Ni't To'o'Kisi (One Ear)Ni' To'o' Kisi

The Fighter

There is never a dull moment when riding in the foothills West of Sundre tracking the wildies. This past weekend was a prime example. It was nearing the end of a perfect day, the sun was shining and a few wild herds were found and photographed with their new offspring.  Down a steep hill Bob and I descended after a long eight hour ride, when out from no where appeared a stunning dapple grey stud.  He was roaring his head off and galloping straight towards us,  the interlopers on his turf.  My mare Gypsy, loves the boys, and she whinned a greeting to him in response, he roared again and came at us at an alarmingly rate of speed.   I told Gypsy to be quiet, as she was getting us in trouble once again.   With that, I quickly dismounted, my heart was pounding in my ears as I dug for my camera in the saddle bag.  Gypsy was being none too cooperative either and she danced about excitedly and then stood on her one rein.   I pushed back on her chest and told her to back up, instead she gave me a shove with her nose  so I grabbed her lead shank and told her to quit showing off to the stud.

By this time the dashing dapple grey boy had gotten shockingly nearby.  He was about 75 feet away when Badger and Lee-Loo’, my Akitas went after him.  The dogs figured he was getting way too close for comfort so they managed to move him off to the side, but now only 25 feet away.  When the stud no longer moved toward us, the dogs came back and stood guard over their humans.  We photographed this brazen fellow as he eye balled the dogs,sizing them up.   

He was quite impressive, a mature horse probably at least six years of age,  all muscle, with a spectacular coat, but with the face of a fighter. He was all chewed up by another stud, with even a chunk of his ear bitten off. Stallions have a very rough life, once they are old enough, they will take on a band stallion in an effort to steal his harem. Such battles can result in one of the studs being mortally wounded. However, I am confident that Ni’t To’o'kisi, with all his fighting prowess, will have a new girl friend or two and maybe even sired a foal by next summer. However, he won’t be having  my Gypsy though, whether she thinks so or not, she is not mustang material.    I quietly lead my diva Morgan mare down the hill and mounted up at the bottom and we rode off.  Ni’t To’o’ Kisi snuck down the hill slowly and watched us leave, with one last whinny that echoed off the hills, telling us good riddance I am sure.

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mare&unbornfoal marker

June 10, 2009

Today I went back to the mustang kill site of April 28^th, 2009.  This is where

the latest and most brutal slayings to date occurred.  The bodies were gone, long since hauled away by the RCMP for forensic testing.   Maybe this time I prayed, they will match up bullets from other horse slaughter scenes, which are all too familiar in the Foothills West of Sundre Alberta. 

 I brought along three large wreaths and one tiny one to mark the spots where they fell.  My faithful Akita’s accompanied me on my trek, giving me the much-needed courage and strength.    I looked for the blood soaked spots on the ground but found none, the elements had since washed it away.  No evidence remained of the brutality that occurred there. However, I did find areas of grass that were flattened down from a few large animal lying down on it, and curiously these spots of grass were dead but had lush green grass growing around them, creating an outline of sorts.  I believed that this was likely where the mare and colt fell.  It was easier to find where the stallion had perished as he had caught his head between two young trees when he dropped and had slowly and painfully died from a bullet to the stomach.       

It was hard reliving this nightmare but I thought someone should pay tribute to our fallen equine comrades.  Their ancestors had served faithfully in World War 1 and helped open up the West prior to that.  The thanks they received was a death sentence, shot down by a coward. 

 At each of the three horse murder sites, I drove a stake into the ground and attached a wreath.  I had lost a few of the stakes on the hillside on the way up, so the mare and her unborn foal shared one, with the tiny wreath sitting just above the larger one. 

 In each spot, I prayed to them individually, asking their forgiveness for us humans.  I only felt sadness around me, not condemnation.  As I walked away, I felt as though there were four equine spirits quietly walking beside me, approving of my attempts to pay my respects.  

While walking down the steep hill I noticed that across the road in the open meadow was a lone dark coloured horse watching me.  I wondered if that was the same horse weeks earlier, who was shown on the news running back and forth frantically between the equine bodies trying to nudge them onto their feet. The horse, at that time, was whinnying in a high pitched tone that screamed.

I took a picture of the horse, but knowing that because of the distance away it would likely be blurry and sure enough it was, but you could still see that the horse had a back white foot, just like the one on the news.  I am sure it was her, sadly keeping vigil over the place where her family was gunned down.

stallions wreath

yearling colt's wreath

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Rain at Play

       WHOAS,
I recently discovered your web site and thought you might like to hear Rain’s story.I’ve always loved  horses and especially he idea of helping mustangs, but I’ve never had the opportunity untll recently.
         A couple years ago I attended an auction, intending to purchase tack. What I found was a emaciated three year old mustang mare, taken from the foothills around sundre. She was likely kept in a corral all winter, and it was well known horse dealers(with a very poor reputation) that had her. Her feet were the size of dinner plates and she had a foal(about a month old) at her side. The only human contact her and her foal had was extremely negitive, they both had sloppy, infected brands. The only other person bidding was a meat buyer.
          We brought her home, I halter broke her(using gentle methods of course), trimmed and had a vet look at her, and gave her lots of tlc. Since she has become the most wonderful horse, you could not ask for a more wonderful personality. Though it took a long, long time to over come her trust issues she is now extremely easy to catch, has impecable ground manners and is well on her way to becoming a trail horse. She is exremely smart, sound and very trainable. Thank you for your time,
¦lt;br /> Dannielle

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