Wild
Horses
Some
people will travel a long distance to see a wild horse. On one side
of me sat a family who'd come from California, and on the other, a
pair of independent film makers from Delaware. We sat shoulder to
shoulder in the Wishek Livestock auction barn to witness the recent
wild horse sale on September 28th. To say this event packed the
house would be an understatement since it did that and more.
Latecomers, denied admission to the sale ring due to a full house,
watched and/or bid over a closed circuit television in the town's
civic center.
The
management of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park had culled their
herd of wild horses in the Badlands by half and hauled them to Wishek
to sell at public auction. A carnival-like atmosphere met the sale
goers, most of whom attended for the entertainment. The TRNP made it
a fund raising event and charged $10 to get in the door, $5 to view
the animals in their pens, and $10 for a catalog.
I
chose only the $10 admission fee thinking I'd see the animals as they
entered the ring and could read someone else's catalog. That was a
good decision since, when I asked the man from California to look at
his, we struck up a conversation lasting the whole afternoon. He
stuck his hand out, “Bill's the name.” As we talked I learned he
was a retired Air Force combat pilot having flown the F-14 Tomcat
plane (think Tom Cruise in Top Gun).
Critics
of the sale caused the management to take extra precautions to ensure
the safety of the animals. The last time TRNP wild horses sold, at a
Dickinson auction barn in 2009, some negative news resulted. One of
the horses jumped the sales ring fence and injured an older man
using a walker.
Here
friend Bill started relating a wealth of information. I asked him if
he knew anything about that incident. “Sure, I was there, took
pictures of it.” He started scanning his smart phone and produced
a couple, one where the horse has just cleared the top rung of the
fence. “A friend of mine bought that horse for $35, says it's the
best horse he owns. Name's Bashful.”
Bill
said during his career his wife had set aside her interests while
accompanying him all over the world. Now, after his retirement, she
has taken the opportunity to start her own career on a small ranch
near the marine base of Camp Pendleton. Her interest lies in
therapeutic riding for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) victims
and trains and uses some of these wild horses.
To
offer comfort to the wild horses entering the ring in twos and
threes, a mounted rider rode slowly ahead of them and one rode
behind. The sale manager had hired eight horsemen to assist with the
task, and a good job they did. Surely, an SPCA representative sat in
attendance as well as other critics of the sale. They had nothing to
fear. The sale proceeded very smoothly.
The
TRNP went to the trouble of naming the horses: Liberty Bell, Freedom,
Firecracker, etc. Breeding as they do in the wild, the offspring
come in a variety of colors. There were red and blue roans, sorrels,
bays, blacks, and pintos. A stallion caught my eye, the auctioneer
called it a strawberry roan. It sold for $2000. Here Bill leaned
over and said, “Up til that one sold my wife and I held the record
for the highest price paid for one, $1750 in Dickinson.” Soon,
another stallion brought even more - $2800. “Now we're third.”
He showed a picture of it.
One
group, Legacy Mustang from Virginia, came with pockets full of
$28,000 they'd raised to bid against meat buyers. They bought 35
horses but had nothing to fear from the dogfood crowd. The sales
manager apparently told them to stay away. Just in case of a
problem, several sheriff's deputies and highway patrolmen stood on
hand.
What
did the film makers plan for the video they shot? “We're making a
film about wild horses, and tomorrow we're going to the Badlands to
film them in their habitat.”
Friend
Bill explained he and his wife were also heading to the Badlands
after the sale to volunteer in the TRNP keeping records on the
remaining herd. He explained she has a huge following on her
facebook page “Wild in North Dakota” with over 39,000 “Likes.”
Sure enough. One of the videos she posted is of her and a companion
shooting pictures of the horses.
The
next day the wife and I drove through the Badlands on I-94 headed to
Wyoming and noticed three horses standing on a butte. With their
heads down and the wind whipping their manes and tails, they appeared
as if posed for a western painting named “Forlorn.”
