Information on the Nokota Horse

The Nokota horse has its roots in 19th-century Wild West history. Today, Nokotas roam free in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in southwestern North Dakota. National Park Service-sponsored roundups throughout the 20th century devastated the population and diluted the gene pool, but Nokotas are slowly making a comeback through private breeding programs.

  1. History

    • Modern Nokotas descended from diverse bloodlines, according to Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Associate Curator and Nokota horse expert Dr. Castle McLaughlin, Ph.D. In "Nokota History in Brief," she states that Spanish horses, wild mustangs and Canadian stock all played a role in the breed's development during the 18th and 19th centuries.

      As Native Americans were forced onto reservations in the latter half of the 19th century, their horses were killed or integrated into ranch herds. Two ranchers, McLaughlin wrote, actively bred the Native Americans' horses. A French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores, bought horses confiscated from Lakota chief Sitting Bull, later selling 60 mares to fellow rancher A.C. Huidekoper. Huidekoper in turn crossed them with thoroughbreds and Percheron drafts. Some of their offspring eventually became feral and populated the area that is now Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

    Endangerment

    • As the open range days came to a close and ranchers fenced off their land, the numbers of wild Nokota declined. When Theodore Roosevelt National Park enclosed more badlands in the late 1940s, McLaughlin wrote, the park's fences trapped some Nokotas, making them National Park Service (NPS) property. Beginning in 1950, the NPS conducted regular roundups of horses within the park, selling the captured Nokotas at auction.

    Preservation

    • In the 1979, North Dakota ranchers, Frank and Leo Kuntz, began purchasing Nokotas and carefully breeding them to preserve historic bloodlines and traditional conformation and coloring.

      Pennsylvania breeders Blair and Charlie Fleishmann joined preservation efforts. In 1999 they founded the Nokota Horse Conservancy and established a breed registry and database to track known Nokota bloodlines.

      The National Park Service now "retains a herd of 70 to 110 animals so that visitors may experience the badlands scene as it appeared during the open range ranching era of Theodore Roosevelt." The park still sponsors roundups, which keep population numbers steady.

    Characteristics

    • Nokotas come in two types. "Ranch" or "traditional" types are stockier and look strikingly similar to paintings of wild horses and Indian ponies from the 19th century. "Park" Nokotas are more sleekly built, the offspring of domestic stallions introduced to wild herds by the NPS.

      Common Nokota colors include blue roan, which is rare in most other breeds. Photographs on the Theodore Roosevelt National Park website show Nokotas also come in gray, black, chestnut, bay, roan, dun and a variety of pinto patterns.

    Recognition

    • The Nokota has received special recognition in recent years.

      In 1993, Nokotas became the "Honorary State Equine" in North Dakota.

      Frank and Leo Kuntz's preservation work earned a spot on "ABC World News with Peter Jennings" in 1996.

      Breyer, a horse model manufacturing company, created a limited edition Nokota figure for the year 2007.

      Also in 2007, a blue roan stallion debuted at the famed Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. He participated in the popular Parade of Breeds exhibit.

      In 2008, the prestigious Dressage at Devon horse show introduced an event specifically for Nokotas.