NDBH & Nokota Horse Support Group

05/12/2024

So very cool!!

08/17/2023

98.2K likes, 1957 comments. “How to grow the bond you have with your horse.”

09/23/2022

Who has longhorn cattle on Hwy 200 between Remer and the casino?

08/25/2022

Love, peace and safe travels.

05/10/2022

05/26/2021

I took my NDBH, Wyoming, to the Black Hills in South Dakota. She is a Rockstar!!
Wyoming is 5 this year, by Sidekick out of Bella.

03/30/2021

Very good information.

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ~Albert Einstein

Let’s take a moment and ponder the what if’s! There are some who believe that gathers in TRNP should be stopped and no more birth control. Who wouldn’t want that?

What if the gather is stopped? What if birth control is stopped?

Well that was the brain worm I woke up to one morning….and this is what I came up with, the numbers, the reality, almost, in a hypothetical exercise.

Starting in 2015 (the year that I began working in TRNP on Fly Without Wings, in addition to working for CSU as a research tech on the contraceptive project, and as a volunteer for the park) I took the number of horses who were on the birth control study the beginning of 2015—148.

I then pretended there were no gathers between 2015 through the end of 2020, six years. We documented 177 live births.

Now, not counting the current 2021 foals, and subtracting the attrition of older horses, there would be 300 horses in the park, give or take a few as my attrition number for older horses may be off by one or two.

Wow…that doesn’t seem too bad right? 300 horses? Until one looks at the forage load on 46,158 acres, shared with 200—500 bison, guessing 200 plus elk (there was an elk reduction in 2012 of 468 animals), and who knows the multitude of mule deer and pronghorn, in a semi-arid environment where less than 15 inches of moisture fall a year, and currently (as of March 30th) under a severe drought warning that is likely to persist or worsen through the spring and into summer. Now the added pressure of the potential for 300 horses instead of the approximate 170 (I apologize for not knowing the exact 2021 population number) the number becomes a bit more daunting.

As you will see, from the attached rudimentary map, that not all of those fenced 46,158 acres are utilized by the horses.

The blue area is intended to highlight where they mostly range, in addition to highlighting what could be deemed as available grasses for sustenance. On the map you can make out the topography. For those who have been to TRNP you understand that not much grazing happens on those buttes and ridges.

Some stallions, especially those along the southern border—Georgia’s Boy, Teton, Roosevelt, and Wild Rye rarely, if ever, actually leave their ranges. They get by, somehow. They know where the hidden pockets of water are, Roosevelt has access to a stream as long as their is available moisture, Teton hits many hidden areas of water, and Georgia’s Boy has the Little Missouri. Their band numbers are relatively small, Teton sporting the largest harem at eleven.

Those other bands? Flax has his well-established range, but I did witness his band so thirsty, when we were last there the first of March, they were drinking slush from the side of the loop road and got spooked when a tourist rolled up to them to get their picture, they went away thirsty.

Trooper, he has his area and not much pressure from other bands, unless it’s Marty hounding him to get his mares back. Same with Coal, he has a large area he roams and frequents the Little Missouri for his water source, again Coal has a relatively small harem.

That leaves those eleven bands that tend to range together—from the eastern boundary of Fryburg to the interior, to Lindbo Flats in the summer. On good moisture years it all works at the current numbers, but if those numbers were doubled to that hypothetical 300, then what?

But wait—the hypothetical if there were no gathers number was easy to calculate, but that dreaded reality just kept hounding me, the reality is that most of the mares over the last six years have been on birth control.

Now it gets interesting.

Doing some research I found that the control mares on the birth control study (the mares who were not given the vaccine) in the park had an 84% foaling rate. Yes…I didn’t make that up, 84%.

Now let’s start working the data, hypothetically.

Let’s pretend no mares are on birth control from 2015 through the end of 2020, six years.
First—I determined how many breeding age mares there were in 2015.
Second—then researched the mortality rate for foals.
Third—determined the percentage of fillies versus c**ts born,
Fourth—determined the mortality rate for adult horses.
Fifth—Start working through the next six years, year by year using the percentages to determine end of year data.

At the end of the sixth year (2020)—I will leave this number right here for you to ponder—854 horses.

There is never a one size fits all solution in managing our beloved wild horses and today’s exercise in numbers was only to show how horses can reproduce quickly to levels that would decimate the landscape they need to thrive on, along with the other ungulates that share it with them.

Again, it takes a willing public, a community, to work with not against management to ensure these wild beauties find their new forever homes. Thank you for being a positive voice for this wild herd!

12/26/2020

While I know that the area is pretty small I just wanted to show the great minds on the NDBH & Nokotas have.

12/07/2020

08/02/2020

Juniper (Nokota), Jersey (NDBH) and Skye (NPC Nokota)

07/21/2020

On this day in history 1881, Sitting Bull surrenders.
Five years after General George A. Custer’s infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers. Sitting Bull had been a major leader in the 1876 Sioux uprising that resulted in the death of Custer and 264 of his men at Little Bighorn. Pursued by the U.S. Army after the victory, he escaped to Canada with his followers.

Born in the Grand River Valley in what is now South Dakota, Sitting Bull gained early recognition in his Sioux tribe as a capable warrior and a man of vision. In 1864, he fought against the U.S. Army under General Alfred Sully at Killdeer Mountain and thereafter dedicated himself to leading Sioux resistance against white encroachment. He soon gained a following in not only his own tribe but in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Native American groups as well. In 1867, he was made principal chief of the entire Sioux nation.
In 1873, in what would serve as a preview of the Battle of Little Bighorn three years later, an American Indian military coalition featuring the leadership of Sitting Bull skirmished briefly with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. In 1876, Sitting Bull was not a strategic leader in the U.S. defeat at Little Bighorn, but his spiritual influence inspired Crazy Horse and the other victorious American Indian military leaders. He subsequently fled to Canada, but in 1881, with his people starving, he returned to the United States and surrendered.

He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall in South Dakota territory for two years and then was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation straddling North and South Dakota territory. In 1885, he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show and then returned to Standing Rock. In 1889, the spiritual proclamations of Sitting Bull influenced the rise of the “Ghost Dance,” an American Indian religious movement that proclaimed that the whites would disappear and the dead American Indian and buffalo would return.

His support of the Ghost Dance movement had brought him into disfavor with government officials, and on December 15, 1890, American Indian police burst into Sitting Bull’s house in the Grand River area of South Dakota and attempted to arrest him. There is confusion as to what happened next. By some accounts, Sitting Bull’s warriors shot the leader of the police, who immediately turned and gunned down Sitting Bull. In another account, the police were instructed by Major James McLaughlin, director of the Standing Rock Sioux Agency, to kill the chief at any sign of resistance. Whatever the case, Sitting Bull was fatally shot and died within hours. The American Indian police hastily buried his body at Fort Yates within the Standing Rock Reservation. In 1953, his remains were moved into Mobridge, South Dakota, where a granite shaft marks his resting place.

06/02/2020

Such wonderful creatures

05/17/2020

Moon's c**t is NHC x NHC 87.5%. Jersey's filly and Wyoming's filly are NDBH x NHC and will be registered NHC Park Cross.

05/17/2020

Nokota fillies out of NDBH mares!

05/06/2020

https://youtu.be/qnqpQlABRl0

NokotaHeart is the true story of Leo K***z, Vietnam vet turned North Dakota horse rancher and his fight to save the equine legacy of Sitting Bull. Told in Le...

05/05/2020

05/03/2020

Jersey Girl (TRNP) x Dark Skies (NHC) B today, a beautiful filly!!

04/27/2020

Always a silver lining.

We were so excited to take our NDBH and Nokota horses to the MN Horse Expo this year, which would have been this last weekend. We were very disappointed that it was canceled especially as it was our first year.
Our friend Mary reminded me that things happen for a reason, if we had gone we would not have been here for our first Nokota foal being born!
We are so fortunate in this life.
Thank you for the reminder!!

04/27/2020

NDBH DeLaine's Wyoming Wildfire x NHC Leo's Snowey Target. The best of both worlds!!

03/25/2020

Good morning ... Have a Great day ...
Artist ~ John Rossini

03/21/2020

Quote of the Day - "In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive." ... Artist ~ Scott Tallman Powers

02/29/2020

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

02/27/2020

Quote of the Day - "Don't feel sad over someone who gave up on you... Feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone... Who would have never given up on them." Artist ~ Laurie Lee

02/27/2020

Quote of the Day - "There are some people who could hear you speak a thousand words and still not understand the real you... And there are others who will understand... Without you even speaking a word."

02/02/2020

So excited to go to this!!

01/07/2020

https://www.facebook.com/460014421464135/posts/586454285486814/

12/18/2019

We cannot heal or move forward in life by holding onto the past. We need to let go of the past to grow a peaceful future.

12/01/2019

Quote of the Day - "If you spend your time re-living moments that are gone forever, You might miss the special moments that are yet to come." ~ Artist ~ George D. Smith