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Nokota horses at DaD yesterday

Dressage
#1

Well the Nokota horses survived scrutiny at Dressage at Devon. :smiley:

Did anyone here see them?

The announcer made a nice statement that they were the best behaved class. It was an in hand class and for most of the exhibitors it was their first time, some for exhibiting at Devon or DaD, some for exhibiting in hand in competition at Devon or DaD, in fact I’m pretty sure none of this group or horses have ever done this at DaD before and definitely non of the horses have done it. Mickey Blue Eyes was perhaps the only horse that had been in the Dixon Oval before but he fully expected to see crowds in the stands cheering for him. He’s a major ham and really looks for applause.

http://www.dressageatdevon.org/08releasebreeddiv.htm

Three new breeds have been added to the Individual Breed Classes, bringing their total to 31. Drum Horses, a black and white Shire-like cross was bred to carry the Queen’s drummer and the Nokota, a native American horse that was almost instinct and now is beginning to gain a foothold in endurance and dressage venues. Weser-Em ponies, a German pony used mainly for dressage, will be amongst the smaller breeds. The flashy, feathered Friesian horses will be back again after a brief hiatus.

#2

just found this article

http://www.dressageatdevon.org/pdf/Nokotarelease08.pdf

#3

Susan, I’m so glad the Nokotas got to Devon! No, I wasn’t there, unfortunately.

I came to Devon on Tues. only to see Ali ride Watermark Farm’s Wendy (Wakonda WF, I think) in the 3 year old materiale class. Other than that, I’ve been right here on the farm.

#4

It’s such a privilege to be on these hallowed grounds where so many great horses have gone before. Now Sitting Bull’s horses are recognized there too. How cool is that? :cool:

The Native American and his horse are appreciated for their uniqueness in this way. There’s also finally someone with a Nokota who also drives, it’s a Nokota/Chincoteague cross.

I have a little Yahoo Group for the Nokota horse http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nokota_horse/
Anyone interested in the breed is welcome to join. I have to moderate it because of the spammers, they drop in, post their junk and drop out. I don’t want anyone to accidentally get that spam in their email box so I moderate until I see that the new member is legite.

#5

oh, how WONDERFUL!

Most of the ‘mustang’ related horses show very strong Iberian influence. Some are closer/purer than others. While at Equine Affaire last year Daydream Believer’s young dunskin Colonial Spanish stallion was warming up, and a Buckskin Luso stallion came in to lunge. The resemblance was remarkable–Cisco looking very much like a ‘mini-me’ of the Luso… from body type to movement.

I also find it interesting that Judy Yancy, one of the top top Sporthorse breeders now has some Spanish Colonials on her farm. (Kigers) :wink:

So I’m THRILLED to see the Nokotas at Devon! I wish I could’ve been there!

Gooooooo America’s Horse! :smiley:

(and yes, I’m biased, I now have one of these special few, a yearling Colonial Spanish filly who has me completely smitten! :winkgrin: )

#6

Maybe these breeds will become the horse du jour, LOL. :yes: Nokota horses make really great crosses too.

I have one 16.2 H very wide foundation ranch type who loves to jump and gallop, though he’s not terribly fast, but her loves to go cross country, jump but tolerates dressage and I understand he looks pretty good under saddle.

I have one 14.2 H ranch type NP/cross who was a terrific pony club mount for a 13 yr. old girl who said he was the best pony in the world. He also loves to jump and gallop cross country, and he also tolerates dressage but not as talented in dressage and the big guy.

I have one 14.3 H traditional type who was ridden, is a gentle soul but has no job at this time. He’s been ridden cross country at Fair Hill but hasn’t done anything in a couple years. He cuts the grass and bosses the big guy around, LOL.

Our Nokota Yahoo Group has photos of people’s Nokota horses doing their thing. All amateur photography. :winkgrin:

Check this web site and these 2 paragraphs!

http://www.dressagedaily.com/2008/dd_200809/dd_20080925-dev-hickey.html

Throughout the day in the Dixon Oval, the main arena at the Devon Horse Show grounds, a total of 31 individual breed classes were held. While a number of warmblood registries showed a strong presence, less traditional breeds were also in the arena in large numbers. New this year were the Nokota horses, a native American breed derived from are descended from the last surviving wild horses in the Little Missouri badlands of North Dakota, and their ancestors include early Native American as well as frontier ranch horses.

With the Nokota Horse Conservancy celebrating its tenth anniversary, a growing presence in Pennsylvania and Nokota horses showing their talents in the dressage arena, the Nokota Horse has sparked interest. Kathryn Jones and her two-year-old Nokota filly Little Miss Ouri bested the other four entries in the class. The ponies – Oldenburg Sport Ponies, American Sport Ponies, and Weser-Ems, a German pony used mainly for dressage and showing for the first time at Dressage at Devon— stood up against the big guys. Fox Cry Nicodemus, a feisty four-year-old gray Welsh stallion owned by Shawn Bigley, was a winner, and a crowd favorite.

#7

Forgot to ask, how did Ali do?

#8

Susan…that is just fantastic! Kudos for all of you for getting that done. What great exposure for the breed! Now I have to ask HOW you did it! I want to see if I can get Colonial Spanish horses on the prize list for next year. I’d bring a trailer full down and maybe Jaeme can haul down…however that IS a very long haul from Maine. :wink: Not sure how many would go but we might be able to rally a decent presence.

#9

Awesome! I wish I could’ve been there to see it.

I have seen some of these horses in person, and they’re really a wonderful, well put-together, sensible breed. Hopefully this will bring more interest in them.

Great work, Susan & the Nokota folks!

#10

Hi Daydream Believer,

I organized and sponsored the Nokota Class with 2 other people, Jill R and Dorrie B, and would be happy to talk to you about how it is done.

The contact information for the breed show organizer is on the Dressage at Devon website, all I did was contact her for the information and contracts. The sponosr fee was $500. If you take a look at the breed show prize list and the Individual Breed Classes you can get an idea of what the restrictions are. As the class sponsor you can set those though they have preferences they can go over with you like… to enter horses need to be registered with your breed registry and be members in good standing.

The Nokota Breed registry was not recognized by USDF so I took care of that as well. But I do not think that is a dependency. Just something I wanted to do since I show my 2 Nokotas recognized and wanted my scores to count for All breeds. Some day I hope to not be the only lonely Nokota owner competing my horses at USEF Dressage Shows. Takoda just moved up to second Level and Howahkan will be Training Level next year.

And then there are the class fees to enter which can be daunting for the uninitiated and pretty expennsive for just one class with all the usual USEF fees especially if you are not a USEF member.

The other thing that I did with my other 2 Co sponsors, Jill R and Dorrie B, was we organized an in-hand clinc so that all interested Nokota owners could learn what it was all about. I also sponsored a Nokota class at the Fairhill Breed show so we could have a practice class.

It all went flawlessly at Devon and I was very pleased with how it all went. All the owners had their horses turned out beautifully, and handled them to perfection. A great inaugural class and you will see us there every year now.

A bit of a Bio on each of the horses in the class:

Mickey Blue Eyes is schooling first level and his owner Dorrie B shows training level at schooling shows… dreams of going to a USEF Dressage show some day

Little Miss Ouri is a 2 year old filly and Kathy J’s first horse and will be developed as a dressage horse

Cool Cruise Cloud is shown in Adult Hunters and Adult equitation on the Chester County show circuit by Marie B. and a frequent reserve champion

Blue is ridden by a junior in children’s hunter and gymkanna

Howahkan is my 4 year old who is doing schooling dressage shows now and will be joining Takoda at USEF dressage shows next year

I dedicate my energies with the Nokota helping Nokota Breeders and owners promote them as sport horses, to generate interest in the breed as a legitimate alternative for a competitive equestrian sport horse. They are suitable for any discipline and will be your best friend too.

I am very familiar with the Colonial Spanish horse and follow your webbsite.

You can e-mail me direct at jmurraynokota@verizon.net if you want to chat more about about it. I am an infrequent COTH visitor

-Jill Murray

#11

Jill…thanks so much for the detailed answer! You deserve a medal for doing all of that! I will see if I can stir up any interest within our breed but I am one of the few with an orientation towards dressage. No matter what, I think the exposure is well worth it!

Congrats on a great job!

#12

I know you can get things going. :winkgrin: You will be surprised who comes out of the woodwork once you start getting the word out.

Yes, Jill did a fabulous job pulling this together and generously MAKING it happen.

The articles about them relating to DaD have been wonderful too.

#13

I was lucky enough to catch the Nokota class at the breed division show on Thursday and was equally impressed!

#14

Oh my gosh, we have a witness. :cool: Tell us what you thought, I want to hear every word. What was impressive? I was just thrilled with the pleasant response. People were so kind when talking about the Nokotas. I didn’t know what to expect from this crowd. But I understand they didn’t know what to expect from the Nokota horses either. I must say that I left feeling quite encouraged.

I didn’t bring my horses but I think for those that did compete, they did a fantastic job.

I didn’t have any horses ready for this, but maybe next year. The young lady that ride my big Nokota may want to bring him.

#15

Kudos, Nokota people!!

#16

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

#17

They were almost ‘instinct??’

#18

LOL :lol: Glad I’m not the only one that makes silly typos. Also glad I didn’t write that, just a excerpt from DaD. They probably had something else on their mind at the time, like the Nokota horses have great instinct. Obviously they meant to say that they are almost extinct. There are less than 1000 in the world, including France which is appropriate because it was a French Nobleman, the Marquis de Mores who bought the 250 head of horses of Sitting Bull’s that continued to keep these native horses alive. We all know that many Indian ponies were just destroyed, at least some of these were spared and we are fortunate to have these remnants.

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