This has been a very hideous week for our TRNP wild horses and for all of us as advocates.  I will apologize in advance if my “Chicago” roots show up in this post.  If you are easily offended by colorful language, here is your warning to cover your ears. 

Full disclosure….

I personally was not at the round up all week.  I had a prior commitment and promise I had made to my mother.  I worked my ass off for the weeks leading up to the roundup and there was nothing that I HAD to do that I could not do from my phone or computer.  My husband Gary was there EVERY SINGLE DAY.  In all reality, looking at a fence that housed the horses while they waited to be “processed” because the brutality our wild horses endured this week happened behind closed doors. 

I am beyond thankful to our friends at Kuntz Nokota Ranch. Thank you to Christa and Frank for being there with Gary and more importantly, for being there FOR THE HORSES!!

Frank Kuntz has been fighting this fight against Theodore Roosevelt National Park for almost FIVE DECADES!!!!  We have only lived in North Dakota for 8 years, and I can’t tell you how exhausted I am!  FIVE DECADES??

Let’s not forget that Frank and his late brother Leo already saved North Dakota’s unique breed of horses – The Nokota Horse – when the park was literally throwing them away in the 1970’s and 1980’s.   They managed to preserve our unique horses that became the state of North Dakota’s honorary equine. 

Frank owes nothing to the horses that currently reside in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  His work was done here years ago. 

But here he is – almost FIFTY YEARS of doing this!  LITERAL – SAME SHIT DIFFEERNT DAY!  The same song and dance of the park wanting to eradicate this herd. 

Were they successful this time?  Honestly, only time will tell and in the coming days, I will work to pull together ALL of the impacts of the heinous actions that were performed against our historic herd of wild horses. 

Even though I wasn’t here after Sunday, Gary sent me TONS of photos and videos.  Frank and Christa shared theirs as well.  I am not sure that if I didn’t have this promise to my mom that I could have sat there EVERY DAY.  The photos and videos were just as overwhelming for me as they were to all of you. 

On our way home today, we were coming up on Devil’s Tower.  My mom had never been there, so we decided to stop.  As we hiked the trail around the tower, I found myself so filled with emotions that I had bottled up all week, that I had to find a place off the path to just sit and allow myself to feel the gravity of what OUR wild horses just went through. 

And I cried.  The tears wouldn’t stop.  I tried to figure out what else we could have done?  We ONLY had TWO WEEKS!  What did we miss?  Why did we fail them?

I reflected on hearing the pain and despair in my husband’s voice as he witnessed each part of what he could only summarize as a “complete and total shit show” EVERY SINGLE DAY.  When he left Tuesday night, the weight of the week was getting to him.  I could hear the sadness in his voice and the tears in his eyes. 

Both he and Frank Kuntz feel defeated after this long week.  Frank told me today he felt like he was in a limbo of sorts. 

All of this was really weighing on me as the tears flowed today. 

Then my dear friend Sandy Sharkey (who lives in Canada) just so happened to send me an email that said in part:

“Hi Chris,

I get this newsletter from Horse Canada.  It includes your TV piece. Thought you might like to see that your efforts go far and wide!”

Wow! 

Did we even know?

While I was sitting there, I also remembered seeing a comment on one of our posts this week that said, “We failed them.”

Sandy’s words gave me new insight. 

WE didn’t fail them.

We FUCKING DARED GREATLY! 

I can assure you, I am marred with dust and sweat and blood and let’s not forget a whole lot of tears, as I know all of you in The Arena with us are. 

And to those people who have NOT been in the arena, the people in the “cheap seats” criticizing OUR work – “It’s NOT the critic who counts.”

I am currently being blamed by those critics as the reason why the park felt that this roundup HAD to happen.  And then it is being said by those same critics how wonderful it is that the park is doing this to our wild horses. 

I am so confused; I am a horrible person who helped a great thing happen in their eyes?  Does that make me their hero?

It doesn’t matter. 

Our place will NEVER be with “those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.” We DARED GREATLY – and this doesn’t stop here!

The park will be out with their report of what happened next week.   Does it even matter?

ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NOT!!!

We will NEVER trust a single word that Theodore Roosevelt National Park says EVER AGAIN!

LIES

LIES

AND EVEN MORE LIES!!!

THAT is ALL we got from TRNP!  They need to be held accountable for what they did.  Our petition and email Calls to Action are a start – and believe me – IT IS JUST A START! You can find out more info here: https://chwha.org/2024/10/16/actions-speak-louder-than-words-call-to-action/

I am going to be honest – we have A LOT of work to do!  The park is counting on us running out of steam.   I’m exhausted!  But I PROMISE you –  we won’t stop.  We can’t stop.  These horses are counting on us.

What we DID get over these last two weeks is a very clear picture of what the park feels the future of these historic wild horses looks like. 

We also DID get a clear picture of WHO is standing with the park and WHO is standing with these horses.

North Dakota Badlands Horse posted this post a few weeks ago supporting every single thing the park was doing.  Several of their board members and volunteers were seen EVERY DAY inside the facility. Correction: Sunday they had seats at the fence with us while the helicopter worked it’s magic. 

Wild in North Dakota, who has been silent for some time as she recovers from an injury, broke her silence to stand in solidarity with the park on this roundup. It is no secret that Tiffany Craigo from Dakota Grown Photos actively supports Wild in North Dakota.  Tiffany was seen EVERY DAY at the handling facility behind the closed area – SUPPORTING AND HELPING THE PARK STERILIZE OUR WILD HORSES!!!

What’s worse – THEY ALL KNEW ALL THIS TWO MONTHS AGO AND SAID NOTHING!!!!

As bad as all that is and really, as heartbreaking as it is that they would betray our horses this way, at least they took a stand.  They stood in THEIR arena ~ right? 

What about those who sat silent.  Lips pursed.  NOT A PEEP as our horses were assaulted repeatedly over this week!!

“Our lives begin to end when we become silent about the things that matter.”  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s words never echoed so true for me. 

ALL of these people claim to LOVE these horses.  I guess that’s a good thing – can you imagine how things might have been for the horses if there wasn’t so much LOVE for them?

At the end of the day, they just don’t matter. 

The people who stepped into the arena with us these last couple of weeks do: Governor Burgum and his staff, Senator Hoeven and his staff, individuals and advocates from ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE who showed up and did our calls to action all week, shared our posts, educated their followers and used their voices to speak up for our voiceless wild horses.

THOSE people matter. 

I am going to be honest; we have A LOT of work to do!  We have a VERY long road ahead of us.  It is going to take ALL of us to change things here.

We are a very small nonprofit organization that depends on every single dollar we get to accomplish anything.  There is A LOT happening – much of which I can’t talk about for obvious reasons, but I can share this:

I worked out a GREAT advertising deal today.  $3,000 for an awesome amount of ad space over the next 3 months.  This will start this SATURDAY to educate the people of North Dakota on what the park just did to OUR wild horses.  It will continue with different, pertinent ads throughout the 2025 ND Legislative Session to raise awareness about the legislation we are working on with Bice Policy Group.

There will be A LOT of travelling – from Bismarck to DC and maybe a few stops in-between to advocate for OUR wild horses!  This will require your help as well.  I will be able to share some details of this in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

We are currently talking about this week’s “shit show” with our lawyers.  IF they find there is action that can be taken to hold the park accountable, that will take money as well.

And then the big one: Bice Policy Group.  I DID have a LONG and AMAZING talk with Holly yesterday.  We have pretty much shaped the North Dakota Legislation we have been working on.  I really CANNOT wait to share this with all of you!  Please remember, Holly’s work will end up costing us about $20,000.  THE ONLY THING THAT STOPS ANY FURTHER ACTIONS LIKE THIS WEEK FROM THE PARK TO OUR WILD HORSES IS STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATION!

If you are able to help us with any of these expenses we have, you can make your tax-deductible donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/cBmDbRA6cUuzERpShcQOCg2

We also have a silent auction coming up next week.  You can find info on how to donate and/or bid on merchandise here: https://chwha.org/get-involved/

Thank you again.  I know this is hard.  Anything worthwhile always seems hard, doesn’t it? 

I can’t promise that it will get easier; in fact, it MIGHT get harder. 

Please ALWAYS remember:

“Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world, Indeed, that is all that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead.

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