Not the best of pics, but this is a recent supplemental feeding of over 120 mares in a pasture during a snowstorm. You can get an idea of how hard the snow was coming down if you can see the limited visibility in the pics.
That’s Frank back there. Doing what he has been doing for decades. Taking care of the Nokotas. No matter what mother nature throws at him.
A few of the faces of the twenty one Foals. Blink ! Don’t burn your eyes out staring at the cuteness.
Click here ! Click here !………Nokota Horse
Some days it just snows more than others.
Photos by Patrick Lanham at this link here…...Patrick Lanham Photography
Here is Reporter KXNews Mike Chaussee’s story about Frank Kuntz and the most amazing Nokota Horses
Click this link…….KXMB 12 North Dakota
Then meet me back here and click this one…Learn more about Nokotas
KXMB Channel 12 television reporters Mike Chaussee and Alicia Ewin interviewed Frank Kuntz today.
Frank is telling the Nokota horse’s story, and calling for the return of the Nokotas to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park here in North Dakota. You see that is where Frank and his brother Leo got the original Nokotas from.
The National Park Service for many many decades tried to exterminate Wild Horses from the Parks. Yes, seriously ! No joke !
Over the years due to public pressure their policies have changed towards better. But this is not before they allowed certain ranchers to introduce other breeds to influence the herds currently in the park. Such as a Shire and an Arabian. Now why would you do that ? Doesn’t make sense to me for any reason.
So Frank and Leo Kuntz started buying up horses over thirty years ago that were specific to what is now the Nokota of breed of horse. You see these horses have been documented as having a direct lineage to belonging to Sitting Bull’s Band the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux. Do you know their story?
They fought against intrusion from the likes of Custer, and other so called way over glorified “Indian Fighters.” Well the Hunkpapa were one band of many who lost. They lost their way of living, their homes, their culture and especially their horses.
You take away their horses and you take away their ability to wage war, to hunt, to migrate, and especially their ability to flee from those who made them live on reservations to “Civilize” them.
So I , yes me, the writer of these words has to be convinced that the original extermination practices of horses in the National Park Service did not go hand in hand with the attempt to exterminate any culture that fought for their freedom in the Northern Plains. Good luck convincing me any different. History does show the truth.
And we as Americans learn from mistakes in our past and we correct them. We do ! My nation has a conscience that makes thing better ! I know it does ! It is one of the things I love about where I am standing.
I support Frank Kuntz’s call to return the Nokotas to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Remember these are my thoughts and reasoning, For me it is simply the right thing to do.
But I challenge you to allow Frank to be the voice for the horses he has spent everyday taking care of. Listen to his reasons. They are much more diverse and knowledgeable than mine.
It is worth the time to listen.
Click the link and check ’em, check ’em out !
Here it is ! Nokota Horse
Ps: The word Nokota is trademarked by the Nokota Horse Conservancy
I guess most of us wouldn’t relate Winter with being thirsty. I am sure when most think of a place with very little water our minds would drift to a very hot arid environment, covered mostly in sand, and a blazing Sun.
But Winter can lock the water tight in it’s most solid form. There is water everywhere in these pics, but it takes heat to unlock it to it’s drinkable form.
The first two pics as well as the third one are taken of the exact same spot in Beaver Creek. What made the difference beyond being photographed about twenty days apart is that Winter has cast her magical spell of cold temps and moving wind to create her barrier over the moving creek.
Frank and I have opened the holes in the first two pics to allow access to the water. The horses are standing on the frozen creek. Last week it we had it open to the size of a large water trough but below zero temps and a good stiff wind sealed it up.
The even more interesting part is that Frank and I look for more than horse tracks leading to the opened water. Deer, coyotes and others use the opened water to quench their thirst. That makes me happy !
I added the last pic to show you what I look like while I am out and about. Taken the same day as the first two. Yep, that is the moisture from my breath starting to freeze on my scarf. It was about -6 F when I took the recent pics with a windchill way down in the -20s range. Didn’t take long for me to stick my phone back in my pocket because my finger tips started to hurt. Brrrrr for sure.
So next time you think of the searing Sun over a parched desert when you are thirsty this Winter. Take a drink and be happy where you get your water. Then wiggle your toes in your fuzzy slippers and smile at how warm they are.
And oh yea ! Aren’t the ladies in the pics just beautiful !!!
Promised myself years ago I would be someplace cool doing something that stirs emotion on my birthday. I have woke to a sunrise in the desert of Death Valley, watched a Bald Eagle teach her offspring how it is to be an incredible raptor on the Mississippi river. Just a few of many. And today ? -5 degrees F. Linton, North Dakota. -20 F tonight. Staying in and dinner and movie with my favorite dog. Happy Birthday to me !
In The Middle of Somewhere 