000-08:00

The N band has been lead by Gary for as long as I have been recording the horses. Gary was one of the bachelors that we first watched, with his buddy, Bob, on Johnson Plateau. For several years he and Little Sorrel have produced foals and traded mares along Interstate 94. Gary, though, has always been much harder to approach than Little Sorrel, but the study is making it somewhat easier to photograph them.

Gary has the oldest mare, 19 year old Ghost, and her yearling filly, Goblin as well as Blondie, one of his daughters, Twister, one of Little Sorrel's daughters, and Rosie, the pretty bay roan whose lineage we have never known. Rosie showed up with Granite one spring, but records were sketchy during the years around her birth, so no one was able to identify where she came from. Rosie produced another cute colt this year, Teton. His big brother, Page lives in California. Twister produced one of our prettiest fillies this last year, Dancer.

L BAND

2011-02-11T03:28:00.000-08:00

Mystery got his name because we thought he had died when he was about two years old; we never saw him for the next year, or so we thought. Toward what would have been his third year, we kept seeing who we thought was High Star hanging out with the bachelors. We wondered why High Star would leave his band so often and scolded him for being so careless.
In his fourth year, the big black horse with the small star started to muscle up and show a little more brown than High Star. When he started stealing mares, we finally figured out that he was not High Star, but the tall black colt who had disappeared as a two year old.

A son of Singlefoot, Mystery is the only male offspring, that I know of, from Lightning. He has a lot of sisters, some of which live in Minnesota. I hope they don't take after him in his love of mud. We often comment that his name should have been Pig Pen!

In 2008 mystery hit the jackpot when he acquired most of the mares from the injured stallion, Double Trouble. They had been taken by Embers, but the younger stallion was persistent and eventually won all of those mares. Gray Lady and Lacey had been with Double Trouble for many years and brought their daughters, Smoky and Shale to Mystery's band. In the fall of 2009, when Copper gave up his band to take most of the mares High Star lost when he died, Mystery picked up Raven from that scattered band. This spring, after losing her foal, Cheyenne came to be in his band. She had been in Copper's band in 2009, then was stolen by Brutus, then Coal, and wound up with the double band in the spring of 2010.

Only Lacey and Shale produced foals in 2010. Gray Lady, Smokey, and Raven were all open. We had hoped Lacey would produce another overo, but little Half Moon is pretty cute, cute enough so that Mike, the first to see him, gave him his name. TeePee was a chunk from the start, but a beauty, nevertheless.

K BAND

2011-02-11T02:41:00.000-08:00

An early son of the beautiful gray mare, Bella, and by one of my favorites, Little Brother, Sidekick carries the good looks of both his parents and passes them on to his offspring. Over the few year that Sidekick has been and band sire, he has gained and lost several mares, but has managed to keep both Snip's Gray and Embers' Girl. Both beautiful themselves, it is not surprising that they produced such nice colts from Sidekick. The striking Guitar, Embers' Girl's first colt, has attracted a lot of attention; several of my friends would like to take him home.
Peace Pipe is not as sturdy, but no less attractive. This band is often found near other bands in the Boicourt area.

J BAND

2011-02-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Gray Ghost is a a son of Granite, the beautiful gray overo stallion that Tom Tescher so loved, and the Rose Gray Mare. Over the past two years that he has been a band sire, many have commented on his unique and handsome appearance. Even from his pictures people remark that he has a very Spanish look. It would be interesting to have someone who knows the characteristics of the Spanish Mustangs look at him and give an opinion.

Gray Ghost acquired two young mares from Little Sorrel some time in the spring of 2009. They brought with them their young fillies from Little Sorrel. Grandma Roan's deep chestnut daughter, Ruby, had the pretty red roan filly, Sugar, by her side. Sugar was sold in the fall and lives happily with a family in eastern ND. Ginger, a red roan daughter of Tanker, had a late, cute red roan filly named Spice. Spice runs free on a large ranch in western ND.

The spring of 2010 we were anxiously awaiting the birth on Gray Ghost's first foals from these two mares. Ruby gave him a striking chestnut filly that is the image of her dam, but Ginger either did not produce a foal or lost it early, before the study started. Little Whiskey is adorable and curious. I hope she will keep her curly main and tail as a tribute too her sire.

I BAND

2010-11-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

At ten, Cocoa seems to be the same easy going boy he's always been; nothing upsets him for long and he doesn't seem to struggle to keep his mares as do some of the other stallions. Cocoa and his band are always easy to approach, even allowing one to get close photos of injection sites and udders, which are so critical to the research being done with them. In an earlier post this year, I told of the experience of being closer than we wanted to be when Cocoa bred Stormy.

Unfortunately, Stormy lost her foal this year and Sarah and Maggie were open. Busy Blue has her little dark filly, Maiden. Since Maiden has not roaned in her first shed, she will probably stay dark like her sire. Autumn's bay colt, Brave, and Dolly's sorrel colt, Bandit, should also retain their color, since they have not roaned and do not have enough gray in their backgrounds to turn gray.

Cocoa and his harem are usually found anywhere from the northwest corner of the Park to the flats east of Sheep Butte. Though they will sometimes be somewhat close to other bands, they rarely intermingle like some of the others, which may contribute to Cocoa's ability to maintain his large band.

H BAND

2010-11-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Over the last three years that Blaze has had a band, he seems to have become the most popular stallion with the photographers. His dark bay roan coat, flashy blaze, and intense blue eye, make him beautiful, but his behavior is what everyone who sees him wants to capture. Blaze never fails to put on a great show with all his wary prancing as one tries to approach close enough to see all the band. He is much easier to get close to when he is on the flats with many of the other bands, and that is when the real fun begins. He is aggressive in challenging other stallions; running off curious mares and foals, he is diligent is keeping his harem together. This past summer he was able to take Escape from Brutus. We did not see the fight but witnessed Blaze's domination over poor Escape. The stallion who has just won a mare from another will snake and herd her often biting her to convince her that he is now in charge.

Blaze's band has grown to nine with the addition of Orphan Blue with her filly, Cowgirl, and Escape with her colt, Vamoose. Little Brother's Girl gave him a filly, Sky, who mirrors her sire. Diamond was open and Domino's lethal white colt only lived a couple days. Look for photos of Blaze and his band among prints from professionals to the casual photographer.

E BAND

2010-11-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Embers, the dark bay roan stallion, who, at fifteen in 2010, holds the title of the oldest stallion in the Park, still managed to keep his two mares, Bella and Mist. Bella has produced a half dozen foals over the past years and now has a handsome graying colt named Arrowhead. Arrowhead has the characteristic patch of pink on his nose like many of Bella's other offspring. Poor Mist, though she is Embers' favorite, has never produced a healthy foal.

D BAND

2010-11-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

Wind Canyon, the second horse with that name since we started naming the horses in 1999, is a larger version of his sire. The first Wind Canyon always ran in the area of Wind Canyon and west along the river. He was a dark bay roan who looked a lot like Blaze. Wind Canyon II is his son out of the big blue mare who is by the Shire/Paint cross, called the Brookman, for the bucking horses breeder who sold him to the Park. Big Blue was the biggest mare in the Park and passed along the good bone and muscle of her sire.

Wind Canyon has the two young mares, Betty Blue and Sapphire, both started out blue roan, but Betty Blue is graying like her dam, Bella. Betty Blue's filly, Chaps, is already graying. Sapphire's cute bay filly, Cassie, was still bay as of this fall. They now run along the north fence from the Jules Creek watering hole to Lindbo Flats. It is not unussual to find them on the north side of the north ridge that runs along the northern boundary of the Park.

C AND F "THE DOUBLE BAND"

2010-11-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

Since some time in 2007 Singlefoot and Redface have run their bands together. Neither stallion seems to be dominant over the other, coexisting and cooperating in the protection and even the breeding of the nine mares in their harem. The added peculiar factor in the dynamics of the bands is that Singlefoot's full brother, Satellite, acts as a body guard to Singlefoot. I have never seen the two of them fight, though Singlefoot will show dominance over Satellite. Redface seems to tolerate Satellite, but often challenges him and shows him who is boss.

The Double band has remained intact over the past couple years, though some mares seem to have changed alliance. Redface clearly maintains possession of Flame, her daughter, Pretty Girl, Sundance, and Lignite. Molly once stayed with Singlefoot, but has come over to Redface's band and, though will still breed with both stallions, seems to prefer Redface. Redface also breeds Singlefoot's filly, Crow, but Crow prefers to stay with her dam, Lightning. Flame produced a pretty sorrel filly, Bandanna, Pretty Girl a precocious bay roan filly, Papoose, and Molly a surprisingly light red roan filly, Dove. Sundance, Lignite, and Crow lost their foals.

Singlefoot has Lightning, Crow, and Frosty as he did in 2009, but regained Sweetheart from Brutus after the 2009 roundup. Frosty has the deep blue roan colt, Wrangler and Lightning has another black filly, Latigo. Sweetheart seems to have also lost her foal from Brutus.

B BAND

2010-11-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Little Sorrel, long time band sire of the B Band, remains strong now that his son, Cruiser, and many of the other young bachelors have been sold. Cruiser had taken Little Sorrel's favorite mare, Tanker, toward the end of the summer of 2009, but she is back with her late September filly, Punkin, and is again inseparable with Little Sorrel. She either lost or did not produce a foal this year.

Little Gray had been with the beautiful blue roan stallion, Shadow, in 2009, but after losing her and Twister at the roundup, he never regained them and now runs with his bachelor buddy, Granite's Boy. Little Gray joined the B band again and produced a feisty sorrel filly, Dream.

The pretty young red roan mare, Nordie, has moved from her natal band and sire, Gary, to join Little Sorrel's band. Rounding out the band of ten are Freckles, her filly, Shawl, Trouble's Girl, and her filly, Feather.

A BAND 2010

2010-11-16T17:24:00.000-08:00

I will try to get all the mature horses and new foals up in the next few months. As before, the bands are lettered the way Tom Tescher lettered them; this is the meaning of letters on each post.

The A band has had some changes since 2009. The six year old stallion, Cloud, out of Lacey and Double Trouble has been able to fend off attacks from some of the bachelor stallions and keep his original mare, Flicka, whom he picked up when Curious George lost his band in 2008. Unfortunately, Flicka lost his first offspring this spring. From it's remains, it looked like it might have been a pinto like Cloud.
Copper gave up his band to take over most of High Star's band, after his death in 2009. Having no stallion to guide them last fall, Copper's mares dispersed among several other stallions and Chubby migrated back to her home territory east of the Missouri. She joined her old band mate, Flicka and foaled a cute red dun filly much like the colt she had in 2009. The filly, Chica, has gotten darker since her winter coat has grown in, so it will be interesting to see what color she is when she sheds next spring. They were last seen scratching themselves on the trees in the Peaceful Valley Ranch area. The winter ticks have evidently been biting with a vengeance with the horses' longer coats.

BASHFUL, THE STEPS OF HIS LIFE

2010-10-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

Spring of 2007, a dark colt opened his eyes for the first time, blinking at the sunshine streaming down on this land of buttes, juniper lined valleys, rock encrusted ridges, and grassy meadows. Theodore Roosevelt National Park had no meaning to him; this was just his world, his home, the place he would live out his life like all the other feral horses in his little band. Little did the blue colt know that his life would not be so simple, but for now he was intent on the only goal he must accomplish, standing up to nurse. His very first steps in life were pivotal in his survival. Stand and wobble on uncooperative legs to the sweet life-giving milk the pretty gray mare standing over him was patiently offering, or fall back to the ground, too weak to rise, succumb to the cold wind, and die. The dark colt took his first steps, reached his goal, drank in life, and grew in strength.

The first two weeks of a foal's life are tenuous with predators wanting to feed on their tender flesh and other stallions with flailing feet and biting teeth attempting to steal their dams during the foal heats. The land that provides shelter and nourishment to the band can be dangerous to foals running precariously on spindly legs through deep spring snow, hidden sink holes, and rocky gullies. Around 30% of newborn foals die in the first two weeks of life, but the blue colt was one of the lucky ones. With each day he grew stronger, soon adding bright green grass to his diet of milk.

Some time during his gestation, his dam, Winter, another cute red roan, maiden mare, Little Brother's Girl, and another gray mare, Rain, with her two fillies, were stolen from his sire, Thunder Cloud. Thunder Cloud had most likely been injured in the fight with Blaze, as he was now running with another bachelor, Copper, while he gained strength to fight again. The mares stayed several months with the feisty bay roan stud, Blaze, but by spring, his blue roan sire had gained enough strength to win them back. Unfortunately for the blue colt, at one year old, he was now also considered a threat and Thunder Cloud chased him away from the band before the blue colt could learn the ways of a wild stallion from his majestic sire.

The colt didn't have much choice but to join another young stallion who had been fiercely driven from his natal band. Though he was curious when he saw us, the two leggeds he would come upon on a regular basis, he was young and shy, and didn't want to get too close to us. He would hide behind the older, braver, bald faced colt. The bald faced black colt was a son of High Star out of the beautiful gray mare, Bella. His family had been taken by Embers, so he too needed company. We called the black, Baldy and the blue, Bashful, because of his shy behavior. It was already apparent that both would gray like their dams, though both had colored sires. They spent that summer and the next munching on the rich green grass and playing with other young stallions in the "bachelor" bands. The younger bachelors were often referred to as the "young guns" because they cruised the Park play fighting and looking for mischief. It was an idyllic life for a young horse; the valleys were filled with lush grass, water was abundant, and the young Bashful had not matured enough to worry about acquiring a band of his own. However, on a rainy day in October, life took another change for Bashful, forcing him to make another choice and another step into an unknown world

The helicopters hung low in the sky that day because of the overcast sky. As they came closer, the young stallions became frightened and started to run away from them. They could already see the forms of other horses moving away in the distance, up, out of the flats and onto Boicourt Ridge, then down again into Talkington valley. Though the helicopters were a constant reminder, looming behind with their rhythmic roaring, thumping like the heart in Bashful's chest, they didn't get too close, so the horses settled into a comfortable trot that was easy for the suckling foals who had joined them along with their dams. Most of the mares moved obediently up the trail toward the east ridge, not wanting to challenge the throbbing beasts above them. One pretty, light red roan mare, Pale Lady, was not to be intimidated; finding just the right gully to make her move, she suddenly broke from the herd and lead her golden dun colt, Marquis, to safety. The pilots saw her go and one attempted to go after her, but not wanting to lose the others, they let her return to freedom. Along with several other feral horses, Bashful ran into the catch pen and into another chapter of his life.

The trip though the handling facility can be very frightening, but the Park people stayed quiet and as gentle as they could be to move the horses, one at a time, through the chutes. Bashful was so distracted by all the sights and sounds above the chute as he was weighed and measured that he barely felt the needle as Doc expertly drew blood for a Coggins test. All Bashful wanted was to get out of this tight spot; he hated being confined by the high solid walls and tried to focus on the blue sky ahead of him. It must have seemed like an eternity to him, but he was soon released to run down the ally to a large pen where his buddy, Baldy, was already munching on grass. They spent three days in the large wooden pen. The green grass soon turned to brown as their sharp hooves churned it into mud. They were given fresh hay, which was difficult to learn how to eat, but filled their nervous stomachs. Water was provided from a tank that they soon learned would not hurt them. They must have wondered what would happen next.

The horses destined for sale did not have long to wait; soon large trucks came and they were herded onto the noisy, smelly stock trailers. What was more frightening was the fact that they moved under the horses' feet. The rocking and bumping must have seemed to never end, but before long they were unloaded at the sales barn in Dickinson. Nothing could have prepared these wild horses for the noise and stress of sales day with hundreds of people flocking through the alleys to gaze at the horses and plan their purchases. Bashful was particularly nervous, as he hated confinement; his only comfort were his buddies in the pen with him. On October 23, 2009 Bashful made another step that would be pivotal to his survival.

Stepping into the sales ring itself, he moved around in a daze with all the noise and lights confusing him. He could see what seemed to be hundreds of the two legged creatures surrounding him and two in particular, flailing flags at him. He couldn't get his bearings; where were his buddies; where was the light leading him out of this chaos? Then he saw it, the light of day high above him. Bashful took a huge leap in order to reach the light, a jump like he had never attempted before, to take him away from this cacophony of sounds and pressure, away to freedom. He gathered his body, tucked his front legs under his chest, rocked back on his haunches, and pushed with all the power and adrenalin within him. Up he soared toward the light, but he didn't make it to freedom; the cruel cable fence caught his hind leg and he came crashing into the crowd of people. The people screamed with fright and Bashful screamed with pain as the cable slashed into his leg. He pawed and fought furiously to get free, but it was not to be. A man under him felt his fury; a vidiographer, Brad, put himself in jeopardy and reached in to pull the man to safety; another man, Dan, threw his jacket over Bashful's head to try to calm him, but Bashful was in too much pain and terror to be calmed. He fought the jacket and anything else in reach of his teeth until his blood left crimson stains where once enthusiastic buyers had been.

What would happen to Bashful now? How would they remove him from the cable fence? Not able to watch any more, I left my safe vantage point in the auctioneer's box. Sure that they would have to euthanize him to get him off the fence, I couldn't watch any more. As people milled around outside the barn I wondered what Bashful's fate would be inside. As the ambulance rushed away with the injured man, I learned that Bashful was removed alive from the fence and was recovering from sedation far back in the lot, away from the crowd, away from the noise, away from the auctioneer's cry as he finished the sale in the back barn. I could hardly be happy for Bashful, since he had decided his fate when he took that leap. Injured and deemed a rogue, no one would want to take him home now. At that instant, Michael Sparling, who I had known since he was a little kid, son of our good friends, a Parelli Professional trainer, came to me and said,"I want that horse!" I was a little taken aback and just said I didn't know if they would sell him right away but to go for it. When the decision was made to sell him, Michael stepped in and bought Bashful for $35. Michael had now made a step that would forever save Bashful from certain death. Michael had seen in him a challenge to turn a horse others had rejected into one others would one day admire. Since Michael was taking on a new job in Washington state and Bashful was too injured to travel, it was decided to leave him with Michael's dad, Dan, in Bismarck. Michael spent a little time, even one night, with Bashful before his job took him to Seattle. It must have been sad to leave the nervous, blue colt behind.

It happened that Dan was also a Parelli Natural Horsemanship trainer and, having wanted to buy one of the wild ones himself, he couldn't resist starting to see what he could do with Bashful.
Since Bashful was injured and Dan had injured his foot, his first tactic was to just sit outside the pen. Little by little and with generous use of treats, Dan was able to win Bashful over. He broke goals down into simple steps Bashful could understand and rewarded him for the right reactions.
With Dan's patience he gained Bashful's trust to the point of giving every part of his body up to be petted and scratched. Like our colts, Bashful had winter ticks and loved to be scratched where they had been feeding on him. This became a way to keep Bashful coming back for attention. The scratching led to playing confidence building games, which led to under saddle training. Over the summer Bashful became more and more reliable as a saddle horse. October 22, 2010 Dan rode Bashful back into the park. Bashful stepped with confidence onto the sun flooded ground where he was born, into the juniper lined valleys, across the rock strewn ridges, up the high buttes, and down the grassy meadows. He is in Dan's "herd of two" now and his future is bright.

Look below the posts for several photos of Bashful's life.

MORE TRAINING FOR HAWK

2010-10-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

It is now October of 2010, one year after the horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park were rounded up, separated, and 77 sold at public auction. Unfortunately, we have lost track of some of them, but many of their owners are keeping in contact with us and telling us how well the horses are doing.

I will be telling the stories of some of these other horses in future blogs. One of special interest is Bashful, the horses who leaped out of the sales ring in Dickinson, but before I tell his story, let me continue Hawk's tale of progress.

As I related in the last post, Hawk is learning to be brave by playing with all the obstacles I have set up for him in the arena. Besides the can and bottle box, the bridge, the rubber tub, feed sack, and step stool, he has learned to jump over a rail and back through cones. Each new thing become easier as he gains confidence, though the tarp on the ground is still a little frightening to him. We are still working toward loading into the two-horse trailer too. He happily loads and backs out of the stock trailer, but the other one is much more enclosed. I have no doubt that he will be fine with the two-horse once he gets used to it, since he seems to be OK with almost anything once he has a chance to check it out.

Two big steps that he has taken recently are letting the farrier trim his feet and wearing a saddle. With gradual, patient, calm work, Hawk got to where I could handle his rear feet. It was hard for me, because I didn't want to take a chance of being kicked, but I had to stuff the fear deep inside and portray only confidence and trust as I asked for each foot. He has only had the farrier trim him twice since the time of his gelding, and both times he has stood quietly once the farrier pets him a little and shows him he's a friend.

After wearing the surcingle several times, the English saddle was easy. I was able to get him to smell of it and just placed it on him back. So far, the stirrups are tied up, but shortly he will learn to carry a western saddle with the stirrups flapping. I'm quite sure it won't be a big deal to him because he had carried the surcingle around the round pen with the saddle blanket flapping in the wind and he has not minded it. Those of us who are training these horses have found that they are very tolerant when introduced to new things patiently.

I am anxious to be able to ride Hawk next year, once he turns three. He has become such a willing partner who responds with he slightest cue. I have no doubt that his responsiveness with carry over into his under-saddle work and he will continue to be a joy to work with through the coming years.

See photos belo w post

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A NAME by Bonnie Overby

2010-07-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

"Why can't you be like other women and prefer diamonds over horses?" This was Soldier Man's response from half way around the globe in Afghanistan when he learned that I had, indeed, purchased a wild horse.

Earlier, our grown daughter had accurately remarked, "Dad won't be happy, but he won't be surprised either."

"Well, I guess this will have to be both your birthday and Christmas present, " he said, knowing that my birthday had been the day before and that no gift was in the mail. My husband has always had trouble buying me gifts, probably because I don't feel the need for traditional stuff women like to receive.

Enthusiastically I replied, "This is a wonderful gift; thank you so much!"

I could hear the softening in his voice when he said, "Well, it's going to have to be your birthday present, anyway."

"Just be thankful it's a wild horse I'm chasing and not wild men!" I grinned over the phone.

When Soldier Man left for his one year tour of duty in Afghanistan, my friend, Mya, took it upon herself to make sure I would not sit home and sulk. Weather permitting, the two of us were off riding our horses whenever schedules and family allowed us to get away. During the summer, I noticed in an equine paper that there was going to be a wild horse auction in the fall some time. I called up Mya, "Mya, please convince me that I should not go to this auction."

"I think it's a great idea! That will be my birthday present to you."

Okay, it didn't take much to convince me, but we were going to leave the trailers at home. We eagerly waited for it to be announced when the auction would be. October 23rd, the day before my birthday, I arranged for a replacement at work for that weekend. " Remember, we're not taking a trailer with us, Mya, this is just a fun get-away weekend, we'll think of it as entertainment. Together, we could not think of a better way to spend a weekend.

"Bonnie, I'm hauling my trailer down. I know you, you'll buy a horse and I'll have to come all the way home and back again to get it. Besides, even if you don't buy one, maybe I can help someone else out by hauling for them."

We got to the auction ring several hours before the start of the sale. We carefully looked over each pen, made notes of horses we would like to own, visited with other enthusiastic and curious onlookers, and marveled at the unique colors represented by the herd. Could we manage one of these beautiful bachelor stallions and did we have the appropriate area for them? It was a no-brainer that we would be taking a least one apiece home, if not more, but decided we probably should stick with one of the younger horses.

We sat in the crowded arena nervous and excited for the bidding of the wild horses to start; we had an opportunity to take home a registered Quarter Horse weanling for next to nothing, but we wanted one of the mysterious, often forbidden animals that we had viewed from a distance in the Park. The bidding was competitive, and we realized , if we were serious, we would need to spend more than we initially planned, if the dreams we had formed were to come true. In the end, Mya purchased Cinnamon, a one year old pretty little sorrel as well as a weanling filly, Lindbo, a five month old gray overo filly with one blue eye, neither of which had been on our list to buy. I purchased number 364, Sugar, a red roan yearling that reminded me of a filly I had owned and lost to colic.

These horses were raw beauties that we felt honored and a little scared, for more than one reason, to be taking home. Nightfall had come but in our excitement we had no problem staying awake on the long drive home. We strategically planned how we would house these horses and honor our commitment to care for them, these powerful creatures that had neither known barriers nor the gentle touch of human hands. We wondered and laughed over what we had gotten ourselves into this time.

"Do you realize, Mya, that we purchased Cinnamon and Sugar?" We hadn't until this moment in our drive home. We both knew coincidences didn't happen without reason. "It was meant to be!"

When the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry was up and running, I wanted to choose a name that reflected my horse and the significance of the event. I wanted to keep her Park name and chose "Autumn" to reflect one of the best birthday events ever, and "Diamond" in remembering the conversation with my husband. Thus "Autumn's Sugar Diamond was formed.

Afterward: My husband recently returned from Afghanistan. He was pleasantly surprised that my wild horse didn't seem wild at all. One of his concerns for me was that I would get hurt working with her. I found this very sweet since this was the first time in 27 years that he had voiced worry about me getting hurt around horses.

NEW BLOG BY LINDSEY EBY

2010-06-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Our new friend, Lindsey Eby, who is also working on the TRNP feral horse study, has started a new blog about her experiences in the Park and with the people and activities of the Medora community. It is definely worth reading and her photos are fabulous.
check it out at http://lifeoflynz.blogspot.com

THE FERAL HORSE STUDY AT TRNP - YEAR 2

2010-06-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, where do I start to report on the study? We have been so busy working there and working with our youngsters here at home that I have not had time to write about it. We are now over half done with the study this season and have had many interesting experiences with the wild ones. Mike started doing observations of the bands in early April. By the second week, Henry and I and our new Horse Project Technicians, Heidi, from Chicago, and Al, a local retired rancher, had joined him and were covering the park on foot and on horseback. Two more, Veterinary students from Colorado State, joined us in mid May. Alanna and Lindsey will work full time with Heidi, while Al, Henry, and I will work part time.

This year, besides the location, weather conditions, names and number in the band, 20 minute activity log, spatial chart, and all occurrence activity log, each mare will be evaluated once per week for body condition, injection site reactions, and expected date of foaling. New foals are reported as soon as they are found so that foal heats and next year's foaling dates can be calculated. Fortunately, we have not seen anything to indicate that foals of the treated mares are any less viable. The harsh winter and normal breeding activities of the horses have contributed to some foal mortality in the first 2 weeks of life, but is to be expected in a wild herd of this size. As of June 4 we had 27 live foals and had lost 6. We fully expect to lose a few more, as in that first 2 weeks, many perils face the delicate young foals; once the foal is stronger and has weathered it's dam's foal heat, it usually does well.

I do not have good photos of all the foals yet, because new moms are not very willing to share their new babies with anyone, but I will list the mares and their foals here and add as many photos as I can at the bottom of the blog.

In Little Sorrel's band we have three new fillies: Trouble's Girl's filly, Feather, Freckles' filly, Shawl, and Little Gray's filly, Dream.

Red Face has Molly with a filly, Dove, Flame with a filly, Bandanna, and Pretty Girl with a filly, Papoose. Singlefoot has Frosty with a colt, Wrangler, Lightning with a filly, Latigo, and Crow with a filly, Eagle. Eagle had not been seen the day after we found her.

Wind Canyon has a filly, Chaps, out of Betty Blue.

Embers has a colt, Arrowhead, out of Bella.

Blaze has a filly, Sky, out of Little Brother's Girl and a colt out of Domino. We fear the colt is a lethal white so may not live long.

Cocoa has a filly, Maiden, out of Busy Blue and a colt, Brave, out of Autumn. Stormy lost a filly that looked just like Cocoa Puff from last year.

Sidekick has a colt, Peace Pipe, out of Snip's Gray, a colt, Guitar, out of Embers' Girl and another colt, Stetson, out of Orphan Blue.

Mystery has a colt, Half Moon, out of Lacey and a filly, Tepee, out of Shale.

Copper has a colt, Wing, out of Angel, and a filly, Cowgirl, out of Bentonite. Both foals should be by the black stallion who died last summer, High Star.

Gary has a cute filly out of Twister, named Dancer.

Brutus has Tomahawk, a colt out of Maddie by Silver.

Thunder Cloud has a filly out of his mare, Winter, named Boots and and colt (we think) out of Pale Lady and High Star, named Reata.

We have seen some interesting and even surprising behavior out of the horses, but the most surprising happened June 2. Henry and I walked out to Sheep Butte because it had rained that morning and spoiled our plans to ride. We came upon Cocoa, Blaze, Red Face, Singlefoot and his "body guard" Satellite, Brutus, and Copper all on the flats below us. As we did our observations on Cocoa and his band, they climbed the steep side of Sheep Butte. We worked the double band of Red Face and Singlefoot next, keeping a close eye on Crow, who had just foaled and was being guarded by Satellite. He was trying to herd her closer to the double band while protecting her from Blaze. She would have none of it and just wanted to be left alone. Satellite's attempts to herd her met with kicks and constant circling of the new foal. As the double band moved farther to the north, he finally got her to move closer to them, but then she was too close and he prevented her from joining them.

While this was going on, Blaze also moved farther north, so we walked out along the top of the butte, around Cocoa's band now standing on top, and settled in on a ledge overlooking the whole of Lindbo Flats. While working Blaze, Brutus, and Copper's bands, Satellite continued to try to get Crow to follow the double band. Twice Blaze went out to challenge him, both stallions sniffing, posturing, squealing, stomping and spinning away with a kick. Crow was at last left at peace along the fence with Satellite, a little frustrated, still standing guard. Then, with Blaze and Brutus with easy access to Crow, Satellite took off the follow the double band, his need for his familiar place in their band overcoming his desire to keep a mare. Surprisingly, both Brutus and Blaze moved off and left poor, tired, Crow alone.

As we were busily working all the bands before us and starting the last band, Copper, I picked up the phone to call Al and let him know what bands we had finished. Having a hard time getting good signal on my cell phone, I turned my head to the right and caught a glimpse of a horse close behind me-very close. I dropped the phone as I turned to see Cocoa and all his band standing in a semi-circle about 20 feet from us. We had been so busy we didn't see or hear them coming, but now it seemed that had those pesky humans where they wanted them. It almost seemed that they wanted to push us off the ledge, but of coarse they didn't. They were just curious as to what we were doing. While we finished our observation of Copper they settled in to rest, the babies stretching out to soak up the warm sun.

I suggested we do another observation on them since Stormy should have been on the first day of her foal heat. Henry didn't even get his cover sheet completed before Cocoa started to show interest in Stormy. We watched in amazement as Cocoa courted Stormy with soft nickers and touches. While standing 12 feet from us he completed the breeding. We were a little concerned that they would run right into us, but they politely finished and went on to feeding. We had been wondering whether we should slide off the ledge, but we didn't want to miss any of the action, so I continued to snap pictures through the whole event. The only problem was that they were so close that I couldn't get much in my lens, but I have the photos to prove another amazing tale of the wild horse of TRNP.

MORE DANCING WITH HAWK

2010-04-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hawk is a master at the dance, an attentive, respectful gentleman, graceful yet powerful, wary yet trusting.

It's hard to explain just how much Hawk has worked his way into my heart. Seeing him slowly learning that he can look to me for security and leadership even though his instincts tell him to run from me, builds my respect and appreciation of him more and more every day. He will always have a special place in my heart and I look forward to the day that I can ride him back in the park where he once ran free. What a wonderful privilege that will be for all of us who have taken home one of these very special horses.

The weather and melting snow made it impossible to keep Hawk and Hail outside, so Henry built me a small round pen inside the barn that is accessible from the stalls. Since both horses had been loading in and out of the trailer for several weeks, it was no problem to get them loaded for the short trip to the barn. Now they have an outside pen, nice dry stalls in the barn, and the little round pen to play in. I was afraid Hawk would be more skittish inside the barn because of all the stuff, the sound of the tin roof, and the cats running everywhere, but he has actually been more relaxed. He will flinch if a cat jumps onto the plastic bedding bags we have strewn around outside the round pen, but he stands his ground.

In the five months I have been working with Hawk, I have been so amazed with his intelligence and his willingness to do whatever it is I ask of him, even though it is against his instincts. We are perfecting our games every day. He now lets me touch him with ropes, towels, blankets, plastic, nylon, etc. He is so attentive and sensitive that the slightest cue of touching just the hair of his side sends him away from the pressure in a pivot on the forehand. I only have to point in the direction I want him to go to get him to circle the pen or reverse directions and a wagging finger backs him up. He's not brave enough to step on the blanket on the floor yet, but he will approach, sniff, and chew it.

After all these months of working on trust, he will finally let me rub inside and out on all four legs. Though he immediately puts it down again, I can get him to lift any foot just by touching it and telling him, "Up." Earlier in his training, he was so extremely afraid of the thicker ropes. I think he really thought they were snakes, because he would let me touch him all over with the lariat or the lash of the training stick, but he would cringe when I touched him with the lead rope. Now he lets me touch him all over with it and a long soft cotton rope that I use to work with his feet. Once I was able to touch him with the cotton rope, I could reach around a leg to make a loop around it. By twisting the long ends together, I could keep the loop around the pastern and ask him to lift the leg. That way he learned to lift the foot without my having to get too close to it. I also use this method to get him used to having a leg restrained. I wrap the rope around a pastern and then ask him to move around the pen. When I say, "Whoa," I put pressure on the rope and I don't release him until he stops dead still. I thought that would really panic him, but he didn't panic and learned quickly to stop and stand.

He has learned to give to the pressure of the halter when I wrap the rope around his hind quarters and ask with the rope for him to make a complete 360. In preparation for vaccinations, he is learning to relax his neck when I pinch on his neck and poke him with a blunt substitute needle. I hope it works! We are about 10 days from "G day" so we are having friends come and pretend to be the vet. We have decided to have the vet come here so that we don't have to put Hawk though the trauma of the vet clinic until he has had more experience outside his little world of our barnyard.

Hawk has a long way to go to be trusting of all his two-legged friends, but he now comes to me and drops his head letting me know he wants to be near me and get the scratches he's learned to love. I couldn't ask for a more engaging dance partner. Who needs Dancing with the Stars when I can dance with a Hawk!

EMMETT'S FIRST DAYS WITH THE THREE STALLIONS

2010-03-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I got a call from Emmett that he had picked up the three stallions, Cruiser, Hammer, and Eclipse in Bismarck. They just backed the trailers together, moved them from one to another, and off they went to MN for a new chapter in their lives. Bucky had thrown in Eclipse on the deal because he was so thin and aggressive that he had most of us convinced that he was never going to make a decent using horse. Emmett said, upon seeing Eclipse, that he was worse than expected and wouldn't have lived more than a few more weeks without some help. The other two were also thin, but in no danger. Emmett couldn't wait to get them out and start the work to get them haltered and wormed, but night was coming on so he decided it would be better to leave them on the trailer for the night and deal with unloading them and getting them into their pens in the barn the next morning.

That morning I got another call from Emmett. The following captions (in red) are Debbie's account of the first three days of having the studs.

Day 1: We are helping shine some new light in these horses' lives. Eclipse is very thin and we have to keep him away from the other horses so that he doesn't have to fight for his food. This will give us better control of the amount of feed he gets. We have wormed him and haltered him the first day. Hopefully this will help him get some good weight on his bones. He did well and didn't seem to mind my son giving him some attention. Emmett got the halter on Cruiser. He was accepting and seemed okay with the halter and lead rope and this will help to make sure he faces us when we enter the box stall.

Day 2: Emmett and I got the halter on Hammer. Emmett remarked that Hammer was a little more nervous than the others. It took about half an hour to get the job done. We put a rope around his neck so that we could make him face us. Then we used the tip of a whip and rubbed it on his fave and neck. Emmett then changed to rubbing Hammer on his face and neck with his hands. Soon he was rubbing him with the halter and soon slipped it on his head and slowly adjusted it to fit his head. Emmett said that these were a piece of cake. I think it went very well and that the communication we received before we got these horses on their disposition us very different than what we see. It might be because we have worked with many different Mustangs throughout the 20 years we have dealt with them. I'm always amazed at the calmness Emmett shows and the horses must sense his ability to stay calm no matter how the horses might react.

Day 3: We have been trying to get these horses to eat grain but they are not interested in it yet. Eclipse wasn't interested in eating or drinking much the first day. He is settling down in his new home and he is slowly getting better. Emmett wormed both Cruiser and Hammer today with little resistance.

Emmett has called me several times to give me updates on the three. All are doing well in their new home and are starting to eat some grain, which will help them gain and start growing again. All three are small, but may grow until they are 6-7 years old.

Emmett does use a lariat around the neck to make sure the horse faces him for the safety of the handler, to force the horse to deal with his fears, and to teach him respect for his handler from the beginning. He stated that it is not necessary to choke the horse down but to make him uncomfortable enough so that the he learns that fighting is the wrong thing to do. The horse soon learns that he is immediately rewarded by a release from the pressure when he does the right thing, controls his emotions, stands his ground, and allows the handler to approach him and touch him. Once he has a halter on the horse, Emmett used the same principles of pressure and release to completely sack out the horse with a number of increasingly noisy objects so that he is not frightened by new things that he encounters. It is important to introduce as many new objects, noises, and touches as soon as possible in the early training so that the horse learns self control and trust to get him and his rider safely through later encounters with new sights, sounds, and experiences. Emmett repeats the sacking out process every time he works with the horse for as long as it takes to get him quiet and relaxed.

This is a photo of Clay and Scout, coming 4 and 5 year olds, that Emmett and Debbie bought from the roundup sale. As you can see from the photo, they are doing well. Their training will continue once the weather and footing improves. I sincerely appreciate Emmett and Debbie's committment to the BLM Mustangs and now these Badlands Horses so that older horses get a chance to become useful, not throw-away horses.

I had to add this picture. Six days after bringing them home, Emmett was trimming Eclipse!
Lokk how mean and nasty Eclipse is.

TRAINING UPDATE

2010-02-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

Once both horses had been touched, scratched, and knew that we meant them no harm, it was time to expect more. I realize that many trainers take these steps much faster, but, though winter provides a longer period of time to accomplish the gentling process, it is wrought with obstacles that hamper, disrupt, and delay the work. Our horses are outside where we do not have the best footing and the weather in North Dakota can be down right frustrating when the temperatures hover around zero for weeks at a time. We've had to make the best of the conditions we've had in training these colts.

Hails remains my high achiever. Hail puts up with just about anything as long as it means he can stand and get petted. Whether it's a brush, a halter, a lariat, or a saddle blanket, he enjoys getting rubbed with it. He wore his blanket around the pen and wasn't too concerned about it flapping in the wind. So tolerant about letting me handle his feet, he let us trim his front feet today. I wouldn't say he leads well yet, but he's getting the hang of it. I think he is coming along very well since I really haven't spent that much time with him and the icy footing has made it dangerous to move him around a lot.

It's good that I have a more challenging colt, because he gives me something to write about on this blog. I've taken this gentling process more slowly with Hawk as well as Hail, partly because of the icy footing, and partly because getting him drenched with sweat from running around the pen would put him in danger of getting sick. Hawk has made steady progress, but he struggles with controlling his fear. Though he thoroughly enjoyed my scratching him from head to tail, he could only control his fear so long before he would leap away without warning. I was very aware of the need for me to release him often for every submission, but it was three months and he was still jumping away without any noticeable change in my activity. Luckily Hawk knows from the work I have been able to do with him that he is supposed to face me, so rather than run away he often just backs away, which allows me to chase him around backward. Backing is slower but much more work than running forward, so it is safer and an even harder penalty for not overcoming his fear and trusting me.

Still needing some fresh ideas of how to speed the process along, I went to a colt starting demonstration by Ken McNabb at our Ag Days in Bismarck. They finally found a tough colt for him, so it was interesting to see how Ken adapted his approach to fit the colt and the facility. Since the colt wanted to jump out of the pen into the crowd at the Civic Center, Ken was not able to move him around as he had planned; he quickly went to plan B and roped him. With that additional control Ken could keep the colt and the crowd safe. As he worked the colt to the point of having him ready to ride, I realized that the rope would be a good tool for me to use in helping Hawk face his fears. One small hitch was that I don't rope and didn't even have a decent one. No problem! Going to one of the local tack shops, I asked for a "Rope for Dummies." Chip suggested a used one and showed me a box full of them. Using my trained eye, I looked for the perfect lariat that would change this dressage rider into a roper. Actually, I just picked a green one because it was prettier than the dirty white ones. I was ready for action and the next chapter in Hawk's training.

Armed with my new rope I entered the pen, pointed to the gate of the round pen, Hawk obediently trotted inside, and we were ready for our first training with the lariat. Earlier, when moving him around the pen, I had tossed the knotted end of an old rope at Hawk to get him used to having it touch him, so it wasn't so frightening to have me toss a loop at him as I moved him around the pen this time. Closing in, with my heart in my throat, I tossed a few loops from the back toward his head (so that I wouldn't crack him in the eye with my poorly thrown loop). Success!; I had the wild colt on the end of a rope, aaaaaaaah, now what would I do with him?

With the noose around his neck, Hawk took off for the other side of the pen. Wondering if I would soon become a horse powered skier in the icy pen, I set my feet and pulled the slack out of the rope. The noose tightened around his neck and Hawk swung around to face me with a rather surprised look in his eyes. After a moment of reward with a slack rope, I moved him around the pen again, told him whoa, and brought him around to face me again. After a few repetitions of moving him, asking him to stop, and bringing him around to face me with tension on the rope, we were ready to test his patience and control while standing. He let me rub him all over on the left, but was still jumpy with me on the right so he jumped away a couple times and ran backward several times, but every time he felt the noose tighten and bring him to face me. By the end of the session that day I was able to rub him all over and brush him head to tail without having him jump away. Two days later I was able to repeat the brushing with no rope and no leaping away!

Each day with the rope has brought more success in getting him to tolerate being touched with new objects, farther down each leg, and onto his face. Now if he starts to move away, I can tell him whoa and put a slight pressure on the rope; he stops. He is starting to let me lead him by putting pressure on the rope from the side; when he submits and moves toward me he is immediately rewarded with slack in the rope. Today, the fourth day with the rope, I was able to sack him out with the lariat, the halter, and a saddle blanket. Hawk still struggles with his fears, most times cringing as the blanket is tossed his way, but he is standing his ground and gaining control over his instinct to run. He is closer to being the quiet, trusting horse he is destined to be.

Hawk was haltered for the first time today (3-5-10) He's pretty comfortable with it!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

2010-02-21T19:06:00.000-08:00

My new friend, Emmett, a farrier, and trainer of BLM Mustangs, has agreed to take all three stallions that were in danger of going to slaughter!

To give a little background, last summer, Sheila, from MN started corresponding with me about the Park horses. Already the owner of a BLM Mustang mare, she was interested in buying a filly from the Park and would be riding with her husband and several friends at Doug Tescher's in September. While there, she and I made arrangements for her group to come horse tracking with us. We found a lot of horses and they all enjoyed the experience so much that they took us up on an offer to ride with us the next day. One of the couples who tracked and rode with us was Emmett and Deb. They had been successfully training BLM Mustangs for several years; the horse Emmett was riding was 8 and just started. Luckily, we found horses at every turn, so they were able to get a good look at many that would be sold in October and soon fell in love with these horses. Emmett was especially interested in Scout, one of the biggest bachelors in the Park. Emmett and Deb and Sheila and Wayne came to Dickinson for the sale and Emmett took home Scout and Clay. I will not take this any farther at this time, because I will be sharing that story later.

When Cruiser, Hammer, and Eclipse came up for sale, I was very worried that it would be hard to find someone who had the know how to handle them. I contacted Emmett, but he was really busy already with his family, his business, and several horses that needed training. When I learned that the horses were destined for the sales barn, I put the notice up on this blog; Emmett saw it and called me. I gave him the information he needed, he talked to the owner, and an offer was made.

Last Friday, 2-19-10, I got a message from Emmett saying he would take all three studs!! He had meant to call the owner and had accidentally called me. He apologized when he called me back the next morning, but I told him just how happy I was to get that message! He had made my day, my month, by guaranteeing that those three studs would get a second chance.

I appreciate that the original buyer saved them at the sale; now they will hopefully become good riding horses and find good homes because they will be going to someone who has the knowledge and ability to gentle and train mature wild horses. Stay tuned for more about this fascinating story!

WHIT AND TEDDY'S STORY

2010-02-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

After much arm twisting and patience, I finally got our low stress livestock handler and friend, Whit, to write Teddy's story. Teddy was the blue roan yearling colt with the band of ten that Whit and I walked out of the Park in the only successful low stress roundup of wild horses ever attempted in TRNP. Thanks, Whit! (Oh, by the way, Whit did all the work; I just got to ride along :)

If you have not read Whisper's story written on this blog in September of 2008, you might want to read it to get the whole story about that low stress roundup. Teddy is Whisper's half brother and is pictured in that story.

Below is Teddy's story, written by Whit Hibbard

In May of 2008, I taught a short-course on low-stress livestock handling at Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the request of the superintendent. As part of my visit I agreed to test the principles and techniques that I taught, on the Campground Band, which the park wanted to cull.

The day after the class I went out with Marylu Weber as my photo-documentarian. Using principles and techniques of low-stress livestock handling, we easily walked the band into a portable holding pen, then loaded the horses in trailers for transport and safekeeping at the park's animal handling facility until a public auction in Dickinson.

While the horses were in the portable holding pen, I stood on the outside to get the horses accustomed to me, and a blue roan colt walked up and sniffed my outreached hand. Observing this, Marylu said, "I think you ought to buy that colt; you have him half gentled already!" In anticipation of what a time commitment it would be for me to properly care for and train the horse with my already overloaded ranch work schedule, I replied, " I think that's a dangerous idea!" Over the next few days, however, I couldn't get the idea that Marylu had planted out of my head. The truth of the matter is that I had very mixed emotions about capturing this band. On the one hand, I was elated that the principles and techniques of low-stress livestock handling had worked so well and that the horses were walked in and loaded into trailers willingly and calmly. On the other hand, I had some pangs of remorse for what I'd done, knowing that I had ripped the horses out of their native environment and drastically changed each of their lives, and some probably for the worse. At that point I decided that Marylu's suggestion was a good one and decided to buy the blue roan colt so that at least one of the horses would have a good home.

I bought "Teddy" at the public auction, shipped him home to my family's ranch in Montana, spent the next several months gentling him and gaining his trust, and engaging the services of a first-class trainer in the Californios tradition, Mike Goyins, to help me with Teddy's training. (Mike pictured riding Teddy) I mentioned to Mike that I would like to take Teddy all the way through the bridle horse stage and thought that we should make a DVD of the five year process and call it, "From Wild Horse to Bridle Horse." Mike's eyes lit up and he said, "I'm on board!"

So, as a yearling we handled Teddy a lot and went through the basic ground work. As a two year old, we reviewed all prior lessons, added a few more, and road him twice with the halter. This coming summer, 2010, we will get him in a snaffle bridle and his real education will begin, the bulk of which will be in the process of doing a job-working cattle.

Both Mike and I are exceptionally impressed with Teddy. He is smart, curious, and a willing learner. We both believe that he will make a fine bridle and ranch horse.

EMERGENCY

2010-02-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

I have been informed that the man from northern ND who bought Cruiser, Hammer, and Eclipse, four, three, and three year old stallions from the Park, is planning to take them to the auction barn in Mandan at the end of February, if he cannot find a buyer before that. I will talk to him again and see if I can get him to hold off until we can figure out what to do with them, but the dead of winter is a bad time to be selling wild horses in ND. They will most likely be picked up by the kill buyers if we can't find someone to take them. Maybe he would keep them longer if we could arrange something for them in the next few months. I have talked to everyone I know about them and haven't found anyone for sure.

Please help get the word out to save these stallions. The red roans are pretty calm, while the bay will need some more work. I don't think he has been able to halter any of them yet, so they are still considered wild. Please email me at horsetracks@btinet.net if you can help or have any ideas. The horses are pictured below in the photos.
Thank you for any help you can give these horses. I would like to see then have a chance.

THE DANCE CONTINUES

2010-01-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

It has been three months since we brought home the colts, Hail and Hawk. We have learned a little about wild horses and a lot about patience in our journey to communicate with these once wild animals. It has become apparent in visiting with many other owners of the wild horses, that each horse has his own individual personality which immensely affects the rate at which he accepts human touch and develops a trust in his human captors. It is our responsibility to learn the horse's language in order to win his trust. Time seems to be extremely important in the quest for communication as well as figuring out what motivates the horse to seek human attention. The horses are not on the same time table as we are and have not read the training books. It seems some young horses have been immediately approachable and others are still very wary. Some owners have reported an almost overnight change in the horse's acceptance of human presence and touch while many of the horses are still not convinced that there is any benefit from letting their humans near.

Our little Hail, always a more accepting individual, has become quite tolerant of touching all over his body when he is in the "play pen," the round pen. He knows that pen is where he gets rubbed and scratched. Before the storm hit this weekend, he was letting me rub him with ropes, pick up his feet, and halter him. He should be fairly easy to progress to leading once our weather improves.

Hawk continues to be my fascinating dance partner. He has now progressed to allowing me to approach him and rub his left cheek as soon as he enters the round pen. Since he had been a little sore on his right front from playing too hard with his little buddies, I am trying not to move him around the pen too much. I found that approaching him with the rhythmic forward and back swing of my hand rewarded me and him in a scratching session. When I stop scratching he still nods his head as if to say, "I like it; keep it up!" It has been important to change hands when petting him, but this was too much for him to tolerate at first. He would jump away when I reached for him with the other hand, so I made it part of our dance to pet him with one hand and then the other. If he jumped away, I would shoo him away and then invite him back. Since he craves the attention, he is usually quick to return, but if he is hesitant to approach me again, I give his hind feet the predator look and he moves them. Moving the hind feet always gets the front feet moving, and he soon returns for more scratching.

The left side has been easier to approach for some time, but it is necessary to teach both sides to allow approach and touch. I could scratch the right cheek and neck from the front, but he would move away to keep me from going to his right side. Some times we would circle in the center of the pen for several minutes, him backing away and me following, seeking to touch the right side. When he stopped, I stopped. It was here that I realized that Hawk already knows almost all of the Parelli games, the "friendly game," the "driving game," the "Yo-yo game," the "circling game," and the "squeeze game." What a smart horse! It's too bad his owner didn't catch on to "horse language" sooner.

When one of the wild horse owners discovered Winter Ticks on the horses, we were all concerned that our poor babies should have parasites feeding on them even in the dead of winter. I treated each boy with a spot insecticide, but Hawk still has them. This weekend I have discovered that the ticks are actually my allies. The ticks leave small swellings that itch, which causes Hawk to love to be scratched. When the warm still weather of Saturday's break in the storm allowed me to remove my gloves, I was able to work my fingers through Hawk's coat, starting at his head and working back all the way to his tail on the left side and back to his hip on the right. It was the first I had been that far back on his right side since I road the saddle horse in the pen with him. The rhythmic scratching and rubbing lulled Hawk into a more relaxed state than he has ever been with me. Once in a while he would seem to wake up and realize I was standing on the side he had never let me touch before; he would jump and move away but soon come back for the gentle massage. His head dropped and he did a lot of sighing and chewing, which showed that he was accepting and enjoying the whole procedure.

Hawk is an excellent teacher in the art of patience, him of me and me of him. I am able to dream about the times when he will completely trust me. Though this dance takes place in a snowy round pen in the middle of rural North Dakota, no ballroom gala could be more exciting or rewarding.

A NEW REGISTRY

2010-01-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Because of all the enthusiasm of people who have supported us in the work with the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the unique heritage of the park horses, and our and others' desire to preserve that heritage when the horses leave the park, we have organized a new registry specifically for the park horses.

We are excited to officially introduce the

North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry

This registry will be available to all horses born in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, their future offspring, and any other horse with at least one parent with 100% Theodore Roosevelt National Park horse blood. As far as I know, there is no other registry available to the horses recently removed from the park, so their history and bloodlines would be lost without an organization designed to maintain their records outside the park. For new readers I will briefly review the history of the wild horses found in the park today.

These horses date back to the 1800's, before North Dakota became a state, when Native Americans, explorers, and immigrant settlers first came to the vast prairies of North America. They brought with them their horses of various breeds. Mixed with the feral horses that migrated north from Mexico, the escapees from those early people and the farmers and ranchers who followed them, ran free in the North Dakota Badlands long after the bison and other indigenous species became extinct. Their beauty, strength, and resilience were recorded by many of the early visitors to the Badlands, including Theodore Roosevelt, himself. Over the years, particularly after horses were replaced by vehicles for transportation and farming, and due to droughts of the 30's and the practice of open range grazing, other domestic horses found their way to the rough breaks of the Little Missouri valley, which became the last refuge for the wild horses of western North Dakota. However, even those deep ravines and rugged canyons could not protect the horses from those who wanted them gone from the rich grazing land; hundreds were run down and destroyed during the mid 1900's. Only those inadvertently enclosed within the boundaries of the national park survived, and those, only after public outcry forced the NPS to recognize them as a "historical demonstration herd."

Since then the horses have been managed so that they would not over populate the park. In the 1980's, inbreeding was showing in some bands in the form of crooked legs and backs, so some of the more prolific sires were removed and a total of seven domestic and BLM colts and one filly were released to add fresh blood to the gene pool. All but one of the introduced stallions had limited success and most of their offspring have since been removed. Less than a half dozen of the park horses still have some Tyger II Arabian and TVP Quarterhorse blood. The only successful domestic breeding stallion, the Brookman, a Shire/Paint stallion, left his mark on the horses running in the north and eastern areas in the form of larger size and bone. Several of the wild horses still carry his blood and, in my opinion, it has not been detrimental to the integrity of the wild horses. In reality, no one really knows the origins of the blood that courses through the veins of these magnificent horses, but they have become a symbol of the old west and of the will of both man and beast to survive in a harsh land.

Therefore, because the wild horses of the North Dakota Badlands hold a unique place in the history and settlement of North Dakota, the North Dakota Badlands Horse Registry was established to register, promote, appreciate, and preserve the wild, feral horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Anyone who owns a horse meeting the requirements of registry will be able to register their horse, recieve a five generation pedigree, and be invited to join a Facebook group where they will be able to share progress reports, training tips, photos, and other information regarding these horses. Anyone interested in the horses may join. For more information, please contact me at:
horsetracks@btinet.net

ATTRACTIVE FEMALE SEEKS NEW HOME

2010-01-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, beautiful little Whisper needs a new home. With the addition of three young colts to the family, Whisper is not getting the attention she craves. When I bought her in May of 2008 after the first, and only successful low stress roundup, it was to save a tiny young filly from a very uncertain future. Whisper is now just two years old, happy, healthy, and well behaved, ready and willing to become a productive part of a new family. I am hoping someone will recognize how special she is and give her a forever home.

Whisper has been a joy to work with the past year and a half. Once she knew she could trust people, she wanted to be near people to be groomed and petted. Though she can be a little shy with strangers at first, she is the first one to come to me in the pasture, so is always very easy to catch anywhere and warms up to strangers quickly. She can be touched all over, has had her bridle path clipped with an electric clipper, and is very good about picking up her feet, having been trimmed by a professional farrier since she was about 9 months old.

Over the past several months I have worked her some with the Parelli "seven games." Though I haven't had a lot of time with her, she is a natural with the games, very obedient and quick to learn. With her temperament, she will be quite easy to train to ride or drive. She has been saddled and harnessed several times and has no problem with either. She also loads and unloads beautifully in either a stock or enclosed trailer. I've hauled her to a few different places; she adjusts well to new surroundings.

At 14 hands as a two year old October 1st, she will probably not get very big. I am guessing she will be between 14.2 and 15 hands. Her conformation is quite nice with just a slight toe out on the right front. She is a little long in the back for the length of her legs, but that makes her more able to handle the tough terrain she was born in. These horses are always born with very good bone and good solid joints. She is registered as a North Dakota Badlands Horse.

If anyone wants more information and more photos, check out her story on this blog (Whisper's Story, archived in September 2008), see her ad at Equine.com under her name, Dakota Whisper, her Youtube video under her name, or email me at horsetracks@btinet.net.

DANCING WITH A WILD HORSE

2009-12-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

I have lived a lot of years and trained a few horses, but none are more fascinating than the wild horses from the park. They are essentially blank slates with very little, if any, close up experience with humans. Oh, they've seen us in the park and had the unpleasant experience of being pushed though chutes, sales rings, trailers, and pens, so they have had some good and not so good experience with us, but horses are generally very forgiving and oh, so curious.

We've found that a year in the life of one of these horses makes a lot of difference. Most of us who have weanlings are petting them and getting them to trust us. Some owners report having their babies halter broken already. A lot depends on the temperament of the individual and the amount of time one is able to spend with the little newcomer.

A weanling is always very curious, but also frightened of these two legged predators who have captured him and seemed bent on putting their paws on him. Working a baby is much different from working an older horse. One does not want to push him very fast or very long, as he can injure his delicate legs. I recommend John Lyons' book, Bringing Up Baby. It gives step-by-step lessons for training a foal in it's first year without injury to either the foal or the handler.

Our little Hail has been a joy to work with. He was, at first, very frightened, but careful, patient work in the round pen soon paid off. First teaching him that I was dominant yet trustworthy, I was able to get him to walk, turn, stop, face me, and eventually let me touch him. At first it was less frightening to touch with a training stick, but that led to being able to scratch and pet him with a hand. He now lets me touch him all over from both sides. It is very important to train both sides. Little Hail now comes to me for his scratches, as he has learned that the two legs can be pretty good friends. Recently, I was working with Griggs, the other weanling we are keeping; I had put Hail in a smaller round pen to wait his turn to "play." It soon became clear to me that Hail wasn't being so patient for his scratching. He was running around the little pen bucking and kicking alternately with pawing at the fence between us and trying to stick his head through it. Once I let Griggs out of the big pen and opened the gate to Hail's pen, he went right in and waited for his scratches!

As much fun as the little guys are, they do not compare with the older ones. Hawk, our yearling, has taught me so much in the few weeks we have had him. I feel so privileged to have this exquisite wild creature in my barnyard. I literally can't wait to get to work with him every day and I think he is beginning the enjoy our sessions as much as I do.

The extra year in his life had made him more convinced that this predator was out to get him. At first he jumped and ran to the other side of the pen every time he saw us or heard our footsteps in the gravel. The first couple weeks were spent just getting him used to having people around him. We would sit near his pen and near his feed, walk around on the outside of the pen, and finally clean it with him in it.

He was so frightened of me every time I walked into the pen that I had to try something else. My friend had said to put a gentle horse in with him so that he could take his cues from that horse. I tried working a gentle horse in the same pen, but that really freaked him out, so I had to think of some better plan that would help him relax. Finally, I hopped on my big, gentle dressage horse with no saddle or bridle and road him around in the round pen with Hawk. Maestro was so relaxed that Hawk soon accepted him and me on his back. I was able to work the youngster around the pen, pushing him when he ran from us and stopping and taking the pressure off him when he stopped. The pen was a little too small to get him to face us, so I just took advantage of the stopping and standing. I used the training stick to get him used to having me moving around on the other horse. Before long, I was able to swing the stick around, up and down and slap it's string against the ground and the rails. With rhythmic movements, I could make it approach and retreat from him until I could finally touch him and scratch him with it. Maestro's ability to side pass made it easy to slide up to Hawk without frightening him. Within a week of taking Maestro into the pen, I was able to go through the ritual of moving him, stopping him, snapping the whip around, touching him with it and ending with scratching him with my hand. A couple weeks of this along with cleaning his pen twice a day helped Hawk adjust to having me closer to him, so it was time to try it on foot again.

The minute I would walk into his pen without the wheel barrow, he would began to circle the pen with his head in the air. That was good, because one of the first things I wanted to teach him was that I could make him move his feet. He soon learned that I could move his feet at any speed, in any direction. I had to speak his language to get him to understand what I wanted him to do. As I learned his response to body language, he learned what I was asking of him. I could just lift an hand to make him move, walking in a small circle with him, focusing my energy on his hip. Stopping my energy while stepping back a bit would stop him. Pointing in the other direction would send him off again in that direction. When I rewarded him each time he turned to the inside by turning away from him, he learned that I wanted him to face me.

That was when the dance became even more fun. He learned that he was to face me wherever I went in his pen. If I stared at his hind feet from one side, he would move them to the other. Soon by moving his hind feet I could get him to move his front feet. Taking a step forward earned him a big reward of having me turn away, taking all the pressure off of him. The closer he got to me, the more curious he became. Touching the end of the training stick was a huge step for him. I always made sure to stop the lesson on a positive note when he had made a move to trust and before he lost his confidence.

In the dance, it is so very important to know when to step forward and when to step back. One must know ones partner and what he is thinking in order to step back, taking the pressure off just before he wants to run. Rhythm in the approach and retreat builds the horse's confidence as he begins to sense the predictable nature of the dance. Moving, stopping, turning, coming forward, backing up, touch, release, reward, these were the things Hawk already knew from his band in the wild and he was learning that I could be his leader in his new world.

Now he too looks forward to his "play" in the round pen. He readily leaves his little buddies and goes to the round pen, immediately interested in what will happen this time. I move him around to establish the fact that I am leading this dance. I invite him in and he acknowledges me by touching my hand. I remove the hand before he removes his nose and rhythmically stroke his shoulders with the training stick. I stop. He bobs his head as if to say, "I like this dance; let's do it again." We repeat the dance getting closer and closer until I can brush him with my hand. then I walk away before he does. He comes again, forward and back, in and out, all the while we look into one another's eyes. I wonder at the sun shining through his blue eye and the softness and vulnerability I see in his brown one; he looks to me hoping he can trust me, but still not sure, so the dance continues. I hope it never ends.

HELP NEEDED

2009-12-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

We have been informed that a man from Dodge, North Dakota needs some help finding homes for three stallions he purchased from Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the last sale. We are all finding that the older horses take more time to gentle, but it can be done. Buck has done what he can in the time he has had to help the stallions start to trust, but has realized that they are going to take more time than he has available. I am thankful that he took them home and gave them a chance; he kept them from going to slaughter, so I'm hoping we can find someone with more time to continue the effort. However, anyone considering buying three and four year old stallions must have strong, high coral fences as they can and will jump if pushed too hard.

The four year old he has, Cruiser, is a red roan out of Trouble's Girl. Buck, said Cruiser is settling down pretty well so should be a nice horse, but would do better if he could be separated from the other two. These horses are much easier to work with alone, but again I reiterate that they require high fences in the round pen they are worked in so that they don't get the idea they can jump them. The three year old red roan is Hammer out of Little Gray. He is also taking to domestic life quite well and will be a nice horse when gentled. Both these horses are by the stallion, Little Sorrel. When Little Sorrel came through the handling facility with Gary and Gray Ghost, they were both aggressive and fighting one another, but Little Sorrel kept his cool and took everything in stride. His sons seem to be adjusting as well as he did.

The third young stallion he has is Eclipse out of Strawberry, by Red Face. He was just kicked out of his band this fall. Buck has had the most trouble gaining his trust. Eclipse will need the help of someone experienced and skilled in working with wild stallions. Any horse can be trained with time, patience, and know-how. Those of you who have these, please consider taking Eclipse and giving him a second chance. All of these horses should do well in the right hands.

For more information and to make an offer on any one of these young stallions, call Buck at 701-846-3954. He has 14 days of free training still available on them and will deliver them anywhere within 150 miles of his home.

OUR BOYS COME HOME

2009-11-30T22:13:00.000-08:00

More photos below of some training sessions

OUR BOYS COME HOME

2009-11-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Tracking the horses in a roundup year is difficult when you don't plan to buy any at the sale, but this year was particularly emotional knowing we did plan to take some home. I didn't want to get attached to any one for fear the youngster may not make it until fall with all the perils in the park. Then there was the worry that they might be injured during the roundup or at the sales barn. I tried to keep an open mind, not deciding on any particular horses until I knew they were safe, but it didn't work. We had decided we could take as many as four if need be, but would definitely want as least two so that we would each have a backup for the horses we ride for the tracking.

By mid-summer I had a few favorites. The first to snuggle his way into my heart was Marquis. I had always loved his sire, High Star, and his dam, Pale Lady. Little Marquis was just too cute with his wispy soft dun color and noble blaze. He was well built and fine featured like his sire and though not representative of the characteristic colors of the park, I could see him fitting in just fine in our pasture. In order to keep him company he needed a brother from the same band. His full brother, Sage, had always been a favorite of mine, but I didn't think we had the skills to deal with a two year old stallion. The yearling, Hawk, had caught my eye as well. Yearlings are notoriously homely and Hawk was no exception, but he had an unusual bay roan coat, the characteristic bald face, and a flashing blue eye. He's the kind of color people either love or hate; I grew to love him.

I had always thought I would like to have a foal from Thunder's band. He is powerful, one of the larger stallions in the park, short coupled, and nicely balanced. He had two nice colts from last year, but we already had a yearling on the wish list, so wondered what he might have this year. His is one of the most illusive bands, claiming their territory on the bottoms west of the far eastern rim, but finally, at the end of June, we saw the band from Buck Hill and watched them with the scope as they climbed the butte onto the flats on the east side of the park. Could we get there to see them before dark? We had to try since we could make out the form of a very small foal with them. We got to the east side just as the sun was setting, but it was light enough to see the band and get a few shots as they swirled around us in the near darkness. There was the foal with Rain, a tiny dark colt with a large round star perfectly placed in the middle of his forehead. Henry and I had been caught in a rain storm and hailed on the day before. The colt's sire was Thunder Cloud and his dam was Rain; he had to be Hail!

We didn't see Hail again until the end of September. Fortunately for us, they were on Lindbo Flats with dozens of others. Again is was nearing sunset, but it was unseasonably warm and quiet. Red Face and Singlefoot were off to the east, but Blaze and several bachelors were near the fence where we slid under to get a better look. Thunder eyed us cautiously from a small butte a few hundred yards to the south as we enjoyed the antics of the bachelors. Finally, determining we we no threat to him and his family, Thunder paraded them right to us. We watched as he sparred with a couple bachelors with his son, Clipper, closely following him. I marveled at the chance to see Thunder so close, and along with him, little Hail, three months old and stunningly beautiful! His dark coat had turned to blue, just like his daddy's and his legs were long and strait. He went to the top of the list with Marquis.

With Blaze was little Talkington, also a handsome blue roan. He would be smaller than Hail, but a good match for color. The thought of a team of blues crossed my mind. I also loved little Griggs from Red Face's band. He was an adorable bay roan with an engaging temperament. When High Star unexpectedly disappeared, my thoughts went back to his band and little Barnhart, another blue roan with a tiny star. I would have to see them come in and make my final decisions then.

At the roundup, we were successful in bringing in all the mares and foals; that is, all but Pale Lady and Marquis. Pale Lady slipped away from the choppers when they brought in the rest of her band. Though they were just south of the handling facility when the last run was made, it was too rainy to see them and they were missed again. It was meant to be that Marquis would stay in the park. One day he will be a strong band sire like his father and brother.

All the others came in safe and strong. Since there were so many people coming to buy, we decided to buy two or three. Hail, Hawk, and Talkington were on the list. My friends were there to support us and had agreed to bid for me, since I was to be up in the box with the auctioneers, still IDing horses. At first I told Joan to buy them for whatever it took. It didn't take long to realize I was being foolish; I had Henry give her a limit. The foals were first and bringing unbelievable prices. I swallowed hard as Hail entered the ring. Joan bid like a pro. I could just see her over the head of one of the auctioneers. The bidding was lively and the price crept up. It was up to my limit; I nodded to Joan to keep bidding. Crazy or not, I wanted that colt. Joan made another bid with my nod; the auctioneer went on and on begging for another bid. Enough, enough, I cried to myself as he seemed to try too hard to outbid me, but Joan had prevailed and Hail was mine! Takington was next; I had fallen in love with the little tyke when he stood so quietly to have his blood drawn for the Coggins test. Again the price crept up and up. I knew Hawk was waiting with the other yearlings. I really wanted him too. I finally let Talkington go. I didn't know who was bidding at the time, but found out later that a very nice lady from MN had bought him and would give him a wonderful home.

Hawk was next. For all his wild looks, he was handsome and proud. Though he was extremely frightened, he kept his cool in that noisy foreign place. Joan was watching as the bidding started, but didn't want to seem too eager, so hung back a bit. My other friend jabbed her in the ribs with an elbow, thinking she was preoccupied and missing out on the colt. Joan nonchalantly lifted her number. Up and up the bid climbed, but stopped below my limit. The other colt I wanted so badly was mine. Now I could relax.

Now with only two boys, I could take my time with them and spend more time with Whisper, the filly. I would not feel the pressure to sell her too soon. As it turned out, we are keeping sweet little Griggs for a friend, so he is Hail's new buddy. The training will be fun!

THE SALE, 2009

2009-11-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

The adrenalin rush of the roundup was over and relief washed over us as we looked back on a very safe, successful roundup. Now it was time to concentrate on those animals who would be hauled to the sales barn in Dickinson and sold to the highest bidder. My friends and I had worked tirelessly to get the word out about these beautiful wild horses. I had been hearing from a lot of prospective buyers, and it seemed as if we were going to have a good crowd at the sales barn Friday, so there was nothing more we could do now but wait.

This sale would be different from those in the past. Now all the horses had names and those names would be the way the buyers who had seen our fliers, articles, and photos would know them. Thursday afternoon we were lucky enough to watch the horses come in and be unloaded. I prayed none of them would be injured here at this strange place. They all seemed to settle in very easily and were not alarmed as a few early arrivals tried to figure out which one matched the names they had picked out. By the next morning more people were pouring into the parking lot. Mike had filled in all the hip tag numbers with the appropriate horses and brought the sale lists that morning. Excited potential buyers moved from pen to pen spotting their favorites and discussing each one's potential in hushed tones. Some buyers were on the phone describing horses for others who could not be at the sale, but wanted to buy. Most of our group headed into the auction area early to get good seats. I would be up in the auctioneer's box so that I could identify those whose hip tags were either missing or too crumpled to read, so I had a little time to get my head together. Then the bidding began.

There were a few domestics sold first. Prices were low; a nice Quarter Horse foal went for $7.50. Then, the first TRNP foal came into the ring. It was Sheila, the pretty filly from Blaze and Little Brother's Girl. The bidding began, and as amazed murmurs rippled through the crowd, the bidding continued, bringing a respectable amount for the chestnut filly. As each weanling appeared, the bidding picked up. The auctioneers burst into giddy grins as the auction took on a festive nature. Cheers broke out as buyers won the baby they had hoped to buy. Badlands Bill, the beautiful red dun with a bald face and four high stockings, that I had predicted would bring the highest price, was finally won by our good friends for $1450. Several other foals brought very good prices with the weanlings averaging $361. The yearlings, lanky and thin, struggling to grow into their limbs, also sold very well, averaging over $200 each. The handsome blue roan, Full Moon, brought $575 from some more good friends from MN.

Two and three year old studs came next and experienced horsemen vied for the chance to gentle a young stallion, born in the wild and already testing his power among the bachelor bands. They too were going well until the blue gray two year old, Bashful, ran timidly into the ring. At first he froze when bombarded with all the light and noise in the auction ring. Another friend from ND had the bid and they were about to let him out, when a ring man pressured him too much. He stood to his hind legs and easily launched himself over the 6 foot, double ring fence into the seating; only his right hind leg hanging up on the fence prevented him from running headlong through the scattering crowd! Screams irrupted as frightened onlookers ran from the building. A quick thinking horseman jumped into the ring and wrapped the frightened horse's tail around the ring rail and another tied the hind leg to the rail with his own belt.

An older gentleman with a walker had been unlucky enough to be right in front of the horse when he cleared the fence with his entire front end. The man was under the frightened stallion as it pawed to be free of the biting fence. The man's wife and a brave cameraman were able to drag him to safety before he was mortally injured. Once the man was safely outside along with the majority of the crowd, the sales barn staff was able to deal with the horse, who was thrashing and raging at anything he could reach. A man's jacket, the chair the old man had been sitting on, anything he could get his teeth into was a target of the hurting stallion's wrath, since he could no longer run from his pain. Miraculously the men were able to sedate him, remove him from the fence, and walk him down the stairs and out the door to the freedom of a quieter place! He stood quietly, lost in the fog of the sedative, but relieved to be rid of the noise and the monster that had held his leg.

People milled around outside on the warm, sunny day, shaken and not sure what to do next. An ambulance came to take the injured, but alert man to the hospital. Thoughts of fresh ownership of horses were momentarily forgotten while prayers were said for the man and the horse. When both had been dealt with in a proper manner, the owner announced that the rest of the horses would be sold in the pens inside the barn where they had been waiting to enter the ring. Though it was announced that only buyers were to enter the barn, the alleyway was soon filled with the curious along with the serious buyers. Unfortunately, the young stallion's behavior had frightened off all but a few tough trainers and some horse traders. Prices dropped to under $100 on the last few horses. I had a lump in my throat as I indentified those older horses for the auctioneer, not knowing what would be the fate of these unsuspecting animals.

All were soon sold except Bashful, the groggy, bloodied two year old who had just been pushed more than his young mind could handle. What was to happen to him? Earlier, just before the auction had resumed, a tall young man , the son of my dear friends, whom I had known since he rode his little black pony with us in the badlands, slipped in beside me and said in a determined voice, "I want that horse!" Just as quickly, he slipped away into the crowd and I lost sight of him, but when the bidding started for Bashful, there he was; he bought the frightened young stallion. Bashful was safe!

To follow his progress, go to: http://ahorsenamedbashful.blogspot.com

THE ROUNDUP

2009-10-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 19th dawned cold and overcast with the threat of rain for the afternoon. Stomping our feet to keep them warm, the 50+ NPS employees and feral horse study team gathered for the 7:00 am briefing. It was emphasized that the task at hand needed everyone's full attention, with an emphasis on safety. The goal was to capture and work as many of the 164 horses as possible while remaining calm, quiet, and respectful toward them and one another.

As the briefing broke up, all eyed turned upward to the windsock high above our heads. Slight winds and a high enough ceiling meant the gather was on. Mike intended to bring the horses in band by band as much as possible with no more than 20 being brought at one time. With a pulsing roar the two choppers took to the sky. Mike was in one and another NPS man in the other. A student of the low stress livestock handling method, Mike was determined to use that method throughout the operation.

Everything was ready at the handling facility on the far east side of the Park when we heard the throbbing of the chopper engines in the distance. Mike radioed that they had their first band of horses moving toward the capture pens about a half hour out. When the choppers rose above the buttes south of the wing fence, all personnel reported to the safety zone north of the high wooden pens. Only the gate keepers would be allowed out of that area until the helicopters left for another gather. Only after letting the horses settle in the fist large capture pen, did personnel walk into that grassy area and on foot bring the first band of horses into the corrals for processing. Henry's and my job was to identify each horse as it came in and follow it through the chutes so that no mistakes would be made as to which horse was getting which procedure.

Animals to be sold all had blood drawn for their Coggins test for EIA, a requirement to cross state lines. Project stallions had blood drawn and all mares had fecal samples, blood samples, palpation, and ultrasound to determine pregnancy. Most of the horses submitted amazingly well for wild animals. The Doc. was able to draw blood from little Talkington with just a hand on his neck. The Veterinarians did an amazing job of making the procedure as quickly and low stress as possible.

Since all the necessary procedures for the contraceptive study took a little longer, the choppers continued to fly, bringing horses into the pen slowly and carefully. Friends watching in the Park were amazed at how slowly the pilots brought the horses in, often at a walk. Because the horses were not so stressed when they came in, they came though the chutes much more relaxed. Less than a half dozen mares had to be sedated.

Over the two and a half days of the roundup, 154 of the 164 horses were brought in and processed. A kick to the front leg of a yearling filly was the only significant injury and she was moving well by the sale three days later. Sale horses were sorted by age and the older ones by sex so that they would not injure one another in the pens. The "keepers" were turned into another large grassy area to band up again before being released.

The afternoon of the last day, after a celebratory finishing briefing, everyone walked out to watch as a few people encouraged the horses to exit though a large gate into the Park. Dolly was the first one to find the open gate, but soon others, realizing the gate was open, walked out to freedom. They momentarily settled to eating just north of the handling facility while stallions fretted over their harems to make sure they would not be stolen by another band stallion. Quietly several stallions rounded up their mares and headed for their home range; topping the last hill they disappeared into the horizon.

WE'RE OFF

2009-10-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave to spend a week in the Park with our little dogs to keep us company and fight for our bed. The day will be spent tracking horses with a good friend. It will be one last weekend of relaxation and quiet before the roundup begins on Monday.

We covet your prayers for safety for all the people involved in the roundup and for the horses. Every precaution is being made to see that the horses are brought in and handled safely and that personnel are well trained to work with care and respect for these beautiful animals.

For the last two years, we have worked to make potential buyers aware of the horses, their strength, beauty, intelligence, and value as trainable companions and mounts. There are a good number of people coming from all over- California, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Canada, and who knows where else, to purchase the horses and take them home. It will be one of the best attended sales of the TRNP horses.

I want to thank everyone in advance for helping spread the word and coming to purchase horses. You will be bringing home a little bit of the history of the west.
Congratulations and God bless!

Watch for new stories about the roundup, the sale, and the families the horses find.

THE ROUNDUP AND SALE ARE COMING

2009-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am interrupting my visit to each of the bands to make an appeal to all the wild horse lovers reading this, to get the word out about these wonderful horses needing homes. I know some of you would rather have none of the horses coming out. You love the wild horses and do not see why they cannot be left alone to run free as their ancestors did. However, there are others who would tell the Park personnel that horses are not wild animals and therefore have no place in a national park. The Park personnel have to try to keep a balance between both of the extremes while dealing with numbers of species who live in the Park.

This blog is not a forum for arguing the various views on wild horses and national park policy. Having gotten to know some of the Park people well, I have come to understand the dilemma of dealing with the abundance of animals and all the emotion that their management evokes in the public. The people who have to make these decisions, do so with great care and consideration.

It is the hope of the Park and those of us who know the wild horses of TRNP, that the day will come when numbers can be kept under control without roundups. The study which will be going on for the next few years is a huge step in that direction, but until that day, they will still have to cull the herd to keep them from growing so large that they and the other species they share the Park with are in danger of overgrazing the Park and a future of starvation.

My position is not to argue about the decisions being made, but to appeal to horse lovers to help me find homes for these awesome horses who are going to be coming out. Over the years they have lived and survived in the Park; they have become strong and resilient. Well built, they have strong bones and feet and good teeth. The ones I am familiar with are quite mellow and have gentled easily with the right training. Their beautiful variety of colors make them unique in the wild horse world.

Park personnel are trying to make buying one of the horses as easy as possible. The Coggins testing will be done at the time of the roundup, so results should be back in time for the sale. Check with your state laws to see what other paperwork you may need to cross state lines. Dr. Rowe will be on sight to do any additional vetting you may need. Since this is a public auction, you can bid on any horse and take it home as soon as you have paid for it and gotten the necessary vetting done.

Please talk to your friends and neighbors to find enough buyers to give all the horses a home. Many who are handy at training will be buying horses to gentle and train and find homes for at a later date, so make that a consideration if you don't wish to keep them all. They will have a better chance of finding a forever home if they have been gentled. The sale is at

Stockmen's Livestock Exchange West in Dickinson, ND, October 23, at 2:00 MDT.

Look at little Jules at the top of the post; can you resist those eyes?

I don't think so!

THE I BAND 9-09

2009-09-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

There have been a few changes in the I band as well as some of the others. Cocoa has not had any new foals added since Neuens and Connell, (Cocoa Puff) but he added the young filly, Eagle, from High Star's band, and Neuens and Connell have both experienced a metamorphosis of sorts. Both fillies have become beautiful roans. On one of our last visits to the Park they also showed off their athleticism in a chase up and down the hills just below Biocourt Ridge. Neuens seems to be the instigator of all the frolics. Those two youngsters along with two year old Autumn and one year old Eagle are slated to sell, so bring your piggy banks; these are beauties!

THE H BAND 9-09

2009-09-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

The H band with Blaze as it's colorful, diligent stallion, has grown over the summer. Both Little Brother's Girl and Domino foaled. We had called the first foal Talkington, because the band is almost always found along Talkington trail, until we realized she was a filly and needed a more feminine name. When her little brother was born a few weeks later, he got the name Talkington and the filly was christened, Sheila, after Sheila Schaffer. Both foals are growing and doing well.
Big brother, Tiger, was kicked out in July and can now be seen with several other "young guns" following the other bands around and generally getting into trouble. He and the two foals will find new homes after the roundup.

THE G BAND 9-09

2009-09-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Some time last spring poor Granite lost his last mare, Snip's Gray, and her two bay overo offspring to Sidekick, so there was no more G band. When he did not regain a band by mid summer, I gave his letter G to another small band. Though Brutus was fighting everyone in sight to try to get more mares, he actually lost one, Cheyenne, and her filly, Auney. We are speculating that the young studs came and took her while Brutus was off on a scouting trip to find more mares. We'll never know how it happened, but Georgia's Boy and Coal won the affections of Cheyenne. We spotted them on the hills just northeast of Wind Canyon.

At first it seemed as though Georgia's Boy was the dominant young stallion, but in the end it was young Coal who won the mare and her filly and the right to be called the G band. Georgia's Boy had to return to his buddies in the bachelor band.

THE E BAND 9-09

2009-09-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

The E band has had no changes since last fall. Embers is the oldest stallion to maintain a band and has been able to keep his two faithful mares, Bella and Mist. He has not driven Bella's two stud colts out, though they are not his. Benny, Blueboy, and their little sister, Beauty will be sold at the roundup, so Embers will have a very small band, but hopefully both mares will give him foals next spring.

Beauty was born a plain brown filly with absolutely no white. Beauty didn't really seem to fit her, but it did fit the practice of naming all her foals names starting with B. As she grew, little Beauty also grew into her name; she is now a very striking dark blue roan. With any luck she will stay dark, but most of Bella's foals have eventually grayed. Only time will tell, but blue or gray, Beauty will live up to her name.

THE C AND F BANDS

2009-08-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

The double bands, C and F have probably provided the most entertainment during the study this summer. From the thrilling four stallion fight that I wrote about earlier, Red Face and Singlefoot having to defend their mares from their own body guard, Satellite, losing some of the mares even though the three stallions run together, Red Face trying to breed a young mare from Singlefoot's band while both are covered from ears to tails in slimy gray mud, to the antics of their 7 active foals, there is always plenty of action with this unique band.

Though Red Face had no foals last year, he has made up for it this year having bred and raised a healthy foal from every mare in his band. He lost two mares to other stallions, but those mares also have live foals.

Molly, a big, bay roan mare by the first Wind Canyon, that Red Face took from Singlefoot, foaled during one of the frequent storms last spring. Her cute bay colt will carry the evidence for the rest of his life; he has rounded ears, frozen off in the storm. How could he have any other name than Teddy Bear? We found him early last spring layed out flat on the road, soaking up every bit of warmth the blacktop would provide.

Flame and her five year old maiden daughter, Pretty Girl, each produced cute, well built sorrel stud colts. Jules has a bald face like his sister and brother, while Jones has a blaze. The color may be a little ordinary, but they will not be ordinary colts since Flame has never produced anything but beautiful offspring.

Little Griggs was born solid red bay, like his dam, but over the months he has shed off into a striking bay roan. His dam, Sundance, is another product of Double Trouble and Lacey. Her sister, Lignite, out of another of Double Trouble's mares, Gray Lady, is a true black and in her first foaling produced a stunning black filly, Little Mo.

Singlefoot's pretty bay roan, Frosty by Lindbo Blue, added another sorrel to the double band, but this foal is also outstanding. Tescher, is going to be a big boned, strong colt with a light sorrel coat and a unique blaze. He has a proud bearing and often takes the lead in the foal adventures.

Lightning, the black overo Lindbo Blue mare with the bolt of lightning across her side, had a timid little dark filly with just a few small spots and one blue eye. Like some of her sisters, Lindbo (Lindy), looks like she will gray with time. Her yearling sister, Spook, has two blue eyes and will look like her sire when she grays completely. Lightning's two year old, Crow, may stay black.

The last time we studied the double band, the foals were enjoying the companionship of one another under a dead cedar. The boys were practicing to be tough band stallions like their sires.

THE B BAND

2009-08-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

Though Little Sorrel has had his trials with young studs trying to claim his mares, he was still in possession of most of them when we last saw him. Little Sorrel is by The Chestnut, and must have inherited his strength and tenacity, because he has maintained one of the largest bands for several years. In 2009 he has been dogged mercilessly by his own son, Cruiser, but Cruiser has failed to keep the mares for any length of time. It amazed us that last year and even a few times this year, we have seen Little Sorrel leave his mares with Cruiser in order to take care of some studly business. He must have been confident that he would be able to walk in and take control when he returned, but it has become harder and harder as Cruiser gains in strength and arrogance.

Two mares still in his band foaled stud colts this year. Buck, a flashy little bay roan, is out of Trouble's Girl, who also came from The Chestnut's band, and Cooper, a sorrel, is out of the cute dappled gray mare, Freckles. Grandma Roan's yearling, Full Moon, is on the sale bill as well as Trouble's Girl's other offspring, Butte, a three year old, and Annie, a yearling. Tanker is yet to foal this year, but her two year old, Socks, and yearling, Cinnamon, are scheduled to sell. This band can often be seen along Interstate 94.

THE A BAND

2009-08-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

During the next several weeks until the round up and sale in October, I will feature each of the 20 bands as we saw them last at the end of the behavior study in July 2009. I will post the photos of those who are slated for culling this fall.

The A band has remained constant since the handsome red roan overo stallion, Cloud, took Flicka some time last fall. He is a son of Double Trouble, who died of his fight inflicted injuries over the winter. We confirmed this by finding his body this spring. Cloud is out of the pretty sorrel sabino, Lacey, who was Double Trouble's first mare.

Flicka, a daughter of the Chestnut, whose band roamed in the Buck Hill area, was Curious George's first mare, but he lost her to Silver in the spring of 2008. Silver was seen last fall running with the bachelors again, but we do not know how he came to lose all the Curious George mares he had won in the spring. We suspect Copper stole most of Silver's mares and Cloud was lucky enough to pick up Flicka when she refused to stay on the northeast side and returned to her home territory around Paddock Creek. It is not uncommon for a mare to slip away from her captor and return to the part of the Park she is most familiar with or to the band she was stolen from.

Some time in March of this year, Flicka foaled a cute bald faced, sorrel colt. His name is Paddock (or Paddy for short) for the place he was born and still calls his home. Walk or ride the lower Paddock Creek trail and look for them in the valleys either side or on the rough broken bottom land.

HORSES FOR SALE

2009-08-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

During the spring and summer of 2009 there have been 31 foals born in the Park that have survived. Over the past six years, new foal crops have brought the total number of horses to about 164. Since the horses are designated as a demonstration herd to represent the wild bands that Theodore Roosevelt saw and wrote about when he lived in North Dakota, they too are kept from multiplying themselves out of a home. Bison, elk, dear, and pronghorn all share the vegetation in the Park and there are few natural predators for the larger species, so there has to be periodic reductions of the larger animals in order to keep a balance of species and not overgraze the Park Though Park personnel are dedicated to finding better methods of keeping the number of horses under control in the future, it is necessary to round them up this fall and sell off a number of individuals.

These horses have proven themselves to be great using horses for a great number of purposes. They are being used as ranch horses, driving horses, dressage and jumping horses, as well as just good family trail horses. Our experience has been that they are easy to gentle and train and that they like to be around people. They are sturdy, sure footed, strong, and tend to stay sound because of their long history of survival. Weak animals die off and do not reproduce, so those who make it are tough, with strong feet and legs.

In hope that every individual will find a home after the sale, most of the culled horses are going to be young. There will be horses of various colors and all ages from weanlings and yearlings to a few older studs that can still be started by skilled trainers. The horses will be sold at Stockmen's Livestock Exchange on the east side of Dickinson, North Dakota on October 23, 2009.

I will be featuring some of the horses in this blog over the next several weeks and months, but for those who are interested in buying a horse, I can tell you how to get the entire file by age at PhotoBucket. That is the best I can do until I firgure out how to get a link to them.

If you have experience with young, unbroken horses and have the facilities to keep a wild horse safe until it is gentled, then think about giving one of these special horses a home. There are also individuals who are willing to gentle a youngster for someone who is unable to do it himself.

Contact me at horsetracks@btinet.net for more information.

HAZARDS, DID I MENTION HAZARDS

2009-08-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

This spring and summer, with the wild horse behavior study, has been a learning experience in more than just learning more about the horses. We have learned that one must be aware of what is brewing on the other side of the butte.

In June, Henry and I had hiked to the flats where the Boicourts had built their farm. We were sitting among the remnants of a foundation, recording the behavior of the double band of Red Face and Singlefoot. Earlier, we had noticed a line of dark clouds forming behind the Boicourt Ridge behind us, but we felt lucky that the storm had blown past us to the south. We were about half way though the 20 minute study when we felt a few raindrops. Maybe we could hold out for the rest of the 10 minutes.........................maybe not. With no warning, it started to hail. We started running for cover like two old western cowboys dodging bullets. The hail was stinging the backs of our legs and any exposed skin. We were running for some kind of shelter from the hail and the lightning. The nearest gully would have to do, so I dashed into the first gully off the nearby ravine. It was full of Poison Ivy! Every inch of soil flourished with the tender, three leafed varmints that were just waiting to spread their venom all over our bodies. We leaped out of the gully and sprinted farther down the side of the ravine until we found a solid clay bank. It was good enough; we clamored over the lip and huddled against the clay for protection. It didn't really provide any protection from the hail, but it put us below the rest of the flat so we weren't puny moving targets for the lightning bolts.

We must have been laying in our fetal position in the clay for at least 20 minutes until the hail finally stopped and the rain let up some. While a light rain continued, the question came to me whether we should make a run for the vehicle a mile away or wait for the sun to come back out and finish the study. Turning over on my now muddy bank, I caught a look at Henry for the first time since our escape from certain death at the Boicourt homestead. His heavy blue jeans now encased in ice, he was shaking uncontrollably, like he had dunked himself in a lake in the middle of January. I guessed he didn't want to wait for the sun, even though I could now see blue sky over Boicourt Ridge. We drug ourselves out of our muddy sanctuary and slogged back to the protection of old Air Force Blue.

The sun did come out and we did dry eventually and complete more studies that day. But, it wasn't to be our last encounter with Mother Nature's wrath.

A few weeks later I was out with Eileen, my tracking friend from San Diego. Henry and Hedrick were also going out as a team so that we could get more bands observed. Eileen had been in Medora for several weeks and still hadn't been able to track down Blaze to get any good photos of his band. I knew they had been hanging on the flats east of Buck Hill, so we headed for Buck Hill to see if we could spot them. There they were where I expected to find them, about a mile and a half down on the flats. It looked like a nice evening for a hike; it wasn't too hot any more and the clouds we could see did not look threatening. We parked the truck on Buck Hill and headed for the horses. It was a pleasant walk that only took about 20 minutes and it was still early evening.

Blaze is always a lot of fun to photograph because he is pretty wary, so always gives us a good show. Eileen wanted some photos of Little Brother's Girl's filly, Sheila, and Domino's new colt, Talkington. They were quite cooperative, letting us get close enough for some photos before we sat down to start the study. As we recorded their behavior every minute for 20 minutes, we noticed that the sky was getting darker, but we figured it was worth getting a little wet, to get good photos and a study of the illusive band. About the time we finished, it began to sprinkle.

By this time the clouds were building quickly in all directions, but it looked as if the storm might blow off to the north. We commented on the strange looking, dark clouds over Buck Hill as we looked for some cover to ride out the showers. Nearby was a deep ravine, and having had experience with the protective quality of ravines in the recent past, I decided it was our best bet. We found a flat spot at the bottom of the ravine where the bank rose about 20 feet above our heads and there was a nice spreading cottonwood that barely reached above the bank. We settled in for what we hoped to be a safe reprieve from a short squall.

Dressed only in light clothing, we were the most concerned with keeping out cameras dry. We laughed about getting caught in a storm AGAIN as the rain fell. I was concerned that Henry might be looking for us, but my phone had no service and I didn't think he had a Park radio, but it was worth a try, so I turned it on. We could here the conversations of local law enforcement monitoring the storm. We heard someone say that a tornado was spotted just south of Medora heading..........................sssssssssssssssscccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Static, nothing but static. Again we heard someone say something about having checked out the problem at Painted Canyon, but we didn't know what the problem might be. Eileen asked, "Where is Painted Canyon from here?" We were about a half mile from Painted Canyon! We were still hoping that most of the storm would go around us when we heard the report that the line of severe thunderstorms reached from the South Dakota border to the Canadian border! It was not looking good for the storms to miss us and the radio was not raising any response.

As the rain poured and soaked us to the skin, we began to watch the water rise in the ravine. I said we had to have a plan of where we were going to get out if the water rose too quickly. The clay sides of the ravine were turning to gray slime which would not be easy to climb. Pressing our water logged bodies as close as we could to the tree, we watched the water rise. It seemed that the storm couldn't get much more miserable when I heard a "plunk" on the brim of my hat. Now it was hailing! I was wishing I had had the brains to bring a rain coat when the rain suddenly stopped-this was our chance!

As I had expected, the climb out of the ravine was a challenge with the slick clay and not a lot to hang on to in order to pull ourselves out. However, we were not about to let a little mud stop us; we found a way to the top and were on our way back to the truck. We saw the horses just waiting out the storm and Eileen was temped to stop for more photos, but looking at the clouds to the south, we decided it was prudent to keep going. Our next obstacle was another deep gully that was running fairly deep with muddy water. We had to scramble another half mile north, toward it's source to find a place narrow enough to jump it. On the way out, we had walked around the small, flat butte that had burned when struck by lightning several years ago, but since we had already gone out of our way to the north, it seemed quicker to go over it.

We headed for a green spot on the butte that looked like it might have some decent footing. Pulling ourselves over, around and through the maze of burned Junipers was like going through an obstacle course at boot camp. We found that dead trees don't always have much of a root system and don't always hold when you pull on them. We also found that the green we hoped was grass was actually thistles, millions of thistles. Eileen's comment as we drug ourselves through them was, " Eeuuhh, these things are covered with thorns, but Oh, look the have pretty purple flowers!"

Having reached the top of the butte that was more like the landscape of the moon than the Badlands, we had to find a place to get down that wasn't too steep or too slick. Success! We were over the butte and headed across the flats again. At this point, the flats were more like one large lake, but we couldn't worry about our boots when we still had gullies to cross. While engrossed in looking for a place to jump another deep gully, Eileen stopped me short with the warning, "There's a rattle snake coiled right in front of you!" Taking a 180 away from the snake, we headed into another lake of muddy water. About that time the next line of storms caught up to us and the lightning crashed around us. It was not lost on us that we were standing ankle deep in water; we grabbed one another and screamed like little school girls. If we were going to fry, we were going to fry together. Though Eileen said later that she saw an orange glow around me when the lightning hit, we survived, by God's grace. Yes, by now we were not laughing any more; we were praying, out loud! The only way to stay out of the water was to skirt a butte. Of coarse, the butte was bentonite, all bentonite. Snakes, lakes, or bentonite? We chose bentonite. Skidding and sliding, we made it thought the bentonite and on to another lake, another gully, and finally to the bottom of Buck Hill, where our nice warm, dry truck was waiting for us at the top. Somewhere on the trip across the bottoms, Eileen had asked what we would do if it got dark before we got to the truck. I said it wasn't an option, WE WOULD MAKE IT BACK TO THE TRUCK!

Buck Hill is steep there, very steep, and by now it was running with water and mud. Going up the trail would be impossible, so we would have to find a way through the trees. Picking our way carefully through the trees, using their limbs, small bushes, tufts of grass, or whatever else we could find to pull ourselves up, we made it up the 150ft, or so, of Buck Hill. You can believe we celebrated when we saw the truck and Henry waiting for us!

We had been out in the storm for 3 hours. Since we lived through our ordeal, we laugh about it. It was quite funny; we wished we had video of us making the trip back to the truck. Eileen and I are now officially sisters, not blood sisters, not soul sisters, electric sisters! We found out the next day that the storm destroyed 100 homes in Dickinson. Thank the Lord, it didn't destry us.

THE BOICOURTS

2009-08-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places to observe the wild horses is Boicourt Ridge. On a hot summer day it is not unusual to find several bands fighting flies by catching the breezes on the high grassy ridge or rolling in the mud flats below. Stallions vie for mares and bachelors practice their skills on the rolling grassy butte. Sometimes bands are hidden in grassy draws or in the small, quiet valley nestled between the buttes north of the ridge, but there are almost always horses to be found there. Last spring I found our how the area got it's name.

When a friend sent my blog to her mom, she sent it on to her cousin, Ramona. Ramona sent me a quick email to tell me that her mother was Roxie Biocourt, who had grown up in what is now the Boicourt area of the Park.

In 1909 Albert (Bert) and Nora Boicourt brought their little family of three girls to North Dakota from Westport Indiana. A stone mason, Bert felt there was a future for himself and his family in ND. Upon arriving in the Badlands, they and two other families pitched tents on the Talkington Ranch until they could move into more permanent housing. By fall of the following year they were able to build on 160 acres including a spring, rolling prairie, tree lined draws and the flats below. Finding the water to be bad at the home site, Bert built a system to pipe fresh water down to a cistern from what is now known as Boicourt Spring. The Boicourts and several other families thrived in the little community they called Pleasant Flat.

Though the weather was often harsh and the crops not always good, the family was comfortable and happy in their little paper lined clapboard house. Bert tilled the land and kept the animals fed while Nora took care of her family and home. In the evenings she would spend hours braiding rugs and piecing quilts while Bert read aloud to the children. One of their favorite activities was singing while Nora played the organ and Bert accompanied her on the harmonica or violin. All the girls became accomplished musicians, learning the instruments from their parents. Also riding in the hills or off to Medora on an errand was an activity the girls enjoyed.

During their stay in the area, Bert found many opportunities to use his stone masonry skills. With the birth of Theodore Roosevelt National Park there was a need for various stone structures. Bert headed a crew who built nearly 40 stone bridges for the Park road, entrance sign structures, and the Contact House, which is now known as the Old Entrance. His initials can be found etched in the fireplace of that historic structure. In Medora they built DeMores Park to commemorate the Marquis' part in the History of the Badlands. Ramona sent a photo of her overlooking the Pleasant Flat.

In keeping with my theme of historic names for the new foals this year, we have a Roxie and a Boicourt. These foals will be included in a coming post on all the 2009 foals.

TOM TESCHER'S STORY

2009-07-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

In September it will be one year since we lost our dear friend, Tom Tescher. Tom had tracked the horses for 50 years but was gracious enough to invite us greenhorns into his vehicle, with Lorraine and himself, to drive the loop road looking for the wild horses. It was an honor to spend time with the two of them looking for horses or sitting around their kitchen table talking about their family, his days as a champion rodeo cowboy, and, of coarse, all the wild horses he had known. When Tom passed away, I asked his daughter, Carol, to write about her Dad for this blog. The following is his story in her words.

WHISTLE IN THE WIND

by Carol Tescher Obrigewitch

On the day my Dad died, my oldest brother, Bill, looked into the cloudless North Dakota sky and saw a white horse. Then, Bill heard Dad whistle.

When Bill told that story to me, it took my breath away. I knew Dad was in Heaven, because Heaven to Dad was being with the wild horses and to get the attention of those beautiful bands of wild horse flesh.......... Dad would whistle!

Dad loved the wild horses; they were his passion. From the early 40's until his death, he kept meticulous records on the wild ones in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. When Dad was in the nursing home, he still wanted to go see the wild horses. Up until two weeks before he left us, I would take him on a drive every chance I got to look at the feral horses.

To get the thousands of pictures I took for him, I walked miles, sank in the mud to my knees in Paddock Creek, side-stepped rattlesnakes, climbed buttes, went through washouts, slipped on sodden gumbo, tripped in Prairie Dog holes, and faced the big roan stud that was snorting and pawing because I was bothering his harem. But, it was worth every moment to see Dad smile at the images of the horses. When he couldn't walk any more, I took pictures and showed them to him on the digital camera. When he couldn't see well anymore, I bought a laptop to show him a bigger picture. When he couldn't write any more, he would dictate to me, and when he couldn't talk any more, I would describe to him what I saw. It tickled him to hear about High Star fighting with and running off another stud that was trying to steal his band of mares; he would "humph" and smile. One time he got so excited about seeing the "young guns" (young studs) that he opened the door of the van because he thought he could still walk and wanted to get a closer look. At the end of the day, a highlight for him was when we tallied up how many horses we had seen that day. Some days it would be two and some days it would be over 50 head.
Nothing compared to the feeling of watching Dad's eyes twinkle when the old pinto stud walked down the road right beside Dad's open van window; Dad could almost touch him. I think the old pinto knew Dad's time watching him was almost over.

In gathering the herds for culling, Dad went from setting rope traps in box canyons to riding in a helicopter. The rush he got from roping a wild horse at a roundup was beyond his description. Dad spent many hours in the Park and he knew where each band claimed their territory. He would say, "Gary and his bunch stays south of the spring, close to the interstate." or "Keep an eye out for the big roan stud and his band; they like to stay around lower Talkington Creek." and "I'll bet we see the J bunch across the wash near Setting Chicken Butte." Dad's knowledge was immense and sot after. His mind was sharp up until the end. Until he couldn't talk any more, he could tell you which horses came from which studs and mares and the years they were all born. It amazed everyone who talked to him. He had his favorites and remembered when they were sold or how they died. His horse record books could be interpreted by anyone. He identified each band with a letter, starting with the A Bunch.

Because of his knowledge, he earned a lifetime pass with the Park. He helped college students with their thesis with his insight on the wild horses. He helped authors with their research on the wild ones, for their books. The governor of North Dakota called him after the wild horses were chosen as the state horse. The governor wondered why he hadn't talked to Dad sooner, as Dad knew the horses weren't ancestors to Sitting Bull's horses, as some had claimed. Dad knew the horses were turned out by ranchers and farmers during the Depression, when they couldn't afford to feed them. He knew several were turned loose in the Park by individuals.

Dad's excitement over the horses was contagious. I learned to love them almost as much as he did, but it wasn't always a thrill for me to go see the horses. For a while, every Mother's Day, Dad would take Mom out for dinner and then take her for a ride...................to see the horses. For some reason, my husband, Val, and I always seemed to be with them. One Mother's Day, Mom and I were sitting in the back seat of the car "discussing" what we thought of what we were doing on Mother's Day. Mom thought we should be doing something mothers like to do. I told Dad what Mom said........................he didn't get it! He couldn't imagine anyone wanting to do anything else.

So, don't be surprised when you visit TRNP and see the wild horses pick up their ears listening to a spirited whistle echoing in the North Dakota Badlands. It is just my Dad, doing what he loves.

The day Tom Tescher was laid to rest, we were in the Park, assigned to help Whit try a low stress roundup of the horses. We painfully discussed what we should do. Should we go to Tom's funeral or keep our commitment to Whit and help him find horses to bring in? It was a dilemma until I thought, "what would Tom want us to do; he would tell us to go out there and bring in those horses!" I think I could hear Tom whistling to the horses that day!

JUNE FOALS

2009-06-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

June seems to be a good month for foaling, though, with the number of young, maiden mares, we have lost some. As the earlier foals mature, some of them are revealing their true color. Many of the foals born sorrel are now turning red roan, many born bay are now turning bay roan, and some of those that appeared to be black are becoming blue roans. The color patterns and how they develope would be a study in itself, but that isn't our focus. We can just speculate on which ones will change and what color they will turn out to be.

Auney, our first foal, has become a pretty red roan, as has one of our favorites, Roosevelt. At first we felt sorry for Roosevelt because he had no one his age to play with, but that hasn't held him back. Just like his namesake, he has learned to play with the big boys. He and his half brother, Charlie have become fast friends and spend a lot of time together playing like big stallions or resting in the sandy banks on Boicourt.

Buck, who was born a bay, is now showing the white that will, at some time in the future, blend with his dark bay coat to create at rich bay roan. His little brother, Rasmusson, was born red roan. His color was easy to predict, his gender was not. For the first several days, we called him a filly because the new foals have their hind quarters tucked under so much that it is hard to determine what they are. Once they are a few weeks old, it is no longer a problem.

The six foals in the Red Face and Singlefoot bands have a new baby sister. The overo mare, Lightning, had a cute overo filly who looks a lot like mama. We are hoping that she stays black like her mama and doesn't gray like her sire, Singlefoot.

Beauty, in Embers' band, looks as if she will be a blue roan to begin with, but most of her siblings have eventually turned gray like Bella. With graying, we will only know over time, since any color can gray. Little Rue, Neuens, Mosser, Little Mo, Barnhart, Roxie, Connolly, and Schaffer were all born dark. Time will tell whether they will roan, turn black or gray. Only Connolly, or as Hedrick calls her, Cocoa Puff, shows the telltale signs of roaning, a lighter underbelly and white at the top of her tail.

Rue has been a puzzling little filly. She seems to have been born missing a large patch of hide over her left shoulder. It was an ugly wound when we first saw her, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Over the weeks it has filled in and healed. She seems to be doing very well, so there is no reason to believe that it will cause any problems in the future. Marquis, from High Star's band, has to be my favoite, but he too is difficult to predict for color. since his sire is balck and his dam, light red roan, he has many options. I am prediction he will be a bay roan, but for now, I am calling him a buckskin.

Some of the foals have been difficult to get a good photo of, but as we continue the behavior study we will try to get good photos of them all. It is highly likely that all of them, along with the one and two year olds, will be sold in the fall, so I will try to have all of the horses that may be sold pictured on this blog by October.

HAZARDS

2009-06-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Horse tracking is definitely not without hazards. Spending eight hours a day outdoors is just what many of us consider a dream job, but some of the the situations we have encountered have been difficult or down right dangerous.

Jan and I had been tracking together for several days when we again found Mystery. Mystery was one of our old reliable stallions, who could usually be counted on to be in his familiar territory and therefore, not too hard to find. We had done several behavior observations of him and his four mares. Unfortunately Gray Lady was dry this spring and both Shale and Lacey had lost their foals, so the majority of our observations were the more boring feeding and resting.

This particular day we found them, later on a cool afternoon, resting by a small clay butte just northwest of Buck Hill. Near a small water pond on the way to the butte was an old lone bison bull. We gave him a cautious eye and plenty of space as we passed the pond. Generally lone bulls are harmless as long as they don't feel threatened and we were not interested in making him feel uncomfortable.

Focusing on the small band and determining how we should approach them, I soon pushed the bull out of my mind. We were about to settle ourselves on a small rise several yards from the band when Jan noticed that the bull had followed us; he was now grazing a few yards away. Thinking he was just following the trail away from the pond, we moved away to where we would leave him clear access to the trail. Again I focused on the band, but Jan was not so easily distracted. Within minutes he had circled the small rise and closed the distance between himself and us to about twenty feet. That was enough to convince us that we needed to put some distance or something substantial between us and the curious beast with the huge woolly head and menacing horns.

Where could we go that a bull bison couldn't follow us with unbelievable speed and agility? Nowhere, but we high tailed it to the nearest small butte anyway. It made us feel a little better to have that butte available to scamper up if we needed some height advantage, even though we knew he could get to the top faster than we could if he really wanted to. We were hoping he didn't want to!

He seemed to understand that he had sufficiently spooked us, so he proceeded on to the other butte to spook our band. They quickly followed our lead and moved on to a less popular hill while the old bull stopped to scratch on the butte. We could almost detect a swagger in his walk as he moved off to graze nearby. We got to finish our observation, but we kept an eye on our intruder, having gained a better understanding of why the schoolyard intimidator is called a "bully"!

Back in the Park in early June, we woke one morning to another unexpected intruder in our quest to find and observe the horses. It was June 6th in southwestern North Dakota, and it was snowing. Having lived in North Dakota more years that I like to admit to, I had never before seen snow in June, but there it was, coming down in huge clusters. At first we thought it would melt immediately when it hit the ground, which it did. But, it just kept coming, and coming, until the ground was covered. We decided to brave the now slippery loop road and go around the Park anyway. Maybe we would see some poor miserable horses hanging along the road, hoping to gain some warmth that may have remained in the blacktop. Well, we never saw a horse, not one, but we got some great photos of a phenomenon that we may never see again. I had to snap a photo of our young friend, Hedrick, from North Carolina, shivering in the cold.

Our last hazard we found on a much warmer day. We had been seeing several bands from Boicourt Ridge so we headed back out toward the north from the overlook. There on the bottoms, north of the ridge and tucked into a secluded valley, were Embers, High Star, and Cocoa. Since we had seen a carcase that we thought we should investigate near the fence, we walked all the way down to the north fence. It was only a large bison, but at least we knew it wasn't one of our missing horses. When it was time to go back we took a vote as to whether we should walk around the butte and up an easier valley or take the shorter route but have to climb the high, steep north face of the ridge. Hedrick voted the low road and I voted the high road, making it Henry's decision which way to go. That way we could blame him for a long walk or a steep climb, either contributing to the tired condition of our bodies.

He voted the low road, so we took off for the prairie dog town on what the Boicourts called Pleasant Flat. ( A future post will feature the information I was given about this adventurous family.) Plodding across the prairie dog town, we weren't paying much attention to where we were going as we pondered what it would be like to live on that flat 100 years ago. Suddenly Hedrick took a little longer step and exclaimed, "There's a snake in that hole!" Oh, there was a snake in the hole, all right. It was a fat coiled rattle snake at the mouth of the prairie dog den. Getting a photo of him was challenging since there was a lot of vegetation in front of him and Henry was not interested in clearing it away for me. He did oblige to throw a rock at the snake to prove it was indeed a rattler. The snake was was not too pleased with us interrupting his nap and having a rock tossed at him didn't improve his disposition. We decided it would be wise to pay a little more attention to where we were putting our feet from now on.

Having convinced us of it's power to change our plans, nature prevailed over the puney quests of man.

THE FIGHTS CONTINUE

2009-06-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Red Face never seems to fail to provide excitement, since he continues to run with Singlefoot and his body guard, Satellite. It is such a curious thing to watch these three stallions maintain their alliances in a cooperative effort to ward off advances from other stallions who try to steal their mares. One could make a complete behavior study just on the dynamics of these three stallions.

Last year Red Face had no foals, leading us to wonder if he was able to settle his mares, but this year every mare he had in his harem foaled a healthy foal. Singelfoot lost two foals last year to unknown causes and only has one this year. Two more of his mares carrying this year's foals have yet to deliver. Though they have been successful in increasing their bands by reproduction, they have each lost mares in the past month. One would think their cooperative effort would make taking their mares more difficult, but Red Face has lost Firefly and her filly, Rue, to Sidekick and Strawberry, her three year old colt, Eclipse, and her new filly, Medora to High Star. Singlefoot has lost Molly and little Teddy Bear to Red Face and Bentonite and Sapphire to Wind Canyon.

On the hottest day of our last visit to the park, Jan and I hiked far into the interior of the park to an area that looks fairly flat from a distance but is laced with deep valleys. We felt it was worth a long hike on a hot day to find four bands in the same area and we wanted to check on Sidekick's little filly, Funny Girl, who was limping badly. We called in Henry and Hedrick, the other observation team, to help us work the larger bands in such rolling country. While they were coming, we were able to work Embers and his band. There was nothing new happening with them.

Moving a little closer to try to get all of Red Face and Singlefoot's bands in sight, we were able to see that Sundance had a solid bay filly with her. We also noticed a lone horse about five hundred yards fr0m the others. With the sun behind her, she looked dark chestnut and had me stumped for a time, but I finally realized it was the young black mare, Lignite. Since she was alone, I figured she must have a brand new foal with her too. Moving a little close yet, I was able to confirm that she had a cute black filly with her that was no more than a few hours old. She had most likely been born some time during the early hours of the morning and they had not yet returned to Red Face's band.

Not wanting me to get too close to the foal, Lignite started back to her band. Sensing an opportunity to steal another mare from Red Face, Sidekick approached her to bring her into his band grazing not too far from the larger band. Red Face was in a small valley and didn't see that his mare was about to be taken, but Satellite did see Sidekick and immediately sensed his intentions. Satellite ran to intervene while Lignite wheeled to try to protect Little Mo from the battle which she knew was about to irrupt. Satellite challenged Sidekick and both horses reared in defiance of one another. Satellite had beaten off Sidekick handily and was about to claim the mare for himself when Red Face showed up. I have never seem Red Face fight Satellite, but it has always been clear that Red Face is dominant over Satellite. Satellite was soon running from Red Face.

Twice more Red Face had to run off Satellite so it appears to be a matter of time before Satellite deserts his post as body guard to Singlefoot and acquires his own harem. It will be interesting who he will take them from. Will it be Red Face or Singlefoot, or will he take on another stallion? Only time and more observations will tell the rest of this story.

FOUR STALLION FIGHT

2009-05-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe what we witnessed in the Park on that warm spring evening in May. We had just split up from our observations partners so that they could go back to town at the end of a long day of collecting behavior data. Driving west to where the north side of the loop road meets East River Road, I caught sight of horses just north of the Wind Canyon overlook. Turning the corner and looking back, we saw the double band of Red Face and Singlefoot along with Satellite, Singlefoot's second in charge. We decided to work them since they were so handy and we hadn't found them when looking for them earlier in the day.

Collecting data on Red Face's band first, we noticed that Molly's new little foal, Teddy Bear, was missing. It was apparent that she wanted to go look for him, but Red Face kept herding her back every time she attempted to leave the band. It's not unusual for a foal to be left behind sleeping when the bands moves off, but it is essential that he be found before nightfall. When Red Face moved farther down the butte to attend to another matter with his mares as they intermingled with Singlefoot's mares, Molly slipped away over a saddle between the two buttes. Strawberry almost gave her away when she started to follow, but hunger for the fresh green grass overcame her curiosity and she soon went back to grazing. Though Red Face looked off toward the saddle, he never left the band to look for Molly.

The rest of our 20 minute study went well with the usual feeding and resting behavior. When observing Singlefoot's band, we remarked that it was almost boring to have all feeding except for one move by Satellite that could be recorded as locomotion. We were about to put our equipment away and turn around old Air Force Blue, the Suburban we had been given to drive during the study, and head back to the camper for the night. It was about 6:15 and we had had a very successful day.

Suddenly Molly appeared just above River Road with her lost foal in tow. Right with her were Brutus and his small band of three. Brutus had spotted the lone mare and foal and attempted to add them to his harem, but Molly had led him right back to the double band with three defending stallions. The young Brutus was not one to back down from a fight. Red Face immediately met Brutus to reclaim his mare and the fight was on between the two strong stallions. Even with us parked right on the road and other vehicles passing by, they kept up a furious battle for several minutes while the mares tried to keep themselves and their vulnerable foals out of the way.

On the other side of the road, Singlefoot stayed with the mares, as usual, while his body guard, Satellite, charged up to join the battle. Red Face was trying to separate his mare from the other two while continuing to spar with Brutus. The mares finally sorted themselves out, Molly retuning to the double band below and Sweetheart, Cheyenne, and her young filly, Auney, disappearing over the hill from where they had come. Close behind was Satellite who had sensed an opportunity to take them from Brutus while he was distracted by Red Face. With no other horses getting in the way, Red Face soon had Brutus on the run, chasing him back over the hill to the west.

During a short lull in the action, the conquering Red Face returned to graze with the horses below as if the conflict we had just witnessed was all in a days work.
The drama didn't end there, however. Satellite soon reappeared with Brutus' two mares and foal. He had evidently had to convince them forcefully to come with him for Sweetheart, the striking black and white overo, had fresh blood streaming down her side from a vicious bite. We watched Satellite herd them to the other side of the valley by snaking at them, head lowered, his ears flat back against his neck. They didn't seem to want to go with him but knew they were no match for him, so ran obediently ahead of him.

It wasn't long before Brutus reappeared searching for his missing harem. He was not happy to see that Satellite had taken them. Though he kept a watchful eye toward Red Face, he went immediately to challenge Satellite for the mares. Satellite charged at him with so much force that they both almost went to the ground. Satellite succeeded in driving Brutus away. The seemingly confused Brutus then ran down the hill to pick a fight with Singlefoot, but that encounter was neither long lasting nor highly motivated. Brutus soon ran off to the south east, seemingly beaten and tired.

A few minutes later he appeared behind and above Satellite and the mares, having circled to attack from another direction. Hooves clashed and bodies pounded one another again. He chased Satellite while the frightened mares ran ahead until he was finally able to get between Satellite and the mares. After one last chase, Satellite gave up and returned to the bands below and his job as second in command while the victorious Brutus pranced across the skyline back to his mares.

We suspect there will future battles as Brutus gains more confidence. He had just fought three stallions for almost 45 minutes. He didn't win any additional mares this time, but he will be back.

LITTLE SORREL'S BAND

2009-05-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

When we left Little Sorrel on the last posting of this blog, he had succeeded in chasing Cruiser away, but we didn't know how long. On this trip, as we drove past the Park to Medora, we saw Criuser--------Alone! It seems Little Sorrel has again prevailed. We were rather disappointed because Little Sorrel has too many mares and it would be good if the band was divided, but, small as he is, Little Sorrel must be very strong to fight off outside stallions and maintain the largest band at fifteen.

On a rainy day, heading back to the office to avoid getting soaked and do some paperwork, we ran across the band huddled together in the rain. Freckles had left Shadow and her two older fillies to come back to her band with her new colt, Cooper. Soggy little Cooper was born a sorrel, but he looks like he will roan or possibly even gray like his dam. He wasn't appreciating the rain on the day of his birth, but a few days later, when the sun shone warm on his tiny body, he ran and bucked with the pure joy of being alive.

While we were recording the band 's behavior, his bigger brother by a few weeks, Buck, awoke to find his dam missing. He first went to Grandma Roan to seek comfort from her, but she just ignored him and continued grazing. He then went to his big brother, Butte, a three year old. We expected Butte to run him off, but Butte was very tender with little Buck, allowing him to hang out until mama reappeared.

On a previous day, Butte and his best buddy, Socks, put on a show for us, demonstrating their prowess as fighting stallions. They were mostly ignored by the rest of the band until Butte ran headlong into several of his band mates just trying to rest and get some sun. He scattered them like bowling pins, but never slowed down to look back. Check out the photos below. Little sister, Annie, thinks those boys are just silly and boring!

INTERESTING BEHAVIOR

2009-04-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have a photo yet of Paddock, or Paddy for short, the last foal to introduce now is Buck, in Little Sorrel's band. He is another cute bay from the mare, Trouble's Girl. Since Grandma Roan lost her foal this year, he in the only one so far in that large band. He appears to be doing well, and I would expect him to roan like his mama and his older brother, Butte.

The Little Sorrel band has been interesting to watch as Little Sorrel ages and loses some of his youthful vigor. He has been successful in running off all his stud colts as they get old enough to challenge him except for the four year old, Cruiser, who is also one of Trouble's Girl's colts. Trouble's Girl is from the mare, Trouble, who was the thorn in The Chestnut's side, as she was always dragging her family away from his band to join other bands. Trouble's son, Double Trouble was also very hard for The Chestnut to chase away, as he would stay on the other side of his dam whenever The Chestnut tried to get near him.

Cruiser has been irritating Little Sorrel since last year. When we first located the band to do the behavior study, Little Sorrel had just run Cruiser off, but by the time we were done, he was back. The odd thing is that we have seen Little Sorrel leave Cruiser in charge at various times.

For an example, the second day we found the band by the old entrance to the park. At first we had not seen Cruiser. A blue roan stud that appeared from the east, turned out to be Shadow, one of Grandma Roan's stud colts. Shadow was taking his time to approach the band, so Little Sorrel had not yet seen him. About the time Little Sorrel saw Shadow, Cruiser reappeared. Little Sorrel left his band to Cruiser and went out to meet Shadow. We were prepared to witness a fight or at least a good chase, but what we saw puzzled and amused even Jason, the wild horse behavior expert the Park had brought in to train us. Little Sorrel went to meet Shadow, they pranced and circled in a show of strength, squealed and stomped at one another, and then Little Sorrel trotted off in the opposite direction from his band with Shadow following obediently behind. Little Sorrel led him across the valley, over the butte, and out of sight. (see series of photos below) We were not able to stay for the rest of the story, but we were determined to find out what would happen.

Later that day when we checked on them, Cruiser had claimed a mare, her two offspring, and a couple young stud colts. Not far away were Shadow and Granite's Boy, another young bachelor looking for trouble. On the last day of our visit we ran across Shadow with a mare and two young fillies. Yes, they were the ones Cruiser had claimed. Cruiser was back to hounding Little Sorrel. We left them in another game of "catch me if you can". It will be interesting to see the saga continue over the rest of the summer.

The last band we were to collect data on that trip was Mystery's. We had been seeing him and his three mares periodically throughout the six days of our visit. Looking for bands from the top of Buck Hill on the last day, Jan, our new friend and data collector from CO, saw Mystery with a new mare. She saw him mount the mare, but then they all dashed away toward the east end of the loop road. We had almost given up on finding them when I spotted them across the road to the east, just north of Talkington trail.

I was excited to see that the new mare was Lacey. I had not seen her since last summer when she disappeared from Embers' band. It was clear from her behavior that she was in estrus, but the curious thing was that whenever Mystery would show interest in her and come her way, the old mare, Gray Lady would threaten him or kick at him. We watched them for an hour and every time Lacey tried to approach Mystery or he showed interest in her, Gray Lady ran interference, herding her away. We had a good question for Jason, our trainer; how do we report harem tending by a mare?

COPPER, BRUTUS, AND COCOA

2009-04-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last fall we had seen that Copper, a son of Embers, had acquired a few mares from the old Curious George band. They were the older mare, Chubby and her 2008 colt, Charlie, and three Curious George daughters, Big Red, Cheyenne, and Raven. Copper seemed to have been successful in keeping the mares, though any offspring this spring would most likely be Silver's, since he had taken them early last spring and kept them all summer.

Cheyenne's filly, Auney, was the first to be recorded this spring. Mike had seen them once again and confirmed the dam's identity, but by the time we found Copper's band in mid-April, Cheyenne and the filly were gone. When we came to the Park to train for collecting data for the wild horse behavior study, we ran into Valerie Naylor at Cottonwood Campground. She had photos she had taken of four horses she had seen on the Auney trail a few days earlier. It was Brutus with Cheyenne and her filly and another black and white horse that was behind Brutus and hard to identify.

Mike had found that Cocoa and 7 others had walked under the fence that had been torn down by the high water of the Little Missouri, so he and the administrators of the study, Dan and Jenny, had used the low stress method to walk the band back in through a gate. While doing that, Mike got a really close look at all the horses and reported to me that there was a small solid sorrel filly and a larger sorrel pinto mare with them. I thought at the time that it must be Dolly and Autumn, who we had seen with Brutus a month earlier.

Having gone to the far north side of the Park to collect data for the behavior study on Cocoa's band, we were able to confirm that it was Dolly and Autumn who had joined them. On the way back we climbed the high butte south of Round-up Camp and found Brutus with Cheyenne, Auney, and the mystery mare, Sweetheart. The last time we had seen her , she was by the far east fence line with High Star. There must be a lot of chasing going on amongst the 18 bands in the Park.

Some time after Auney was reported, Big Red had foaled a cute sorrel colt with a bald face. In studying his photos it became obvious what his name should be, Roosevelt! See for yourself in the photos below.

RED FACE AND SINGLEFOOT FOALS

2009-04-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

In early April, when we first saw the foal with Pretty Girl, a 6 year old maiden mare out of Flame that had been in Red Face's band for the past 3 years, they appeared to be with Singlefoot, though Red Face's band was also nearby. On our first drive around the loop with our wild horse behavior trainer, Jason, we were surprised to find Pretty Girl and the foal with Copper just west of the upper Jones Creek parking lot. We got some decent photos of them at that time, but by the next day they were gone. We had been looking for Red Face and Singlefoot the whole three days that Jason was with us in the park, because we wanted him to see and comment on the dynamics of the double band. Predictably they didn't show up until the day after Jason had left.

After observing and collecting data on both bands, Red Face's head suddenly flew up and he ran at full speed to the west. There on a hill overlooking the bands was Pretty Girl and her foal. Before I could get my camera up he had them back with his band. Pretty girl seemed content to be back with her family, and the foal we named Jones was happy to get a chance to rest in the warm sun.

Though I missed the action when Red Face brought them back to the band, I was able to get some actions shots as Red Face and Singlefoot tended their harems. (look below for these) Though it appeared to be futile, each stallion did his best to try to keep his mares away from the other stallion. We actually witnessed Singlefoot doing some harem tending. In the past he had mostly left it up to his body guard and second in command, Satellite. It is interesting to see that these three stallions, who work together to protect their harems, are in much better flesh than Little Sorrel who tries to keep his large band together alone.

So far Singlefoot only has one foal out of a classic bay roan mare, Frosty. Frosty goes back to the old stud, Lindbo Blue from the old line of blue and gray horses that ran wild in that area before the Park was fenced. Because of her lineage and because I wanted to honor the memory of our dear old friend, Tom, I named her stud colt Tescher. I hope Tom would be pleased to have a handsome young colt named for him. We really miss him; tracking the horses will never be the same without him.

THE FOALS ARE COMING, THE FOALS ARE COMING

2009-04-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally come to the badlands! Some remnants of snow still cling to the north facing slopes, but where the warm spring sun reaches the long dormant vegetation, it is bursting to life.

While in the Park for the first week of the Behavior Study, we could have measured the grass daily as it reaches for that warm sunshine, and thousands of crocus dot the hillsides. Buds are swelling on every tree and bush.

None are more thankful for the sun and the tender green grass than the horses. It has been a difficult winter to find enough nourishment for themselves to survive, but even more vulnerable are the mares carrying foals. Foal mortality will likely be higher, as many mares expended too much energy finding grass and staying warm to be able to deliver a vigorous foal that can get to it's feet, nurse, and run in it's first few hours.

Some have already succumbed, but many have survived to frolic in the sunshine and warm themselves in it's glow. So far this spring, the live foal count is at eight. I will tell each one's story as I get photos.

Since we have started naming every horse, it has been a challenge to come up with names for over 140 horses. This year it seemed appropriate to use some of the historical names or names of landmarks in the area.

When we first found the double band of Red Face and Singlefoot, it was difficult to tell who the various mares belonged to, but this last trip the stallions made it very clear who they were claiming. Red Face had claimed the big bay roan, Molly, from Singlefoot last fall and during this critical breeding season, he was still making sure she stayed with him. Her foal will be the first to be introduced.

Little Teddy Bear must have been born during one of those spring blizzards when winter was still demonstrating it's power over the North Dakota plains. The tips of his ears have been frozen, leaving comical little Teddy Bear ears. He is still quite handsome and one of the few bays so far. Not knowing exactly which stallion is his sire, I still suspect that he will turn roan as he matures. On our last trip around the loop we found him laying flat out on the loop road. At first we were afraid he had been hit by a car, since he was lying motionless at the top of a small hill, but when we got closer, he got up and calmly walked away to look for his dam. I thought of a few other names for a foal foolish enough to lie in the middle of the road, but young as he is, he didn't realize the danger and was just seeking the warmth of the blacktop.

His band mate and buddy is out of Flame, who has been with Red Face for a few years now. Little Jules was likely born in the Jules Creek area where the band spends much of its time in the spring. The southern slopes of the hills just inside the north fence catch the full sun and produce the rich grass they are seeking and Jules Creek provides plenty of water for lactating mares. It appears that Jules and Teddy Bear are already fast friends. Check them out in the photos below.

A LONG HARD WINTER IN THE BADLANDS

2009-04-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Will it never end? That must be the question going through the heads of the wild life and horses who have survived one of the longest, coldest, and snowiest winters in the last 30 years. Just last week the Park received another 12 inches of snow. I don't know what the total is for that area, but Bismarck has had over 99 inches this season. We are 1.8 inches from breaking our all time record of 101 inches in the winter of '96-'97. One advantage is that it will ensure a good growth of vegetation once the snow melts off and the sun warms the frozen ground.

We like to make a trip to the Park for our Anniversary in late December, so after Christmas we spent a couple days in the Park enjoying a fresh blanket of snow. We had seen High Star's band in the SE corner of the park on our way to Medora the first morning. It was pretty tough going through the deep snow, but we were able to get close enough to them for a few photos. All looked as if they were faring well, even with the deep snow they had to paw through for every bite. Baldy and Bashful trotted over for a visit while we were there, but High Star was not interested in neighborly niceties and ran them off.

Since the Park had so much snow, the loop road was closed; we spent the rest of that day skiing the Little Missouri. The snow was excellent for cross country skiing and the weather was perfect with bright sun and very little wind. It is always a thrill to see the buttes in their winter dress, like something from a Bev Doolittle Painting. The next day we hoped to see some more horses when we skied up the loop road on the north side of the Park. We got about two miles in before the weather turned cold and windy, so we high tailed it back to the car before we got caught in a storm. The only wild life we saw on our skiing trek was a very cooperative Cotton Tail, but there were numerous deer, bison, and elk along the main road.

In early March I was able to return to the Park with some friends. We missed the first break up of the ice on the Little Missouri by about 12 hours. From what we heard, it was quite impressive. ( read about this on Ranger Nathan's blog. http://rangernathan.blogspot.com/ )

The loop was still closed but we found Brutus and his fillies, Dolly and Autumn, near Wind Canyon. Dolly appeared to be in foal, but it is probably Embers' foal, since he had her in his band from May until September. Further up the road to the east we found Cocoa, Busy Blue with her yearling, Amigo, and Stormy with her yearling, Rusty. The two year old fillies, Maggie and Maddie were missing. Along the road, against the warm south side of a high river bluff, we found Curious George. Though he was thin and shaggy, he seemed to be well.

On April 3 we were able to go out with Mike Oehler, the Park Biologist. From the Fryburg road we saw Thunder with his mares, Rain and Winter, and their offspring as well as High Star with his band and a couple additions. Sweetheart and her two year old, Oreo, were with them. We were surprised to see that Sweetheart had been taken from the double band of Singlefoot, Red Face, and Satellite.

On the way back to town, we spotted four young bachelors on the south bluff, overlooking Cedar Canyon. Farther west, we crawled under the fence to get a better look at Little Sorrel's band. He was missing a few, some of which we found later with Gray Ghost and some we suspected were with the young stud, Cruiser.

Being with Mike, we were able to take the loop road deeper into the Park. Much of the road was still covered with 6-8 inches of snow and one drift on Boicourt Ridge forced us to turn around, but we were still able to find several more bands. Red Face, Singlefoot, and Satellite had four new foals with them. Two foals had been sited earlier, one with Copper and one with a young stud, Cloud, who had acquired the old mare, Flicka, so the count is five stud colts and one unknown for now.

It is a wonder how those tiny foals survive the cold and storms that still rage through the breaks in the spring, but the horses of the Badlands are made of sturdy stuff. For their sake and our own, we will pray for warmer temperatures as we look forward to another trip to the Park in two weeks.

FIRE'S STORY

2009-02-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

It had been three years since the last roundup, but the early years of the new millennium had treated the horses of Teddy Roosevelt very well. Twenty nine foals had been born over the warmer months of 2003, and by fall they were strong and plump from feasting on their dams' rich milk.

A couple handsome colts had been foaled to the Embers band. Since his years as a young bachelor, Embers had been a favorite of ours and Tom's. His dark bay coat was specked with white like a soft dusting of new snow and his mane and tail flowed long and black as a raven's wing. He was a well built stallion, who had impressed us with his proud stature and protective nature. His colts, one from a pretty red roan mare and one from the mare Tom called the "dirty brown mare," were both bay roans but lighter than their sire.

That summer I worked meticulously getting photos of all the bands and individual horses so that I would know who was who when they were driven from the breaks and valleys further out in the Park into the handling facility by the helicopter. Tom customarily rode in the helicopter to guide the pilot in herding the horses, while Henry and I waited at the handling facility to identify the horses as they were moved though the facility, into the chute, and into the keeper or cull pens. It was determined that about two-thirds of the foals would be sold at auction after the roundup, but I had not even thought about the possibility of bringing any home.

After a successful roundup Henry and I looked over the horses that had been captured, remarking about how cute some of the foals were. Later that evening, Henry asked what I thought of buying one of the foals; he apparently had been contemplating the idea over the summer. I was a little surprised, but knew that he would be needing a good trail horse, so we looked at what was available on the cull list. There were some extremely cute foals from the Interstate band, but I didn't think they would get big enough for Henry, so I suggested seeing what Embers had.

We discovered that he had the two colts in the sale, so Henry decided to pick one of them. By the time we got to the sales barn in Dickinson, that sale had already started. The first colt came in with his face cut up. Since the colts were wild, it would be pretty hard to get him stitched up, so Henry waited for the next one. Before very long the colt from the "dirty brown mare" came into the sales ring. He was big and strong and, though frightened and confused from all the sights and sounds of a sale barn, he seemed to handle the stress without panic. We hadn't even had time to take a good look at him, but he looked pretty correct from where we sat, so Henry bought him. He named the the pretty bald faced bay roan colt Embers' Fire after his sire.

The first obstacle was to get him safely loaded in our trailer without injury. Since we still had our saddle horses with us, Henry just moved them both to the front or the four-horse, leaving the back section open. While Henry was getting the trailer ready and backed up in the loading area, I visited the colt in his pen, getting him used to me and familiar with the principles of pressure and release. Rather that letting the sale barn hands chase him, I carefully pressured him enough to get him moving and then backed off. He walked right into the trailer.

The first several days, we had to keep Fire in the barn because we hadn't been prepared for a wild horse and didn't have a pen with high enough fences. We soon found out that the pens in the barn were also not sufficient to contain a wild foal. Though he seemed to be depressed from the traumatic experience of being chased by a helicopter, separated from his family, and brought to a completely strange environment, he would not tolerate being left alone. My old Quarterhorse, Badlands, had to become his constant companion and Henry had to reinforce the pen so that he could not destroy it trying to get out when Badlands went for a drink of water. Except for not wanting to be left alone, Fire was quite calm and easy to gentle. From the very beginning of being in the trailer we could pet him , so getting him halter broken was not a problem. He didn't much like the farrier, but with some patience he soon accepted whatever handling he needed

In his second year Fire went for his first schooling. Though he was very calm, Fire tended to meet each new challenge with irritation and a fight responce rather than acceptance. His new teachers, Russel and two gargantuan draft horses, taught Fire about submission. He soon learned that fighting a new and somewhat frightening situation was fruitless and started to think that what this persitent man and his team wanted from him was not that difficult. While he was in training Henry and I would go for visits to learn how to harness and drive him safely. After a couple months, we were able to drive him around the back roads of that rural North Dakota community and soon brought him home.

The following year Fire went to Zachery for training under saddle. Again he proved to have a strong will, but when handled with a firm, yet patient, kind approach, he accepted his new job without any rodeo tricks. Since Zachary was a champion saddle bronc rider, he would have been able to handle anything Fire could have given him, but Zachery is a believer in making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult, so that the young horse figures out what is expected of him before getting too frustrated and turning off his brain. Fire was soon making his turns and transitions like a pro. Both Russell and Zachery had enjoyed working with the once wild colt and Henry was excited to ride Fire back in his natal prairie and breaks.

The opportunity came that fall. Fire easily handled the terrain he had been born in and, unlike most domestic horses we have taken to the badlands for the first time, he was never nervous about gully crossings or the occasional Bison bull lurking around the sunny side of a butte. Another characteristic that separated Fire from other horses was that he would not pass up any opportunity to drink. Even the rain filled tracks of Bison and other horses were good sources of drinking water; his mama had taught him well to get his drinks when he could, not knowing when the next chance might be. To this day Fire has proved himself to be a strong, sensible saddle horse and, at 15.2 and around 1200 pounds, quite a striking boy.

The P Band

2008-11-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

How does one pick a favorite among these stallions; each one has his own unique characteristics and personalities. Copper always stood out because of his somewhat unusual color and for the fact that he is a half brother to Henry's horse, Fire. We noticed him right away as a youngster because of his gleaming, new penny bright, coat. In those years Embers and his band were not easy to approach, so we were never able to get a good look at him except with the glasses from afar, but we were glad that, at the 2003 roundup, this handsome yearling was on the keeper list.

As a six year old this year, Copper was one of the older bachelors just fighting for his right to have a band. In May we found him alone, likely recuperating from several marauding adventures on the hunt for mares. He found us and our geldings very intriguing and was so lonely he was almost temped to follow us when we left him. Later that month I had seen him with Daisy from the A band, but he was not able to keep her. In June we found him with the beautiful Diamond, a two year old filly from Red Face's band. She was one of Flame's, who was known to have very nice foals They ran together for a couple months before he lost her to Blaze.

It would be interesting to know what moves a young stallion to one day leave his bachelor buddies and wonder in quest of mares or young fillies that he can steal from the established bands. September brought a lot of change to the park, as one by one young stallions challenged their elder brothers for dominance and the chance to breed. The young Silver, from the river bottom bachelor bands, had taken all of Curious George's mares last spring, but for some reason in the fall Copper, from the Lindbo Flats area, came all the way across the park to challenge him and steal most of his mares.

It was quite a surprise to find the mares and fillies, who had always run the river valley and Paddock Creek, up on Boicourt Ridge with Copper. If this acquisition continues, it will be a very positive influence on the genetic blood pool. It is always beneficial to have mostly unrelated horses producing the next crop of foals. We wish Copper luck as we wait patiently to see how he does at keeping his harem.

The H Band Revisited

2008-11-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder what the horses are thinking and what precipitates their actions. Blaze has always been an interesting individual to track because he seems to be still learning how a proper stallion should act. There are times when he is quite comfortable with our approach, while other times he balances tenuously between curiosity and caution.

Over the summer Blaze had stolen the beautiful Diamond, one of Ember's fillies, who had been running with Red Face's band for the past two years. Diamond has been strikingly beautiful since her birth, so we were hoping she would be taken by a worthy stallion. Early this year we had happily found her with Copper, who is himself, a very handsome specimen, but he was unable to hold off other suitors.

Blaze, though he is small of stature, seems to be very determined to increase his band by stealing young fillies from other young stallions. When Domino disappeared from Thunder, it wasn't long before we discovered Blaze had won her too.

One of my longest days of tracking in October, after finding Sidekick's new band, I had seen just the flip of a black tail behind a small clay ridge on Lindbo Flats. Deciding it made sense to see who that was since I was already halfway there, I hiked to the end of the long ridge that juts north from Sheep Butte Spring into the flats. Topping the very end of the ridge, I saw Bison, nothing but Bison! Disappointed that I had waisted my hike to see Bison, I continued around the top to the west. Tucked behind the small clay ridge on the bottom and almost up against the larger butte was Blaze and his newly enlarged family.

I knew it was harder to approach a band out in the more remote areas of the park where they were not used to seeing people, so I used the low stress method of approach again. I casually hiked down the butte making wide, almost parallel lines, but inching closer with each pass. The band was at once alert, so it was difficult to get close enough for a decent photo. Once I was on the bottom they took one good look and decided I was just too frightening to stay around. With Domino and Tiger in the lead and Diamond watching my every move, they trotted off to the other side of the small ridge. Thinking I had lost them, but knowing I had to go that direction to get back to my rig, I followed. Luckily they had not gone very far, so I was able to snap a few more photos.

In the next half hour, as I tried to work my way south toward my rig, the band ran back to the north and then around me to the south several times, as if to figure out just what it was that had brought me out to visit them. Just when I thought I had gotten enough photos, they came back and gave me more. As most photographers would probably agree, the best photos are purely accidental! Thanks, Blaze!

The O Band

2008-11-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

While High Star and Pale Lady can be difficult to get close to, theirs is not the wildest band. Probably the most difficult stallion in the park to approach is Thunder Cloud. Foaled in 2001, Thunder Cloud is a full brother to High Star, but his coat takes on the ever changing hues of their sire and dam. It is sometimes difficult to identify him from a distance and at different times of the year because of the chameleon like nature of his coat. His most identifying characteristic is his three white feet. We called him Three Foot for a while, but his wild and unpredictable behaviors convinced me that he needed a better name.

Early in 2006 Thunder was still running with a bachelor band on Lindbo Flats and the Boicourt area. They were testing their skills at fighting and trying to convince one another that they were worthy of becoming band stallions. Some time that summer a pretty filly, Little Brother's Girl, began running with them. All the practice paid off for Thunder as he won the pretty filly and picked up two more young mares and their foals that fall. He established his territory on the east ridge and in the dog towns below. He most likely did not breed the mares, but I strongly suspect he is the sire to Little Brother's Girl's colt, since he was foaled in October of 2007.

Well before Tiger was foaled, though, all his band had been stolen by Blaze. By the time of the 2007 roundup, Thunder was injured and running alone or with Copper. He was brought in during the roundup and was one of five stallions captured in the tub. He was another one that we were very glad to see turned out again.

Thunder spent the winter healing from his injury and by spring of 2008 was sound and strong and ready to reclaim his mares. He took back Winter and Rain along with their families, but he was not able to win Little Brother's Girl; she and her young colt, Tiger, remained with Blaze.

Two days after Whit and I were so successful in bringing in the L or Campground band with the low stress method, Whit wanted to try the method on some wilder horses. He had seen Thunder and his band on the east ridge within a mile of the wing fence of the handling facility. We spotted them again on the drive to the facility, so carefully rode around to the southwest of them before they saw us, or so we thought. They had somehow become aware that we were in the area, maybe they had smelled us, but when we casually topped the ridge near where we had seen them, they were gone. Amazed that they would disappear so quickly, Whit decided we should ride along the ridge to look for them and hopefully find them before they dropped over the ridge into the rough country below. Glassing the area toward the south east corner of the park, I saw a speck; it was Thunder! Winter had taken the band to safety and Thunder was checking to see if we were still around. We couldn't be discouraged that easily!

Over the next several hours we worked the zig-zag pattern of approach, keeping them between us and the wing fence, but careful to go beyond them far enough to take the pressure off with each closer pass. The key was to watch for the horses to drop their heads and begin to graze; that was the indicator that they were accepting our presence. Thunder never did. He was always on guard, always watching our every move, always ready to send his band flying away to safety. We worked their flight zone down to maybe a hundred yards, but just when we thought they were relaxing, Winter would throw up her head and take off at a run. Twice we were able to sneak around them and turn them away from the edge, knowing we would lose them on the bottoms. Finally, after spending most of the day with them, we conceded. It was clear that they would take much more time to accept our idea that they should walk calmly into the handling facility. Our idea did not become their idea and it wasn't going to any time soon. It was another good lesson learned.

This last fall Thunder lost Rain's two year old filly, Domino, to Blaze. The last we saw of Thunder Cloud, he had Winter, Rain, their suckling foals and Winter's yearling filly. After running from us when we saw them just below the east ridge, they spent a few days on Lindbo Flats. Spotting them there, Eileen and I carefully crept up to a small butte so that we could watch them from cover. It was extremely windy again that day, so the horses seemed uneasy. When we could no longer stand to be crouched behind the mud butte, we moved to a tree. From there we could see all of High Star's band below us and Thunder's band off to the north. Figuring we had gotten as close as we could without having them see us, we decided to see how close we could get before they left. Walking down though a deep wash, we made our way quietly to the grassy flat where High Star's band was resting. To our surprise, they didn't spook when they saw us. We were able to get a good look at each of them before they moved away at a walk. Having seen that band we decided to try Thunder's band. As we moved closer to the wash, they saw us. Instead of running away as they had before, they started trotting toward us, crossed the wash to our side and popped up close enough so that we could also get a good look at them too. Thunder turned to us and stopped as if to let us know that he was in charge and would decide when and where we would see him.

The M Band

2008-11-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Tom Tescher rarely named any of the wild horses, though he kept track of them for over 50 years. He knew every horse by it's number, which he assigned by the year it was foaled and the order he found it. When we started helping him track the horses in 1999, he graciously allowed us to name them, because we were not as good at remembering the numbers as he was. However, once in a while, Tom had a favorite that he gave a name. High Star was one of those favorites.

The old roan mare's colt by Lindbo Blue stood out among the other yearlings in 1999 because he was tall, slim, and shiny black. His sleek coat had no other markings than a very small star high on his forehead, so Tom started referring to him as High Star. When the band was rounded up in the fall of 2000, the colt was turned out again with the hope that he would start a band of his own some day.

By 2002 High Star had found a young mare from the D band, Busy Blue, and her bay roan foal. The next spring she had another foal, this time a red roan colt, but after the roundup that fall High Star lost his band to Cocoa.

Over the next months High Star found a couple young mares whose band had also been broken up when the band stallion, Little Brother, was sold. A pretty light red roan, Pale Lady, was by Embers' and a black mare that showed signs of turning gray, Bella, was by Singlefoot. Their foals the following spring were the only offspring of Little Brother, but High Star bred them and produced Betty Blue and Little Dunn the spring of 2006.

In 2007 Bella and her family were taken by Embers, but Pale Lady has stayed and produced more pretty foals the past two years. High Star was also able to take the young Spotted Blue from Singlefoot and she produced a nice foal this spring. Adding two young fillies this past summer has brought his band to eight.

High Star and Pale Lady are not easy to find or to approach unless they are resting near the road during the hot summer. This past October, Eileen and I had seen them from Buck Hill, just below the east ridge. We hiked in from the Fryburg road to try to get a better look at them. Coming off the ridge, we disturbed around 300 elk, which in turn frightened another stallion, Thunder Cloud, and his band, which we had seen in the dog town below. Trying not to frighten the horses any more and also estimating where High Star had been, we hiked around the west side of some buttes and slowly crept up a small ridge to see what might be on the other side. There was High Star and his band eyeing the other band that had just appeared from the east side of the buttes. To the west of High Star were Shawn and his buddies. It was apparently too much pressure, as Pale Lady took off with her family close behind and High Star taking up the rear. Thunder Cloud didn't waste any time following. I climbed to the top of a high butte to see where they had gone, and they were still running more than a mile away. The one good thing was that they were headed strait for Lindbo Flats where it would be much easier to find them, and find them we did two days later.

The K Band

2008-11-04T18:01:00.001-08:00

The summer of 2008 brought a lot of changes to the wild bands. Because there has not been a roundup since 2003, young bachelors, often refered to as the"young guns," have become more numerous and, as evidenced in the reports already posted, have been challenging the older band stallions with more and more success. This has made life quite unpredictable for some of the mares and young fillies.

In the winter of '07-'08 a blue mare from Red Face's band died. When we last saw her in December, she was so thin that her hide hung from her in folds. She had looked fine in October and November, so somthing catastrophic had happened in a very short time. She left behind a two year old filly from when she had run with Embers, Embers' Girl, and her blue suckling filly from Red Face, Orphan Blue.

Last spring we saw the two orphans running with Embers, but their time with that band was short lived. It may have happened at the time Embers took over the band of the injured Double Trouble, or he may have already lost them by then, but the next time we saw the orphans, they were running with some young bachelors, Sidekick, Little Dunn, Baldy, and Bashful. This unlikely group ran together most of the summer until Sidekick took control of the fillies and ran out some of the younger bachelors.

Sidekick had come from one of the Lindbo Flats bands, but he spent his early bachelor days with his buddy, Shawn. Little Shawn, one of Big Blue's colts, was foaled in 2003 and, because of his loud bay and white coat, became a favorite of one of the Biologists, thus his peculiar name. During the roundup that fall he was left behind when the others were brought in by the helicopter. He had been unable to keep up because he acted as if his hind quarters were not working. It was suspected that he had aquired West Nile, so we were concerned that he would not survive the winter, even if he did survive a night alone in the park. Luckily his dam found him and he recovered. We dropped the "Little" from his name because he is now one of the largest stallions in the park.

Sidekick along with his buddy, Litle Dunn, are now running with Embers' Girl and Orphan Blue and make up the new K band, while Shawn has taken over the tutelage of the younsters, Baldy and Bashful.

The H Band Revisited

2008-11-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

The E,L, and Q Bands

2008-10-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

That night in late September we left Embers still trying to fight off Mystery. We don't know when the successful attack came or whether Mystery had help breaking up Embers' band, but the next time I saw Embers, he had lost most of his horses. He still had his original gray mare, Bella and her yearling and suckling colts, Benny and Blue Boy. He was also able to hold onto Mist and Valentine, horses he had taken from the injured Double Trouble. They were much more skittish than they had been on the hot, lazy days of summer, but they looked to be in good health.

My California friend, Eileen, and I found Mystery back in the area of Chicken Hill with his winnings, Lacey's roan daughter, Shale, her two year old stud, Stone, and her cute filly, Flicker. We wondered how these families react to being stolen by different stallions throughout the past six months. Shale was wary about having us very close to her, but she allowed a few photographs. They became the L band.

We felt particularly sorry for what was left of Lacey's family. We had not located Lacey even after 10 days of diligent searching. Our guess is that she and the young mare, Betty Blue, have joined Wind Canyon. Betty Blue and her very young filly, Arrow, had disappeared from Embers' band over the summer. We were never able to find the Wind Canyon band this last trip and have not seen them since July, so we are hoping Lacey, Betty Blue, and Arrow are well and running with them.

Lacey's two young fillies, Dolly and Autumn, are now part of the new Q band. We found them in the area between Beef Wash and the north boundary fence with a former bachelor, Bob's Brutus. Brutus, a large boned blue roan turning gray, had been running along the north fence with the filly who had somehow escaped the fence last February. He evidently gave up his pursuit of her, frustrated that he could never be on the same side of the fence. Dolly and Autumn look so tiny next to Brutus, but they dutifully obey him, following him into parts of the park they have never seem before. Isn't it amazing that a strange stallion can have such power over these fillies?

The J Band

2008-10-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

I am going back to the J Band because, since I last wrote about them, things have changed.

In late September, when Henry and I were out to the park to ride with Whit, we also did some scouting. At that time we cam across Embers with only twelve in his band. I'll get back to him later. What was most interesting was that Mystery was pursuing him relentlessly. Embers was thin and visibly tired. He would chase Mystery 300-500 yards away, but the minute he turned to go back to his band, Mystery was following him. It didn't seem that Embers could hold him off much longer.

We didn't find it unusual that Mystery would leave his mare and filly to try to win more, as this happens often with the wild bands. What we didn't know, was that he had already lost Gray Lady and her yearling filly, Smokey, to a long time bachelor, Gray Ghost.

Gray Ghost, one of only two sons of Granite, had roamed the Burning Coal Vein area for several years. A younger, solid blue horse by the name of Shadow, had joined him. They had become the apparitions of the upper Paddock valley, remaining hidden in the deep Cedar lined canyons, appearing only occasionally, and then vanishing again behind a scoria topped butte.

Mystery and Gray Ghost had run together as bachelors for the last several months, but when Double Trouble lost his band they waited for the opportune time to steal a mare or two. The younger Mystery held the old mare for a couple months, but finally lost her to his old friend. Surprisingly, now that Gray Ghost has a family, he has made himself very visible as if to gloat in his strength and virility. Notice by the photos that he has an almost Baroque quality about him.

The I Band

2008-10-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Cocoa was just a weanling the fall of 2000, when just before the roundup, a thunderstorm blew over the park. A lightning strike killed a two year old filly and the stallion he and his dam had been running with and caused a slide that dammed the Little Missouri. The survivors of that band were so frightened that they crossed the river and spent the winter on the west side. The next spring, Cocoa's dam went back to her old band and Wind Canyon, the sire of her colt, with whom she remained until the roundup of 2003. The rest of the horses were dispersed among other river bands.

Cocoa followed his mother wherever she went until he was run out of his natal band as a three year old and joined one of the loosely organized bachelor bands. The spring of 2004 he fought for and won a small bald faced blue mare from his old band, who had been moved around to various bands since the roundup. She brought with her, her own red roan colt and an almost identical red roan colt that had been orphaned when the buckskin mare was shoved off a steep butte to her death the fall before. ( I thought it strange that some riders just happened to see her fall and reported that she had broken her skull. ) The orphan was badly injured and died the summer of '04.

Busy blue foaled another red roan colt the next spring, but it is thought that it was Wind Canyon's. Just this summer Cocoa was finally able to run him off. Cocoa's pretty red roan filly somehow found herself trapped outside the park. She can be found hanging around the north boundary fence. Though the Park personnel have made several attempts, she would not cross back into the Park.

Busy Blue seems to have finally reproduced her own color in this year's colt, Amigo, as he seems to be turning from black to blue. Busy Blue's cute bay filly from '07 found a best friend when Cocoa wound up with one of his old band mates, Stormy, her bay '07 filly, and an '08 red roan colt. No one knows how Cocoa came to have these horses from the Curious George band, but they had been taken from that band in the spring, and yet were not won by the marauding stallion, Silver, who had won the rest of the band. Stormy had always tested Curious George's authority over her anyway, so she seemed to have found a comfortable home with Cocoa.

Whit Comes Back

2008-10-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

It was late September and Whit Hibbard was back to give a refresher seminar on the low stress livestock handling method and and teach park employees with some hands on experience. Whit brought his colleague, Samantha, who has studied the method and worked with Whit on the ranch and at Big Bend. We spent one day showing Samantha the park, the handling facility, and what horses we could find from the truck, talking strategy of which bands might be the best to approach and where would be the best place to try to pen them.

Friday morning was the short seminar where we were reminded of the main points of low stress handling: work with the animals, not against them, don't act like a predator, let our idea become the animal's idea, make the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy with pressure and release. Personnel were able to practice the techniques with some domestic horses and cattle that afternoon.

Henry and I opted to ride out with Samantha to check out the sheep pen, make sure the gate was locked on the south side, lay a trail to the pen so that there would be fresh horse scent on the trail, and scout for the bachelors we had seen in the area the day before. We were able to find only one bachelor, but approached him to see how large his flight zone was. He was totally unconcerned with us, so we thought he would be a good option for another field trial to see if Whit could repeat the success he had with the L band earlier this year.

Since we wanted to find the five other bachelors we had seen with "Ollie," we spent the morning scouring the hills and valleys for about a mile either side of the river, but were not able to find any more horses. Whit took a couple hours to take the lone stud to the sheep pen, and with Samantha's help was able to pen him.

The next day we rode from the handling facility. I spotted High Star in the distance on Talkington Trail, so we rode to the north to get around him. While we were covering that distance, High Star and his band of seven moved to Lindbo Flats. We were able to approach them and shrink their flight zone some, but there were 39 other horses in the area, milling around and playing on that cool, windy day, so it was difficult to get the band to settle. Before we got very close to them, Pale Lady decided it was time to leave and even evaded High Star's attempt to head her off. We took a look at several other small bands on the flats and were able to move one small band of bachelors to the east, but then a large group of over 20 horses came toward Whit and Samantha, cutting around the ridge about 30 feet in front of them taking the bachelors with them. The whole 47 horses ran in circles as if to show us that they were to happy to be free and didn't want to cooperate with us.

The following day we tried another tactic, finding the horses from the loop road. Henry and I went out early and found four bachelors on Paddock Creek where the road crossed it. We were able to call Whit and tell them where to park to unload their saddled horses. We now had most of the day to move the small band down Paddock Creek Valley to either the Peaceful Valley Ranch pen or the sheep pen. We decided it was best to have only Whit and Samantha work with the horses and the rest of us including our friend, Laurie, from the North Unit, guide them from high vantage points along the way.

On this cool morning these bachelors were also feeling frisky, but after a time of acclimating them to his and Samantha's presence Whit initiated some movement down the valley to the west. I had told Whit that the trail started on the south side of the creek but then crossed and remained mostly on the north side the rest of the way to the river, so it was his plan to move them slowly along the bottom just south of the creek until he could cross them over to the north side. Suddenly the bachelors had other plans and ran up a valley to the south. Whit and Samantha followed them and were able to find them stopped on the high ground below the Badlands Overlook where another bay bachelor joined them. We were able to observe all this from a high butte from which we could call Whit and Samantha with locations of the horses and possible routes to try once they were able to move them again.

After some time of getting them to settle down, Whit attempted to move them again the to west. They went west initially, but since they had a bachelor from the B band with them, he wanted to go back to the east and turned them back. Whit was again able to follow them back east where they turned onto the loop road. With Whit trailing along behind, they followed it for several miles. We hadn't thought of such an obvious route to get from the rough country below Badlands Overlook to the relative rolling terrain of Johnson Plateau, but it certainly made the going easier for Whit and his horse.

Laurie and I went ahead, opened the ranch pen, and left her horse in an adjoining pen for bait, but the bachelors decided they wanted to go south and once they reached the river bottom, they headed straight for the sheep pen. Henry and I took off at a brisk trot for the sheep pen to get it open before the band reached it. Whit and Samantha held them up until we could get there and get out of the way. At one time a group of hikers frightened the horses up the ridge to the west and Whit thought they were gone, but they came back down. We joined Whit and Samantha about a half mile from the pen and shadowed them as we asked them to move again. The horses were at first wary of the additional riders, but accepted us and started down the trail. By that time the two lame bachelors had dropped out, so there were only three left. They were all used to running on the river bottom, so it was a familiar place to them. They moved quietly along the trail until they came to the wing fence which was made of plastic snow fence. If it was the fluttering, shiny snow fence of just the appearance having nowhere to go, I do not know, but they suddenly broke and ran for the river and through a thick stand of Cottonwood and Juniper. The day had been long and was coming to an end. Whit decided not to follow. We had failed to pen the additional bachelors, but was it really a failure? Whit had been able to move the horses several miles through rough terrain and bring them right to the mouth of the sheep pen. Maybe with a larger opening and better wing fencing we would get them in another time.

It was certainly an adventure Henry and I will never forget. We gained more respect for Whit's skills to be able to do what he had just done. We gained new respect for our horses, who had been up to the challenge of taking us safely across the rough terrain for four long days. We gained priceless experience and insight as to the effectiveness, but difficulty of using the low stress methods in this park and we gained two great new friends in Whit and Samantha. All in all it was a very successful five days.

Oh, yes, and Ollie? we let him go.

Whisper's Story

2008-09-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

It was a crisp fall day when I first saw her, a tiny sorrel overo filly romping with her bigger, blue roan brother. They bucked and reared together in the cool shadow of a large clay butte that kept the sunshine from reaching the river valley. Life was carefree for the two foals running through the tall green grass on the bank of the Little Missouri. The sun was still warm and the grass was still plentiful on that October morning, but the days were getting short and winter was not far away. God did not intend to have foals born in October; most of them were born in the spring or in the warm days of summer, but this little filly, with the big splashes of white on her sides and over her face and the promise of a flaxen mane fluttering in curly wisps down her neck, was less than a week old. She had no way of knowing of the brutal temperatures and relentless winds that would pummel the North Dakota prairie in just a few weeks. Those winds can barrel through the canyons like freight trains, freezing everything in their way. They freeze the river and water holes and bring snow that wets the hide and covers the rich grasses making every bite a chore. I wondered, would the newborn filly make it through a harsh North Dakota winter? I didn't see her that winter, so I could only guess about the safety of the filly and the two other late foals born that fall. I hoped that the snow would not be too deep and the temperatures not too severe.

The following spring I was anxious to check on the horses to see if all had survived. The winter had taken it's toll, but the cute overo filly was still with the L band, lounging in the protection of the great cottonwoods along the Little Missouri. The L band had a bad reputation for being pests in the park because of the home they had chosen. They found shelter in the brush and cottonwoods along the river bank where the wind didn't reach them in winter and the sun didn't scorch them in summer. They also found that the mowed grass of Cottonwood Campground was tender and green. They didn't mind that the lush grass was sometimes covered with a tent or a camper; they could share their home with visitors. What made them unwelcome was their discovery that the Redwood benches and signs in the campground were quite tasty. Being horses, they got bored once in a while and would find something to do that satisfied their chewing habit and tasted good too. The Park personnel had tried to run them out of the campground and even to capture them and send them away, but to no avail.

That spring the Park Superintendent, Valerie Naylor, contacted a low-stress livestock handler to teach the Park personnel some more effective ways to deal with animals who had escaped the park or the horses, whose numbers had made it necessary to sell some off so that vegetation in the Park would not be overgrazed. Whit Hibbard is a Montana rancher, who has learned the low-stress methods of Bud Williams and has used those methods successfully on his ranch and to capture trespass animals that have come across the Rio Grande into Big Bend National Park in Texas. Whit states that, "if done properly, low-stress livestock handling is more cost-effective and efficient, ethical and humane, and safer and easier for both people and animals than traditional livestock handling."

In early May Whit came to the Park and gave a seminar on low-stress livestock handling. Valerie graciously invited us to attend. The method uses many of the principles I was familiar with in natural horsemanship but on a much larger scale. Whit showed video of Bud separating and penning bull Elk and Reindeer as well as domestic livestock. He explained how one or two people could round up, pen, and load animals that would scatter with traditional methods. I found the methods fascinating and practical, but would they work with the wild feral horses of Teddy Roosevelt Park?

Whit had invited me to ride along with him the following day when he went to work with the L Band. All attempts to remove them from the area of the campground had failed, so he wanted to see if his methods might work. I showed up with a dressage horse, a dressage saddle, breeches, helmet, and a bitless bridle, but Whit wasn't quick to judge, he just asked, "Do you ever ride western?"

The river was raging from the rains that had been soaking the region for the past several days, so we loaded my horse and one of the Park's horses, that Whit was going to ride, into my trailer and drove to the other side of the river. We rode through the sheep pen, a sixty acre pen in the southwest corner of the park, that would be our destination if we were able to get directed movement from the horses. Just across from the campground, in a stand of young cottonwoods, we found the L Band.

Delicious was the band stallion of the L Band, having gotten his name because of what he would be in the frying pan of the trail riding concession providers if he didn't quit jumping in with their trail horses. His lead mare, Georgia, and three of the other mares were daughters of Curious George. He also had a nice blue mare that had been one of those to escape the storm and the roundup in 2003 by going across the river. There were 10 horses in all, four mares, two with new foals by their sides, a 2006 colt, a 2007 spring colt, and the little sorrel overo filly born in October.

Whit emphasized to me that the initial contact with the animals was of greatest importance; success or failure may be determined with the the animals' first sighting of an intruder. Since horses are prey animals, they are always ready to run if they think they are threatened. These horses had seen riders coming and going from the trial ride concession at Peaceful Valley Ranch, so they were not too concerned with us as long as we stayed at a distance. Whit asked me to shadow him and his horse since the horses would be less alarmed with seeing fewer riders. We approached them in a zig-zag pattern being careful not to penetrate too far into their flight zone, the distance at which they would feel threatened and run. Watching the most sensitive mare, Whit would move in and out of the flight zone on his passes by the band to get them used to us being there. I kept my gelding behind and beside Whit's so that they moved as one. Once the band was familiar with us and accepted our presence, it was not hard to put gentle pressure on them to push them in the direction we wanted them to go. With the river on one side and the high bluffs on the other, the horses slowly headed up the river bottom toward the sheep pen with Whit and me riding slightly behind and to the side of the band. Whit shared that he treated the band of ten horses like one horse, putting gentle pressure on one side toward the rear to encourage them to go forward or moving up toward the front to turn them. Once we separated to guide from both sides, but the horses were so accustomed to having us move as one that it frightened them and they ran for a ways toward the river. Patiently Whit repeated his zig-zag aproach and continued the slow progress toward the sheep pen. Within two hours we had the horses in the pen; we looked at one another and asked."What do we do with them now?"

We had been given radios, so Whit called in and, I am very sure, the winding down of that Friday afternoon took an abrupt U turn, and Park employees who were still in the office jumped to the task of finding panels and a trailer and developing a plan for 10 horses they really didn't think they would be dealing with in such a short time. While Whit and I practiced moving the horses through the corner of the sheep pen where a small pen would be built, Mike Oelher, Park Biologist, located and brought ordinary ranch panels and built a pen about 30 by 60 feet. Using the natural terrain, we were able to move the horse toward the corner into the pen and close the gate before they knew they were caught. Although the pen was small and not very high, the horses accepted it because they had not been frightened.

The next morning was loading time. Whit stood outside the pen to get the horse used to seeing him on foot and gradually worked his way into the pen. Before he even entered the pen, he had the blue yearling colt comfortable enough to come smell his hand. Once the horses were used to having someone in the pen with them, they were sorted into family groups and loaded into an ordinary stock trailer. What I found amazing was that, once the horses were ready to load, they stepped in and stood quietly. It took about and hour and 45 minutes to load the ten horses in two separate loads. The horses would be be held at the handling facility until Monday when they would be transported to the sales barn.

Only then could Whit and I revel in what had just happened. Wild feral horses had just been taken from the Park quietly, calmly, and safely; it had never happened before in the history of the Park. As we dismantled the panel pen, I put a tempting idea into Whit's head; I told him he should buy the blue colt, since he had it half gentled already. It took less than five minutes for the idea to take hold. What a unique opportunity, to own and train a horse that he had brought in from the wild.

Monday morning Whit wanted to give some Park employees the opportunity to work with the horses, but not until they had been brought through the long alleyway from the lower catch pen to the tub. This was the very task which had been so dangerous with the helicopter 6 months earlier, but with just Whit and I on horseback and anyone else watching from afar, the band walked quietly up the ally and into the tub. Whit loaded a family of three and had Mike load the next family. The stallion and the mare with the late filly were next. With my heart in my throat and a few wise words from Whit, I was able to load them onto a noisy aluminum trailer and send them on to a new chapter in their lives. It was bitter sweet because I did not know where they would end up.

The sales barn in Dickinson was a noisy place with horses huddling in pens and local ranchers sizing them up, but the wild horses took it all in without showing much fear. They had been handled with kindness so far; I could only hope they would find kindness in their future. When Whit arrived, we talked a little strategy and the sale began. Whit's colt was the second to come into the ring. He was the most popular one of the band because of his beautiful color and his age. I was afraid Whit would miss out on the bidding, and gave him a little nudge in the ribs. I would have bid for him, I was so excited for him to get the colt. In less than five minutes the colt was his. The colt could find no better home and Whit had a horse that would always be special to him. None of the other horses brought as much, but none were bought by the kill buyers.

The last to come through the ring was the little filly. Her eyes were huge with fright, but she didn't get crazy; she handled herself well, trusting that in this loud crowded place, no one would hurt her. The auctioneer wasn't getting a bid. Didn't anyone want to take home this cute little filly? OK, plan B went into effect; the auctioneer lowered the bid and I raised my hand. I had just purchased the filly I had watched play that cold October morning, worried about though the long cold winter, helped bring in from the bank of the Little Missouri, loaded onto a trailer with her sire and dam, and determined would not go to kill on my watch!

Whit named his colt Teddy, fitting for a brave young horse born wild in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. He lives in Montana now and Whit can't wait to ride him out with the other ranchers and have them admire that strong young horse with the dark blue coat. The cute overo filly lives with a Saddlebred gelding she thinks is papa, and a 17 hand dressage horse. Her name is Whisper because she was whispered from the park, not roared. She may look like any other spotted filly, but she was one of the first to be born in the wild and be literally walked off the Park in a low-stress roundup. She doesn't know, nor does she care, but she was a part of history.

I had to interrupt my introduction of the bands with Whisper's story because Whit is coming back to the Park. Will he be successful? We don't know, but we can hope that in the future horses can be brought in without danger and stress and in smaller numbers so that they too, like Teddy and Whisper, can find good homes and live purposeful lives.

The H Band

2008-09-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

In the past, when Tom was keeping the records of the horses, the H band was always the bachelors, but in order to have them always listed at the end when sorting my data base, I changed them to the Y's and gave the H to another band, newly acquired by Blaze.

Blaze came from Singlefoot's band. A cute, compact bay roan with lot of white on his face, we, at first, called him Fire's Twin, because he looked so much like my husband's horse, Fire. When Blaze stole a number of mares and their offspring late in 2007, he deserved a name of his own.

Though Blaze is not very large, he was able to steal three mares, their offspring, and a couple fillies that had been running with Three Foot for over a year. He took them into the breaks on the north east part of the park and hid them away in the lush valleys, hoping Three Foot and other stallions would not find them. Three Foot was lame, so didn't seem much of a threat and the only other stallion in that area was Embers, who had fought hard to win the horses he had. But, another threat, that Blaze could not have imagined, came that October. It was the chopper; the roundup was on!

Blaze's band was captured along with around 45 other horses. A roundup by helicopter is a frightful thing for the horses and, quite often in their terror and confusion, they get separated from others in their band. This was the case with a little red roan mare; she was the only one of Blaze's band to be brought all the way into the first corral, referred to as "the tub." Embers and his band, Singlefoot and Satellite and their band, and Red Face with his band, along with two single stallions, Copper and Three foot had been pushed successful from the outer catch pen into the tub, but at great cost.

Just as the horses ran into the tub and the helicopter powered up to rise above the park's handling facility, a skid caught on the woven wire fence and the helicopter was thrown to the ground. With only a puff of smoke, it's roar suddenly silenced, the helicopter lay crumpled on it's side only a few feet outside the tub. It would fly no more and the roundup had come to a abrupt and frightening end. Thirty horses still milled around in the tub as the attention was diverted to the crash site and the two men who had just climbed out of the chopper. After they were taken away by ambulance and reports returned that they were shaken and bruised but not badly injured, thoughts again turned to the horses. We made a quick identification of all the horses, but there would be no sale; after what had just happened, park personnel made a unanimous decision to let them all go.

The little red roan mare was reunited with Blaze and the rest of the band. She had been designated as a keeper anyway, as were about half of the horses in the tub. I was glad they weren't sold, because several of them were among the best in the park. The little red roan mare was the only remaining offspring of a young stallion we had called Little Brother. He was a light red roan with very flaxen mane and tail and four white feet. He was the smaller of two colts by Lindbo Blue and out of the Buckskin mare, but he was the more handsome of the two. His daughter, Little Brother's Girl is darker, but looks a lot like him.

When we found the H band again in November of 2007, we found a surprise, Little Brother's Girl had foaled. Through all the fear, confusion, and danger of the roundup, she had survived and so had her new bay roan colt. Now that winter was coming on, would he survive the cold?

Spring arrived late in 2008, but cover is plentiful and the park horses are strong. Little Punkin came through the winter well, but only he and his dam remained with Blaze; all the other horses had been stolen back by Three Foot.

The G Band

2008-09-06T20:12:00.001-07:00

When I met Funny Face, the bay overo mare with a splash of white on each side of her barrel and a bald face with a perfect red smile, she was with a stallion we called, The Chestnut. For several years before the 2000 roundup, the good natured chestnut stallion, with a very unique, irregular blaze, kept watch over the G band. Each spring brought droves of photographers to catch the perfect shot of the new foals born in the park. The Chestnut was always accommodating, allowing the photographers, amateur and professional, to move freely among his band of mares and youngsters stocking that once in a lifetime photo.

Funny Face seemed almost proud to show off her new foal each year. She and The Chestnut raised several beautiful foals before her death in the winter of 2000, but before she became part of the the old G band, in 1994, Funny Face must have run with another stallion, the gray, Painted Canyon, because in the spring of 1995 she foaled a handsome overo colt that was one of the last Painted Canyon foals born in the park.

Over the next several years he grew in size and strength until he became a strikingly handsome gray with pure white splashes of white like his dam. By the time of the 2000 roundup, he was a proud, brave young stallion who challenged his peers in the turn out pen. As we watched him spar with the other young stallions, we looked forward to the time when he would have his own band.

The next spring he acquired a couple mares and by the following spring, had his first foal on the ground, a solid black colt, but the colt only lived a few months and the mares were stolen by another stallion, leaving Granite alone.

Sometime in the next year he found a young red roan filly from the B band. In 2004 she foaled a pretty red roan overo colt with four white feet, a bald face, and a flaxen mane and tail. Granite's luck was to again turn bad, though; he lost the mare and colt to Little Sorrel that summer.

In 2005 he picked up a young gray mare, but lost her too within the year. Finally in 2006 he found another young gray mare that he was able to keep, and in 2007 she had an oddly marked bay colt with just a very small white spot on each side and a head that is almost entirely white. The little guy, who brought back memories of Funny Face, his grand dam, looked as if he was wearing a mask, so that became his name.

Granite would add a pretty bay roan and a blue roan, but lost them too within the year. The gray mare we call Snip's Gray, Mask, and Granite now make up the G band and can be found in the interior of the park near Dead Elk Hill.

The E and J Bands

2008-08-26T12:32:00.001-07:00

Embers was a favorite young stud of both ours and Tom's in the late 1990's. His dark bay roan coat gave him his name. Over the next few years he established a band with young mares he picked up in the Lindbo Flats area. In 2003 his band was captured in the roundup and several horses were sold, including a nice big bay roan colt out of the Dirty Brown Mare, an almost grulla daughter of The Buckskin Mare, who was a daughter of the Brookman stud, a draft cross bucking horse that had been introduced in the early 80's to counteract some of the inbreeding problem in that area of the park. That bay roan colt, a son of Embers, was bought and is now ridden by my husband. His name is Embers' Fire. His story will come at a later date.

Embers picked up a few more mares the following two years, but lost them all in 2006. We do not know what happened, as some of the mares and young horses were never seen again. One of them was the last remaining offspring of Tyger II, the Arabian stallion also introduced in the early 80's. We just knew that Embers was alone or running with the bachelors.

In 2007 Embers was able win a gray mare, Singlefoot's Gray, from High Star along with her three offspring. He was again a proud papa and kept them away from any marauding young studs that would try to steal them.

In the spring of 2008 a tragedy for another stallion became Embers' good fortune. Double Trouble was badly injured in a fight to defend his band from Little Sorrel. He was now on three legs and unable to keep other stallions away from his band of 10. They stayed with him for almost a month, but finally Embers discovered Double Trouble's band, undefended, and took them all. Those horses along with two new foals in his own band brought his band to 17, one of the largest bands in the park, but the old gray mare from Double Trouble's band, Gray Lady, would not be taken from the only territory she knew, and went back. She and her yearling filly would be all that remained of the old J band that Double Trouble kept so hidden in the interior of the park near the "Chicken Hill, " or "the Eagle's Nest" and "Dead Elk Butte."

Embers moved his band to the northern edge of the park between the north boundary fence and the north part of the loop road, but it was already a populated area around the only watering hole on Jules Creek. Many evenings we saw him wait his turn to drink after other bands that had established their dominance there.

One of his newly acquired mares is a mare we call Lacey. Lacey was the last foal of Funny Face, one of the most popular and photographed horses in the park all of her 16 years that she lived in the Buck Hill area. Double Trouble took Lacey in as an orphan in 2000 and she, along with Gray Lady were the matriarchs of the J band. She produced a variety of pretty foals, one of whom is Dolly, who looks very much like Lacey.

Oddly, Double Trouble kept all of Lacey's female offspring but didn't keep any of Gray Lady's. They are mostly with Red Face. When Gray Lady and her black filly went back to their territory, they were picked up by a young stallion who became known as Mystery. Mystery was born into Singlefoot's band, but disappeared in 2006. We were not able to find him throughout that year so assumed he had died.

In 2007, we kept seeing what we thought was High Star running with the bachelors off and on. We berated him for leaving his mares to hang out with the boys, but it is not unusual for band stallions to do that some times. They apparently need some time away from those demanding, needy, grouchy mares.

In 2008, we again saw what we thought was High Star with the bachelors, but a half hour later we saw him with his band. It was only after checking the old records that we finally realized that
High Star had been with his band the whole time and the solid, almost black stallion with the small star was actually the brown colt that had disappeared from Singlefoot's band two years earlier. Mystery is quite the photogenic, curious gent. On our last trip he came in so close that we had to stand guard between him and our geldings. It will not be surprising to see him pick up more fillies as he is quite the handsome fellow.

The D Band

2008-08-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

For many years a band ran in the area of Wind Canyon, feeding on the plentiful grass covering the rolling hills and river bottom of the farthest north western corner of the park. For a time, a stunted black stallion we called Tiny Tim had the band, but he was soon replaced by a pretty bay roan, Wind Canyon.

Until the late 1990's, Wind Canyon ran unchallenged, but in 2000 a plain black stallion picked up a few of his mares and fillies. We called that stallion Black Brutus, because he was a heavy chested, rather homely brute. He and one of his fillies were struck by lightning on the river bottom the week before the 2000 roundup.

Wind Canyon escaped the lightning but not the roundup that fall. He and his band were captured, but he was turned back out with three of his mares and two fillies.

The next roundup, in 2003, he was not so lucky. After that roundup, only three horses remained of the Wind Canyon band, Big Blue, who was the largest mare and one of the largest horses in the park at 16 hands, her bay roan overo son, and her loud bay overo colt. That colt, Little Shawn, a favorite of one of the temporary staff and named after him, was left behind when the rest of his band was run in with the helicopter. It was feared that he would not survive whatever caused him to be weak in his hind quarters or that he would be killed by a predator before his dam could find him after the roundup, but Big Blue found him and he recovered. He is no longer "Little" Shawn, because he has become a handsome big bachelor.

Big Blue refused to be taken by another stallion, so stayed with her young son, Wind Canyon II, who eventually became the band stallion. They had two offspring, one in '04 and one in '05 and added a new mare in '08.

The C and F Bands

2008-08-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

These bands have both been fairly stable for the past 3-4 years. What makes them so interesting to observe is first, that the F band has a subordinate stallion as well as a band sire and second, that both the C and F bands and their three stallions have run together for the past several months. The three stallions keep control of their individual mares though the mares intermingle freely.
After the 2003 roundup, Singlefoot, ( F stallion) a four year old gray stallion, picked up most of the remaining mares that had run with Lindbo Blue in the Lindbo Flats/Boicourt Ridge area.
With Singlefoot are Lightning, a black overo mare, her loud colored daughter, Sweetheart, and several of their offspring. Sweetheart is so named because of a perfect black heart on her left side. Another older mare who has produced several foals for Singlefoot, is Frosty, a pretty bay roan.
In the spring of 2006 another gray stallion was observes following the band at a distance. As far as we know, he has never taken or bred any of Singlefoot's mares, but he continued to follow the band throughout that year and has become an accepted part of the band. Singlefoot never allows him to come in close contact with the other members of the band, but apparently has accepted him as a sort of body guard. When there are other stallions to be chased away or intruders to investigate, it is Satellite who does the work. Singlefoot stands calmly with his mares while Satellite chases off and threatening band stallions or bachelors.
Curiously the F band had two foals earlier this spring, but both were missing in May and their bodies were found in June. A new foal was born to Lightning in June.

Red Face ( C stallion) took control of what remained of band that Embers had once had. By the spring of 2006 several of that band were missing and Embers had joined the bachelors. Red Face is very protective of his mares and foals and always puts on a good show, running toward any intruders to check them out and then wheeling away to drive his band to safety.

With Red Face are Strawberry, a rather homely red roan overo, and Flame, his lead mare, a beautiful, big sorrel who has produced some pretty fillies. Two younger mares had come to him from the J band in the interior of the park. None of his mares had foaled as of July of this year.

The B and N bands

2008-07-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

The B band has roamed in the area between Interstate 94 and the south side of the park's loop road for decades, but because of their insistence on remaining in their territory and an apparent inability of stallions from other parts of the park to gain any mares in that area, the band had suffered from inbreeding more than the bands that intermingled in the rest of the park. Several of the Interstate band were culled over the years because of obvious conformation faults. In the 2000 roundup, Interestate Blue was removed because he had been the band sire for several years and produced many offspring.

In the spring of 2001, Little Sorrel, a young bachelor son of a stallion that had run in the interior of the park, collected most of the remaining mares in that area and also acquired some of the mares that remained from his sire's band. Another young stallion, originally from the Interstate band, that had run on Johnson Plateau until he was strong and mature enough, picked up mares from those same bands and established his own small band in the same area but farther to the west. Gary, a gray, became the patriarch of the gray, N band, which is often referred to by the park personnel as the "Caspers." The Rose Gray Mare and Ghost are two of the oldest mares in the park.

Little Sorrel now has the largest band in the park (18), consisting of two older mares, Grandma Roan and Tanker, two younger mares, Trouble's Girl and Gary's Gray, and generations of their offspring. The lead mare, Grandma Roan, is getting old, but still produced some of the nicest foals in the band. Her striking bay roan stud colt is one of the five new foals this year.

The A Band

2008-07-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Tom Tescher, the rancher who recorded the horses for 50 years, developed a system for keeping track of the different bands and individual horses. Tom is not able to keep his detailed, hand written records any more, but I have continued his system because it works.

In Tom's system each band is given a letter, so first I will tell you about the A band. For the past 10 years Curious George, pictured below, has had the A band, which could be seen along the east side of the Little Missouri River, the high ground between Jones and Paddock creeks and the Paddock Creek valley. Though he carefully guarded his band from other band stallions and bachelors that would have stolen his mares, he allowed park visitors to observe and photograph the band regularly, sometimes blocking traffic as they tried to escape from the pesky flies. He has been one of the most photographed and remembered horses in the park during those years because of his unique overo spots, bald face, and amicable nature.

He created a small band of young fillies in his forth year, but lost most of them to the 2000 roundup. Since then he has acquired and stayed with the same three mares for several years. Flicka, his lead mare, joined him as a two year old and bore him a foal every year for the past eight years. Stormy spent a winter across the river after her sire and another one of his fillies were struck by lightning a few days before the 2000 roundup. She found her way back across the river that spring and delivered a stout, flashy filly who became one of Curious George's favorites. Chubby could always be found hanging around him, while Stormy made his life difficult with her cantankerous disposition.

The offspring of those three mares populated the river valley and produced additional traditional and bachelor bands. One of Curious George's most popular offspring is his loud black and white overo, Circus, who had his own band for a short while, but now remains a bachelor.

Sadly, Curious George lost his band to two other stallions this spring. He can still be seen in the Paddock Creek area and occasionally on the river bottoms hanging out with other bachelor stallions. He has regained his rich brown, shiny coat, but he has lost the proud look in his eyes.

Most of his band now runs with one of his grandsons we have named Silver. Stormy, who gave Curious George so much trouble, seems to be quite content running with a younger stallion who was also frightened across the river by the storm in the fall of 2000.

Stormy and Chubby produced healthy stud colts this year while Flicka appears to be open for the first time. Her filly from 2001, Big Red, the only daughter Curious George kept, has also not foaled. Look for photos of this band soon, at the bottom of the posts.

Current TRNP Horses

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Sine the 2003 roundup, when over 70 horses were sold and 57 horses were left in the Park, their numbers have steadily grown. Last fall, a roundup was attempted, but failed due to the crash of the helicopter. No one was seriously injured, but it brought the roundup to an abrupt halt, and no horses were sold. At that time there were 127 horses of various ages. Two foals were born shortly before the mid-October roundup and one was born a week or two after. They all survived the winter.

After tracking the horses in May, June, and July, we have determined that there are approximately 135 horses in the park as of July 15th. We may still have additional foals as the summer progresses. Some adults and three foals have died since last fall and a band of 10 horses was removed in early May by a low stress livestock handler. (This story will be coming soon.)

In the next several weeks, I will attempt to introduce you to each of the 14 bands, their band stallions, lead mares, other band members, and the 14 new foals. There are also around 25 bachelor stallions roaming in loosely united bands and individually. Many of these horses have their own unique stories, so come back often to meet the wild horses of TRNP.

WILD HORSES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK

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The horses running wild in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota have developed over the years into a breed unlike any other. Descendants of sturdy domestic farm horses, trusty ranch stock and the ponies that carried our Native American people across the plains, they have survived harsh North Dakota blizzards, temperatures of -40 degrees, and the scorching sun and hot dry winds of summer. They have learned to find shelter in the washes and Juniper stands of the badlands and drink from the water filled tracks of Bison after a sudden summer rain.

In the mid 1900's many wanted them dead. Hundreds were herded into rail cars and shipped away to slaughter when trains, autos, and tractors made them obsolete. Cowboys and ranchers made sport of running them down or shooting them to keep them from foraging on the rich, but often sparse grasses of the Little Missouri breaks. Early roundups were conducted on horseback, by pickup truck, and even with planes. It didn't much matter what happened to the horses during the wild chase, since they were destined for destruction anyway.

The horses that remained in the national park, once it was fenced, were the lucky ones. For many years they too were targeted for removal as trespass animals, but some survived and became the foundation of these proud and beautiful horses that call the North Dakota badlands their home.

These horses had a friend in a local rancher, who loved them, kept track of them, and managed them for decades. His story will becoming to this blog soon.