Over the years, the hardy, smart, and unique looking wild horses of the badlands struggled to survive and to elude capture. During the late 1940s, a few bands of the horses were unintentionally enclosed within the boundaries of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the late 1940s. When the park rounded up and removed the horses in the 1980s, brothers Frank and Leo Kuntz from Linton, North Dakota, purchased many of them to save them from slaughter. Together with Castle McLaughlin, a graduate student and park ranger who researched the horses and shared their concern for their survival, they developed the Nokota name and breed registry to protect these horses.

McLaughin and the Kuntz brothers stood alone between the Nokota horse and extinction until the late 1990s when Blair and Charlie Fleischmann, a couple vacationing in Montana, also fell in love with the breed and determined to help by establishing the Nokota Horse Conservancy. To this day the NHC continues the uphill fight to preserve the bloodlines of the Nokota horse, relying on the help of a growing number of dedicated Nokota owners and other supporters. 

Now, you can help save this Honorary State Equine of North Dakota. A portion of the proceeds of Breyer’s® 2007 Benefit Model will be donated to the NHC for the purchase of much needed land and basic resources like feed, water and shelter. Their ultimate goal is to establish a sanctuary allowing the Nokota horse freedom while ensuring the preservation of this rare breed. The Breyer model is based on Nahocky, a young blue roan Nokota herd stallion whose parents were both captured wild in the badlands. The blue roan color is a hallmark of the Nokota breed.

Article courtesy of Breyer horses