The Beggining Of The Nokota

In the summer of 1884, the HT Ranch near Medora bought 60 Siox mares from the Marquis de Mores, a french entreprenerur who had purchased 250 head, including all the mares from Sitting Bulls confiscated herd which was originally sold at Fort Buford in 1881. Some HT mares unfortunatly had visible bullet wounds from their lives with the Hunkpapa Siox who had fought in the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. The HT Ranch in addition to buying 60 mares, also purchased the great thoroughbred stallion Lexington from Kentucky, and they crosed him on some of the sitting Bull mares. In the early twentieth century, bands of wild horses continued to roam in the Missouri Badlands with no fences so domestic horses were often turned out to breed among the range brands. But they became targets of political and emotional issues, -and guns. Local ranchers wanted to limit any grazing competition between their cattle and the the wild horses so they often rounded up the horses, took some for using horses, and sold the rest of them so people could shoot them for sport, and slaughter. After the drought and the great depression of the 1930s, federal and state agencies under a great pressure from cattlemen to prevent future dust bowls, teemed up with ranchers to wipe out wild horses from western North Dokota. During the 1940s and 1950s most of the remaining bands of horses were shot from aircraft, or rounded up and sold for slaughter. Also in the 1940s Theadore Roosevelt National Park was being built, and a few bands of wild horses were accidently enclosed within the 70,000 acre parks perimeter fence. Sadly, by 1960, these were the last surviving wild horses in North Dakota. The national park service continued to try to eliminate the horses, but federal laws held them back that were passed in 1971 to protect wild and free roaming horses. The park service won that battle and today it is not subject to the laws and regulations governing wild horse management on public lands. A change of polocy was beggining in the late 1970s when public opposition to the removing of horses and a growing understanding of the importance of their history of the area was thought by the people. Since then the park has managed a "historical demonstration herd." Sadly for those interested in preserving the original type and lines of horses, in the 1980s the park administrators decided to modify the apperance of the horses by adding outside bloodlines. The dominent stallions in the park bands were either shot, or removed. They were replaced with an Arabian, a Quarter horse, two feral BLM stallions, and a part-Shire Bucking horse. At about the same time, several large roundups were held, and many of the parks horses were sold at an auction. Leo and Frank Kuntz of Linton, North Dakota were concerned about the future of these horses, so they began buying as many of the original park horses as they could. They has become interested in them after purchasing a few for breeding and for use as cross country race horses. The brothers became convinced that the horses were a unique and historical type, and they had high respect for their enduance and agility. Researching the origins of the horses, they discovered that the Marquis de Mores (who founded the town of Medora, right where the parks headquarters were later located) had purchased and range-bred Sitting Bulls confiscated ponies. The Kuntzes grew to believe that the Sitting Bulls horses were related to the herds of horses that later were enclosed into the park. Since their discovery of the link to the Sitting Bulls horses, the bothers have devoted their lives to preserving this strain which now survives on their ranch near Linton. The breed name reflects this history of both the land and the horses on it. Until the Nakota Horse Conservancy was founded in 1999, the brothers were the only force standing between these special horses and extinction. In 1994, Dr. Philip Sponenburg evaluated the park horses and the Kuntzes horses and concluded that about twenty animals owned by the brothers, and sadly none in the park were phenotypically consistant with accepted standereds for spanish colonial horses. Since that time, Leo Kuntz has selectivly bred those animals to maintain their spanish characteristics. Indian people and others urged the state of North Dakota to designate the Nokota horse the honerary state equine, wich it did in 1993.

Big Trouble

The next day at school, April was madder than ever. She must of eavesdropped on me and my friends conversation.
"Ha, your mom persuaded Carn to give you private lessons, I mean, Carns never done that to me!" April pouted.
I made my way toward science and sat down next to Hannah once I finally opened the jammed door.
"class, we are going to learn about energy input, and output, when I look at this pencil, it is sitting, and energy is not doing anything. This is called potential energy, when I pick it up, it is kinetic."
"boorringg" said Hannah yawning
"the things she talks about would rather make me want to eat my own puke than listen to her"
"and when I set it down, that is kinetic energy to!" the teacher continued
"Is shutting your mouth kinetic energy?' shouted Hannah, Everyone in the class was laughing their heads off, and putting their knuckles in their mouths so as not to be heard, but it was to late. Ms.Clitch was outraged.
"HANNAH, TORY..........out in the hall NOW!"
"But, I didn't do anything!" I said pleading for mercy
"your sitting next to her, you must have encouraged it, I saw you guys talking to!" She snapped
"But I didn't-"
"Ill believe that when pigs fly!" She retorted
"LOOK, A PIG!" said Hannah in my defence, pointing out the window

My Dog Lily

On December 18, 2007 about a week and a half before Christmas, my favorite dog in the whole world lily had to be put to sleep. That following morning she had been vomiting a vile brown substance. My worried mother toke her to the vet that day while I was at school, She had a feeling on what they were going to tell her. She was right. Lily had tumors everywhere, and one in her throat, making breathing difficult. She also had bad arthritis in everyone of her legs, and a liver problem. It was time for lily to move on. Our family knew lily had a tumor and arthritis, but she was happy all the time, so we thought of it as nothing, until that morning. Lily was a fighter, she had been poisoned by rat chemicals, and almost died. 1,000 dollars later with a pint of blood transfusions and 1 pint of plasma, she was up and going again. Another time we came home, and lily had something like a bullet hole in her stomach, but....she lived. Then about 2 weeks ago, lily wanted to come up on my mom and dads bed, she was laying when a glass toppled over and she got scared. She toppled off of the bed, shocked, scared, and a very soar back. She got up, and started moving, but was walking funny. Soon it was better. Lily would do anything when it came to our family.

My dad had got lily in a small farm in Washington. The man who lived their described a puppy yellow lab, and was very cute and gentle. My dad got their and walked to where the puppies where. Suddenly a small puppy crawled up to him on her tummy and started whining. coincidentally, it was the puppy the farmer described to my dad. Without hesitation, he bought her and brought her home to me for my birthday present, I was going to turn three. The first time I saw lily, she was wrapped up in a blanket carried by my dad, she was fast asleep. I thought it was a baby at first when my dad lifted up the blanket from it's face. I was so happy! Lily was like a sister, we would play all day, and my butt would be soar and bruised from her nipping, but i didn't care. When I was sad, lily would comfort me, she would go over and started sniffing in my ear, like she was whispering she loved me. Then over the years and many adventures with lily, we moved to Whidbey Island. We built a house next to my grandma and cousins on Possession Beach. Now lily could hang out with my grandma and grandpa's dog, Jocko, a black poodle. The two were inseparable, until one unfortunate day when Jocko died. You could tell lily was sad, she would not eat and she LOVED food, but she eventually got over it. Soon over the years she was getting old but she never lost her spirit. I noticed the top of her head was getting whiter and whiter every year. Ups and downs came and gone with lily, in the end we were OK.

That day when lily got put to sleep, I came home from school, my mom told me the story, it was painless, and peace full. I cried and cried, and so did my mom, brother, and even my dad. That night everyone was sleeping, I thought I heard a noise. I got out of bed, and walked down the hall, nothing was there. I was walking back to bed, when I felt a cold, gentle nudge on my hand, but again, nothing was there. Everyone should know, that your dog, or whatever animal you have will have a certain time to go. They Will give you signs like lily did. No tail wagging, trembling, not eating, or looking up at you as if saying, it's time to go. But when they die, mourn for them, and feel sad. But know that they will always be in your heart, and they will always love you.

My Project Poster, Indians And Their Horses

Chapter Five

We landed the jump perfectly, we went so high I thought we were flying. Sun Dance was obviously proud to, he whinnied and shook his head back and forth excitedly.
"Well I'll be, you sure are a piece of work on that gelding, keep up the good work!"
The rest of the lesson was jumping and more dressage. Almost every little thing I did, Carn became more and more impressed. By the end of the lesson she was speechless. our group dismounted our horses, and led them back to the stables, April had already left. I led Sun Dance to his paddock, and removed his halter and bridle. He greedily drank the cool water I had filled before the lesson in his green tub, and gave him a fresh batch of hay. I gently brushed his bay colored coat, and reluctantly picked his mud caked hooves. Finally done, I kissed his muzzle, and closed the paddock door, when I found Carn walking toward me with a big ear to ear grin. She pointed a finger at me and laughed with her country accent which sounded more like a donkey nee haw.
"You are one amazing girl Tory, you have improved a great amount and I want to award you for that. And besides, this class is to easy for you." She handed me a slip of paper with days and different times on the front, and a small picture of two horses in the corner. I suddenly realized what she was trying to tell me.
"You got private lessons with me now, Tory. No interuptin, and no tantrums", she exclaimed jokingly.
"Just you and me."
She waved goodbye and walked down the cozy barn isle, and to her house next door.
"Oh!, and I forgot", she said over her solder
"Call to confirm, just in case. And you be good now, ya hear!"
"OK" I yelled back, but she had already closed the barn door. Exited, I said one last good bye to Sun Dance, and ran out the other door. My mom was waiting in the car, and I hopped in.
"Well you look mighty happy sweety, what happened?" She turned the car around and drove up the dark driveway, and into the night.

Sun Dance was doing great for the rest of the lesson, he trotted, cantered, and even walked better than all of the other lessons before. Marissa was on her usual horse Dulcy, but she was giving her to many mixed signals for her to obey correctly. April was OK, but General tripped on the trot and that got her steaming, I swear I could see a little smirk on Sun Dances face when April dismounted her horse and stomped toward the stables shouting,
"I give up!" how immature.
"All right girls, I now want you to canter, but keep plenty of space between you and the other horses", said Carn trying to keep her mind off of Aprils childish tantrum. I put my right leg back on Sun Dances barrel and kissed the air. He picked up a faster gait, and soon we were soaring. I felt like I was floating in midair, the sun was glistening on his mane, and wisps of moisture was floating out of his nose like smoke.
"Now I want you to walk" I pulled back on the rains gently, but firmly and his hooves were now a slow, and more steady beat.
"Good job Tory" cheered carn
"Nice work on the gaits." I smiled proudly and rubbed my horses neck. I noticed his stride was more pronounced, and his head was held up high.
"Alright" said carn again
"It's time to jump!" We turned around, and trotted to the walls, I could feel the surge going through Sun Dance, building up like an eagle about to soar. Finally we came to the wall, and we took off.