The noted horseman Ray Hunt often said “The beginning is not only the most interesting, but the most important part of a horse's education.”

Two Texas-based professional trainers, Aaron England and Jack Lieser, will offer a colt-starting clinic in Chappell Hill, Texas, March 11-14, 2010. Using young Nokotas brought down from their winter pastures in North Dakota, the trainers will provide hands-on instruction in the fundamentals of building confidence and getting unhandled horses to accept human contact.

In June and July, mares and foals went out to pasture. A few go by trailer to the river pasture – 300 acres on the Missouri River – and others go to pastures belonging to Leo Kuntz or rented from local landowners.

Horses going to pasture within a few miles of the ranches are moved on foot down gravel roads.  They will spend the summer on grass, and be moved back in the fall. While it happens every year, moving horses is always fun, a little exciting, and wonderful viewing.

Summer is high visitor season, as well. The Annual Meeting always brings people to Linton from all over; this year we even welcomed friends from France and Sweden, in addition to people from throughout the United States. As the summer has unfolded, we’ve continued to see old and new Nokota owners.

But what’s made the summer really memorable has been an extraordinary influx of professional trainers.

Sam Brown, a trainer from Pennsylvania, stopped in Linton on his way to Wyoming with his horse and spent a couple of weeks working with young stock.

The NHC was represented at the 40th Annual International Powwow in Bismarck, North Dakota, September 10-13, 2009. One of the largest powwows in North America, this was an opportunity to help reconnect Native Americans, particularly those of the Northern Plains, with their horse culture.

UC-Berkeley student, Lucie Schwartz, filmed this mini-documentary in March 2008. A wonderfully new perspective on the work the Kuntz' have been doing to protect the Nokota horses for the past 30 years.