Nokota Horse Model Still Available

The Nokota Horse Conservancy currently has Nokota Horse 2007 Benefit Model Limited Edition in stock, although the model is officially listed as "Retired" at the Breyer website. The actual Nokota horse is a breed of mustang based in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota. The horse was described by Teddy Roosevelt, who kept a ranch in the Nokota horse's territory.

After the Depression, the federal government attempted to eradicate the Nokota horse, believing that it was competing with domestic animals for range territory. Most of the horses were rounded up by airplane, and either shot or herded onto trucks and sold to slaughterhouses.

In the 1950s, the National Parks Service created Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Several herds of Nokota horse suddenly found themselves on the right side of the park boundary, where they were protected from the government's eradication efforts.

The National Parks Service continued to attempt to eradicate the Nokota horse, but in the 1970s they gave way to public pressure and decided to preserve the Nokota as part of the park's heritage. However, Park administrators felt that the Nokota horse could use some improvement. In the 1980s, Park administrators slaughtered the park's stallions and replaced them with stallions of other breeds, in the hopes of "improving" the bloodlines.

The Kuntz family of North Dakota became active in the cause of the Nokota horse in the late 1980s, after purchasing a few Nokotas for their own use. The Nokota Horse Conservancy was founded in 1999 to continue the Kuntz family's efforts.

In addition to caring for the Nokota horses and performing fundraising activities, the NHC maintains a strict breeding registry, to help keep the Nokota lines pure. The NHC recognizes two "flavors" of Nokota horse: Traditional, and Ranch Type. The Traditional line shows characteristics typical of Spanish colonial descent, being small and compact. The Ranch Type is larger and heavier, being a product of earlier crosses with thoroughbreds and draft horses.

Both strains of Nokota horse show interesting coat colors, with blue roan (the color of the Breyer model) being one of the most common. Most Nokotas run the spectrum from black to gray, and many have the overo paint pattern.

Nokota Horse is a Traditional scale model, based on the real life blue roan stallion "Nahockey." This is an original mold, although it has been used for other models since. Proceeds from the purchase of the Nokota Horse benefit the Nokota Horse Conservancy, which has been working to preserve and protect the Nokota horse in the northern plains states.