The Nokota Horse is one of the few wild horses left with herds on the National Park Service lands in the United States, which happens to be the Theodore Roosevelt National Park located in southwestern North Dakota. When the park was first established and fenced in 1950, they unintentionally left many of these wild horses stranded inside. Over the next twenty years, the (THRO) tried to remove these horses or destroy them. This activity was not acceptable to the local community. They held protests and such to prevent these horses from being killed; they tried to get the park to see that the horses were a part of the local agriculture and the history. By 1970, the decision to kill or remove the Nokota Horse was re-evaluated.
If not for the efforts of two brothers, Leo and Frank Kuntz, the Nokota Horse would have been wiped out. They purchased a few of the horses from a national park roundup service in 1978 in North Dakota, it was through their work and research, such as blood typing that the Nokota Horse was recognized and registered as its own breed in 1991. In June of 1999, the Nokota Horse Conservancy Inc. was established, and the fight through this non-profit organization to preserve the horse for years to come is still well on.
The National Park Nokota is categorized in two different classes, the traditional Nokota and the ranch Nokota. They both differ in physical attributes and intelligence. The traditional Nokotas have a resemblance to horses brought to the United States by the Spanish, while the ranch ones share a bloodline with Thoroughbred horses. What the Kuntz brothers didn't know was that the horses they had saved from the slaughter pin of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park were the same type of horse that took part in the Battle of Little Big Horn.
The Nokota Horses have more of a high endurance and jumping ability that makes them more ideal trail hiking and in the mountains. When it comes to cattle, the Nokota has a natural instinct to remain calm and watch over the cattle due to their heritage as the descendants of the buffalo and warhorses.
In 1993, the Nokota was deemed the state horse of North Dakota.
The Nokota Horse Conservancy Inc. owns around 34, where the brothers that started it all own a herd of 600. It is the largest herd of Nokotas in the world.
"Bluemoon" also known as "Moonshine", a veteran when it comes to Nokota show horses, he puts on his game face when it comes to putting a show. He has nearly flawless performances and is favored among the crowd. Moonshine became the first Nokota Horse to perform in the World Class Kentucky Horse Park as a part of their Parade of Breed Exhibition, although it was thought that the horse never became the show horse everyone thought he could be, he blew them away as the first Nokota to take part in the World Class Kentucky Horse Park.
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