NOKOTA: The Native Horse of the Northern Plains

This video is based on a letter written by legendary horseman, Frank Kuntz, of North Dakota, which I narrate. It is comprised of a compilation of photos from a number of locations, including online, personal photos of my own, photos from Frank Kuntz, and screenshots from a news special on the Nokota(r) horses, which have been overlaid on top of a letter written by Frank for the public, concerning the future of this special type of horse.

I created this amateur video to simply further interest in learning about the horses. I just wanted to use imagery to enhance Frank's letter and bring more emotion to it. The editing is poorly done and some images are less representative of the actual facts than others.. I tried to keep things as accurate as possible, while also keeping it simple enough to get the point across and finish the video in a very short time-frame.

Much of the content is historically accurate while some of it is opinion. Some of the images are generic and there's no proof to my knowledge that the old black and white photos of Native-type horses are actually directly related to the modern Nokota(r) horses, and that also goes for the link between the horses and the Lakota Chief, Sitting Bull. Those are areas where opinion takes over. Maybe one day facts will emerge to support these suggestions and observations by Frank and others, but until then we cannot know for sure.

Close examination of the entire Nokota(r) story brings you to an interesting crossroads where history and facts intersect legend and fantasy. Much is known about these horses, and yet so much is still unknown. My personal desire is to know the full and complete truth about these horses. Will that ever be possible? I have no idea. Only the future will tell. One thing though is for certain, enough people must be interested in the history so that one day the truth, or as much of the truth as possible will emerge.

Based on my personal experiences and my limited research, I am left believing these horses are truly something spectacular and worthy of protection. And even if they aren't directly connected to Sitting Bull's ponies, they're still likely to be the absolute closest candidates to the type of horses used by the Lakota people and other tribes of the Northern Plains left alive today.