Nature (1982–…): Season 40, Episode 10 - American Horses - full transcript
The history of unique American horse breeds, including the mustang, Appaloosa, Morgan and quarter horse, that helped shape the nation and the people who continue the tradition of caring for them.
Here, in America,
horses helped forge a new world
In return, this new world,
created unique horses
♪
Each breed has its
own story and legacy
The quarter horse and the cowboy
have come a long
way through the years
And it took both
of them to get there
In my family, we've always
had horses as far back
as I can remember
with my mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother
And that love of Appaloosa
is shared by people
all over the world
Shaped by land
and work
but sustained by
their connection to us
These are American horses
♪
♪
America is the
birthplace of legends
Some live right among us
They come in a profusion of
color, proportion, personality
Spirited, gentle
willing, wild
With names like mustang, Morgan,
Appaloosa, quarter
And that's only the beginning
In the five centuries
since horses returned
to North America,
they've taken this
continent by storm
With over a hundred
registered breeds,
the United States has the
most variety of equidae on Earth
♪
It began with the mustang
that swept across the continent
Soon, the Morgan horse
had tamed the American frontier
♪
While first people also created
one of the original
American breeds...
The Appaloosa
A next chapter gave rise to
the American quarter horse,
molded by cowboys
on the open range
These signature American horses
forged in the old alchemy
of horse-human connection
Enough horsepower
to fuel a new nation
And it all started from zero
Their stories begin here,
in the middle of nowhere,
with a horse unlike
any other... The mustang
In the desert foothills
of the Pryor Mountains,
spring is often the
harshest season
All winter, these horses rely on
snow as their only water source
Despite being one of the most
adaptable mammals on Earth,
these conditions
push them to the brink
But change is in the air
As a wave of green
travels up the mountainside,
the migration has begun
♪
For hundreds of years,
horses have gathered here,
near the summit of
East Pryor Mountain
And not just any horses
Pryor mustangs are noted
for their distinct
conformation...
V-shaped face, thick neck,
sloped croup, deep body
And, each spring, when
the reunion is in full swing,
a familiar guest arrives
Naturalist Phyllis Wray
studies individual horses
to gain a deeper understanding
of mustang behavior
Today, she's meeting
several for the first time
This band just made it to
the top of the mountain today
We've got a
couple of new fillies
The one on the
top is little Victoria
And her sister, who's a
little bit lower, is Venus
She's the life of the party
and starts the little fights
and tussles with her sister
All of the horses,
together, are a herd
and then they divide
up into individual bands,
and it's comprised primarily
of a band stallion, like Naolin,
the lead mare, who is
not always the oldest mare
But she's very intuitive
and has experience
And then, there's also kind
of a hierarchy within the mares
They're like families
Mustangs have been
coming here for centuries,
but to understand
how they got here,
you have travel back in time...
Deep... into the fossil record
On this very ground,
the 'dawn horse' emerged
56 million years ago
These ancient horses
continued to evolve
here in North America
until, finally, the contemporary
horse, equus caballus,
became so successful
that it spread...
Across the globe
But in the blink of an eye,
horses disappeared from
the American landscape
The root cause of this
widespread extinction
is still unknown
But one thing is clear...
For 10,000 years,
the horse was gone
Until, one day, with a
little help, they returned
Spanish conquistadors
brought European horses
to North America,
back to the cradle from where
they had evolved long ago
As these Spanish
horses flourished
in the wilds of the
American West,
they became known,
simply, as mustangs
Pryor mustangs still display
zebra stripes on their legs,
dorsal lines running
down the spine,
and barring across
the shoulders,
all genetic markers
of Spanish blood
These primitive
physical markings
unlock the story of
the mustangs' arrival,
but it's their
behavior that reveals
how these complex animals
have survived for so long
At the height of
breeding season,
a band stallion fends
off bachelor stallions
eager to claim
mares of their own
For Phyllis, it's an opportunity
to see how strong
these bands truly are
The grullo is Jupiter
The gray
And he is tormenting the band
stallion, Knight, who's a roan
And he's keeping the
bachelor away from his mares
He's positioning
himself in between them
This is getting a
little more serious
I can tell you Knight
will not back down
He will fight to the
end for that palomino
When the stallions
confront each other,
you almost know
what's going to happen
just by watching their
eyes, watching their ears
And here we go
♪
Oh Ouch
Got another band
stallion getting in the mix
Other bands are
getting drawn into it
♪
The band stallions
don't know where to go
because they are
being challenged
from all different directions
Wow!
My goodness!
It's very, very intense
Wild horses,
doing what they've
done here for ages
Their return set the stage
for an epic comeback...
The first equids on
American soil in 10,000 years
♪
As mustangs ran wild out West,
on the other side
of the continent,
a new icon was born,
a breed whose power
would shape the settlement
of the New England frontier
The Morgan horse...
Pound-for-pound, one of the
strongest horses in the world
Bright eyes, small, foxy ears,
compact, muscular frame,
high head, arched
neck... Regal posture
On the University of
Vermont's Morgan horse farm,
the legacy of this
dynamo continues
Kim Demars sees today's
Morgans as living proof
So, the mother is UVM Whisper
We like this mare a lot
And she's turned
out to be a great mom
This is her first baby,
so she's really taken to it,
which is great
But to Kim,
Whisper is much more than
just a successful broodmare
You know, she's
got a lot of presence,
and she's very curious
This mare is about as
pretty as you can get
She's kind of that
quintessential Morgan size,
and she's just really graceful
and strong and athletic
and feminine all
at the same time
Whisper has "presence"
A posture born
out of conformation
with the ideal traits
of the Morgan breed...
Balance, athleticism,
and typiness...
All rolled into one
Then, there are the
intangible factors, like spirit
I want a horse
that's into itself,
that's proud, that's
ready to go to work,
that wants to show off
So having that attitude
sort of ingrained in them,
we take a lot of pride with
that as well as with the breed
And her bloodlines go
back to the government era
and then eventually
Justin Morgan
It's a pedigree that traces
back over two centuries,
16 generations,
to the year 1789,
when a small, unassuming
colt named Figure was born
But, as he grew, so did the
legend of the Morgan horse
Figure was owned by a
schoolmaster, Justin Morgan
A little horse,
received as payment for a debt
But despite his diminutive size,
Figure was a bundle of energy
♪
He could ride forever
and never falter
Work day and
night and never tire
No matter the conditions,
Figure was unstoppable
The living embodiment
of the frontier spirit...
No excuses
Pure grit
But he wanted to show
the world who he was
Figure was more than
just brawn and stamina
He was versatile, charismatic,
and his reputation
continued to grow
In time, he became "The
Justin Morgan Horse,"
named after his owner
And when he was
bred, it was discovered
that he possessed
another special quality
The Morgan horse had
genetic pre-potency...
All of his offspring
looked exactly like him
Each mare was different,
but they would reproduce this
phenotype over and over again
A "perfect" workhorse
meant survival on the frontier
And word of this horse
spread like wildfire
From these humble beginnings,
the Morgan breed took off,
and today, a new
generation is on the way
It's always fun to say,
"If the weather
drops or changes,
she's going to foal tonight"
But these mares really serve
you up a piece of humble pie
I think the more scientific
you seem to get about things,
Mother Nature just kind of
slaps you around a little bit more
and is like, "Oh, no
You don't have this figured out"
Well, we're at milk almost!
Already darker than this morning
"Foal watch"
is a season of
tremendous risk and reward
For Kim, it's also
a labor of love
I had my first Morgan horse
when I was 7 years old
Her name was Tanner
She was 4, unbroke
Her commitment to Morgans
has only grown stronger with age
But even after a
lifetime of experience,
there's always more to learn,
especially during foaling season
If we can have six healthy
alive mares and foals
at the end of a season,
that's all I really want
Most foals are born at night,
an instinct that can be
traced back to wild horses
Stealth keeps them
safe from predators
But first-time moms like Xena
are notoriously unpredictable
The team checks each
mare in 30-minute intervals
around the clock
But even under
tight surveillance,
it's impossible to know
when labor will begin
Only time will tell
♪
♪
♪
Mom's pretty tired
In that moment, it's so natural
Like, she just laid down,
she pushed, she did her job
The whole act of
pushing that baby out
only took 16 minutes
This is about as
perfect as it can go
It's not something
you get tired of
The first thing
I'm worried about
is obviously if it's healthy,
and then what the gender is
If this is a female,
she could be
the next replacement
for her mother,
and, like, your
brain just goes crazy
It's really cool
And it just kind of
brings it all back of, like,
"This is why we're here,
this is why we're doing this"
I'm not your mom
You know that, right?
I'm not your mom
I want you to go see your mama
Once we know that this
filly can nurse by herself
and stand by herself, we'll
let them just bond and be alone
Best case scenario
is the foal just gets up,
is hungry, wants to nurse
The mare will stand quietly,
and then the baby
just kind of latches on
You are a big baby
No wonder your mom was tired
Hopefully, the stars align
and she'll kind of latch on
Good girl
This is huge
This is a great success story
This is awesome
The more you get to be around
them, you learn more about them
They all have their
own personalities,
which will develop, and
we'll learn more about
Even in a few days or
a week, she'll be full of it
You're curious Hi
As horses repopulated
the new world,
they were increasingly
sought after
in every corner of the continent
including by people
who had lived here
for thousands of years
♪
Poppy, don't scare my horse
Here, horses
I'll go tie Poppy up
On the M-Y Sweetwater
Appaloosa Ranch,
horses are like family...
The legacy of a close
kinship with these animals
since long before the
time of Lewis and Clark
So my Nez Perce name is Wi'Cesa,
and Wi'Cesa means
born and reborn
We're always told, "Who are you?
Where do you come from?"
And that is so important
This is our home
base right here,
these 50 acres
We are located down
here in the valley,
pretty much, and on top is
what they call the Palouse
At one time, a
particular Nez Perce man
was the owner of these horses
And they started calling
them "A Palouse Horse"
And then that gradually
became "Appaloosa"
He's a gelding, and we
named him "See-uk-its,"
which is "beautiful"
He's just put
together really nice
Yeah, you're pretty...
You're a pretty handsome guy
The hallmark of the Appaloosa
is unmistakable...
spots lots of them
Controlled by a single gene
known as the "leopard
complex," or "LP,"
spotted horses may have
been selected for camouflage,
useful during hunts or in battle
Or perhaps, simply
for their beauty
They call it a raindrop
It kind of filters
out and turns gray
But these "raindrop horses"
are characterized by several
distinctive features...
Striped hooves,
mottled skin,
light and sturdy frame,
and white sclera around the eye
Hundreds of years ago,
Rosa's ancestors innovated
their own form of selective breeding
These were trail horses,
prized and bred for endurance
In time, their fitness
brought wealth and power
to the Nez Perce,
allowing them to trade
and travel far and wide
It also nurtured a
reverence for horses
that passed through
the generations
These saddles are kind of heavy
In my family, we've always
had horses as far back
as I can remember
with my mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother
Our story of the native
people is so complicated
People have talked about
the generations ahead
what legacy do we as
a people want to see
And so every family
seems to have certain things
that they specialize in,
and so our heart
is with the horses,
carrying on the
tradition of the horses
That family, that's
the center of our lives,
and it always
comes back to family
♪
That does bring a
warm feeling to my heart
♪
But this traditional horse
culture was nearly lost
In 1877, after being
forced from their homeland
and refusing to settle
on the reservation,
a group of Nez Perce
fled over a thousand miles
across the northern Rockies
They took their greatest
possession... their horses
Months later, only miles from
Canada, they were surrounded
Following the conflict,
the great herds
of spotted horses
were rounded up and destroyed
But, in secret, a
few bands survived
The Nez Perce tribe
received a call from ranchers
They had these horses
that had been in their
family for generations
And they said that these horses
were descended from the herds
that Chief Ollokot had
Ollokot was a warrior...
The younger brother of
legendary Chief Joseph
Following the Nez Perce
war, Joseph's leadership
helped his exiled people
return to the northwest
♪
His Indian name
is "Thunder Rolling
Over the Mountains,"
and people conjure up
that image of Joseph's spirit
being with us
But Chief Joseph's brother,
Ollokot, never returned
But long after his death
during the final battle
of the Nez Perce war,
Ollokot's lost band of horses
was about to return home
And so Ollokot asked a rancher
to keep his horses,
expecting to come back
So then the family decided
they'd like to find out,
"Is there a
descendant of Ollokot?"
and some of our
family is connected
We ended up with a lot
of those horses in our herd
They gave us a
lot of good horses
They really were strong
And some of our horses
from that particular line
have ended up all over,
all over the United States
Today, a new generation
is becoming caretakers
of this tradition...
And doing it in their own style
To have the horse as our
common thing in our family,
that's been amazing
to watch over the years
But it's these younger girls
who have really taken an interest
in learning about
training horses
And it's fun to
see them have fun
They want to learn how
to stand on their horse
and sit on it backwards
and do all of these things
Fun things like that
You really take time to
become close to the horse
and connected with it,
you know, and you can
control the horse with your body
My great-grandmother
was doing things like that
you know, a long time ago
Yeah, I guess after a
while, you do call it wisdom
Oh, my gosh
Okay Whoo!
As American settlers
drifted into the wild West,
new cultures and new livelihoods
arrived on the open range
Destiny brought another
breed to these oceans of grass,
mountains, and sage:
the American quarter horse
Should we score one, rope one?
He looks like a runner
Wooahhh
We roped him pretty quick,
but I got out really quick
She's got a little speed
Yeah, buddy!
♪
The quarter horse and the cowboy
have come a long
way through the years
And it took both
of them to get there
♪
Horses are our life
We just love them
and always have
Always looking for how
we can make a better one,
by either breeding or training
Seems horses are on
our mind most of the time
For Mike and Tara Miller,
ranch life has been a calling
You told me since
you was this high,
you knew you always
wanted to be a cowboy
Well, I did and still do
Started out, you know, I rodeo'd
You know, I'd been
on the ranch all my life,
and I was dumbfounded by what
a person could do with a horse
Made the right choice
It's been a good life
We enjoy it together, and
we're partners in this ranch
I had a crush on
him for a long time
You thought I was
kind of ornery, though
I'd flirt with him, he couldn't
even tell it was flirting
Yeah, it didn't
seem like flirting
For the Millers,
partnership is the bedrock
that supports a
working cattle ranch
Together, they know
how to breed for success,
one quarter horse at a time
♪
The American quarter
horse was first celebrated
for quick bursts of speed...
Up to 55 miles per hour...
Consistently the
fastest horse in the world
in the quarter mile
All that speed comes
from the quarter horses'
unique conformation
This is Chicken Hawk, he's 5
I'll just point out
some of the reasons
that I would like him
even if I didn't know him
He's well-balanced, overall
That's nice
He's got a nice thick girth
for his respiratory system
He has a...
His neck comes out
of his body real nice
A quarter horse's neck
joins its sloping shoulders
at a 45-degree angle
to allow it to work head-down
Resting stance is balanced
Supported by straight,
powerful legs
Body is well-muscled,
especially in the hindquarters
He has what you
want to call saddle bags
That's more muscling in the
hip to hold those stops and turns
and helps him use his hind end
A quarter horse
generates incredible power
from these haunches...
Not only speed but the ability
to stop and spin on a dime
But for all it's physical power,
it's the trainability
of the quarter horse
that sets it apart
One of the wonderful
things about quarter horses,
they're so trainable
And they want to please you
You know, that's
one of the things
that made quarter horses great
They have great heart and try
Yeah
I've had perfect horses
They might not
even look perfect,
but who cares
when they're great?
The great ones fuse
strength, trainability,
and heart into a
horse built to perform,
out on the range
or under the lights
Now entering the arena,
number 146, Mike Miller
and Playboy's Buck Fever
♪
For Mike and Tara,
no horse did it better
than Playboy's Buck Fever
He was just, from day one,
so trainable and
easy to be around
and athletic and plenty of speed
Made the finals at the
World's Greatest Horseman
on him
But to become a champion
requires something deeper...
A conversation with no words
♪
When I'm reining,
it's total communication
with the horse
You're controlling
every movement
Your legs, your hands
That's how you talk
It's a total communication
without using your mouth,
but they understand,
and you understand
You know to do it right,
to get along with your horse,
you need to kind
of think like one
It's basic, basic stuff
But it is amazing
Once the communication develops,
it's easy to pursue any target
But nothing focuses
a quarter horse
quite like a cow
My great-grandfather
came to this country
to Wyoming in 1875
They ran cattle from Western
Wyoming to Eastern Wyoming
They'd start out on
the desert in the Spring,
work their way up
through the summer,
and in the fall,
they'd come down this
Wyoming range
This landscape brought
cowboy, quarter horse,
and cattle together
And as all three evolved,
they became more and
more specialized for the job
We spend more time on a horse
working than anything else
and what horse
you're on determines
how much you enjoy your work
Definitely some
horses have a lot more
cow sense than others
- A - horse with "cow sense"
has a natural instinct
to anticipate, track,
and direct a cow's movement
Horses claim space and control
movement to assert dominance,
normally with other horses
A quarter horse is wired
with one key difference...
It will show a cow who's boss
Quarter horses
seem to excel in it
That's their forte
We go into the herd,
see the cow we want
Cow goes this way,
steer them over there,
then the cow goes that way
Just loose reins
It's no accident
that "cow sense"
has become one of the single
most desirable
traits of the breed
They started the quarter
horse for that kind of work
It's been a part of
us for a long time
Horses are our life
We've spent a lot of
our life around them
and have enjoyed it all
Just glad we could do it
As the quarter horse
became the most
popular horse in America,
an old star was quietly
fading out of view...
The mustang
But sooner or later,
everything old is new again
And for Kaelynn Clark,
adopting and training mustangs
has been her lifelong passion
She remembers every
milestone, every breakthrough,
every inch of forward
progress along the way
But the journey has
also led her back...
To discover the mustang's
special place in history
Today, she'll experience
that heritage firsthand
with her mustang, Spartan,
on one of the oldest proving
grounds in the American West...
The Pony Express Trail
Gopher holes, washouts,
gullies, badger holes...
These are just
some sketchy spots
that you can get caught up in
We're out here in
the middle of nowhere,
and it does take a
minute to get out here,
and if anything did happen
it would take a minute
to get out of here, too
Yeah
He could just decide he's
wild again and be gone
But the road that led them here
began many years ago
It was just surreal
You're like, "Oh, I'm
really going to do this
I'm really getting a wild horse
that's going to come
and live at my place"
When I first met Spartan,
I was 14 years old
he was the very
first mustang I did
through the 4-H
BLM gentling project
For hundreds of years,
American mustangs have
been adopted from the wild,
their genes infusing countless
other breeds along the way
But doing so
requires a leap of faith
You get the butterflies,
and you look at him,
and you're like,
"What's the next step?"
Throughout the ages,
people have built
relationships with animals
That's kind of our
human heritage, in a way
You are carrying on
a tradition that many,
many people have done before you
A lone mustang is a prey animal,
ruled by instinct,
adrenaline, fight or flight
But inside the herd,
they develop close
and long-lasting social
bonds... Relationships
A special quality that
horses share-with humans
After they come home,
one of the first things
is building trust
They're looking at you,
they're respecting you
They're looking to
you for leadership
In the wild, most of the
time, you have your lead mare
that's taking care of the herd
And so I need to
make myself a leader,
and by doing that,
I gain their respect,
I gain their trust
Once a leader
emerges, trust begins
And with it comes opportunity:
a horse known
only as number 1512
now becomes Spartan
That's that point where
they're no longer wild
Now we can dive
into the deep stuff...
The leading, the pressure
and release, the rope work
Spartan will
always be the first,
but for Kaelynn,
the list of names is
growing longer every year
Each mustang has
its own personality
And each training
program is designed
to test individual
strengths and weaknesses
Lots of people use the
term breaking the horse
I like to think of
it as the horse
is always learning something new
You're going to work on things
that might scare
them a little bit,
and you're going
to build that trust
That's why our tack shed
is full of such weird things
Pool noodles with tissue
paper on the top of them
Kiddie pool for water
to lead them through
We've got hula hoops
Just anything to
keep them engaged
and to keep their mind thinking
♪
After countless hours
of overcoming fear
and doubt together,
it's time to take the
biggest step of all
It's a good feeling to know
that I have prepared
this horse for this step,
I've done all the
work, and I can get on,
and he'll still be connected
to me when I'm under saddle
Yeah, you can break them,
but it implies that you're
breaking their spirit,
and Spartan still has
very much of that spirit
Trust opens the door
to a world of possibility
But, eventually, you
have to ride through it
On the Pony Express Trail,
the mission for
Kaelynn and Spartan
is the same as it was in 1860
Expert riders wanted
Willing to risk death daily
Mail from St Joseph,
Missouri, to California
in 10 days or less
Kaelynn is one
of over 700 riders
who will re-create
this 2,000-mile journey,
to experience a
vision of America
connected only by
horseback... Vast, untamed,
the way it was before the
telegraph or the railroad
For 10 days straight,
24 hours a day,
a single replica mail-bag,
called the mochila,
is relayed across
the continent...
And "The Pony" rides again
When I saw the rider coming,
my heart started
to race a little bit,
and I was like, "Oh, here we go
We're about to do this"
Got it Get on the other side,
and then I'll flip it over
Realizing that he
was ready to go,
he knew what his job was,
that helps relax me down a lot
The time is now... Get
the mail to the next post,
and ride like the wind
Thank you
♪
♪
That moment when
you just get on,
you just feel so alive
Running at full speed,
you get to feel the power
that animal has
Knowing that I'm on a mustang
and I'm in their
natural habitat,
on a horse that I trust...
I know he's sure-footed
This is where he's from
This is his heritage
Then and now,
mustangs are uniquely
adapted for this harsh terrain...
They were born for this
Hard hooves, keen
senses, heat tolerance,
endurance for days
You're re-enacting something
that's such an important
part of human history
along with the horse
That partnership
of being together,
it's just an amazing feeling
A partnership
that reveals horses
still connect America,
one horse, one rider,
one ritual at a time
At the end, I kept telling him
that I knew he could
give me a little bit more
because I know he
has that extra gear
And he did give it to me
there a couple of times,
so I'm really proud of him
While mustangs
were preferred stock
for pony riders out West,
another breed was favored
by riders in the east...
The Morgan
It's easy to understand why,
during the biggest showcase
of the year at the
Morgan horse farm,
when all the sleepless
nights, early mornings,
and endless training,
could finally pay off
Since the beginning
of the Morgan breed,
they've been known for
their incredible work ethic,
their tractability,
their demeanor,
and their prettiness,
and I think Vermont Day
is a great example of that
It's an exhibition
of versatility
that shows off the true
range of the Morgan...
And the attitude to match
They like a crowd
They like to be out there
They like to
flip their tails up,
and they like to be expressive
This mare is very special to us
She's an exceptional mare
Very tractable, extremely
athletic and beautiful
Just sort of the essence
of a Morgan mare for us
Her foal was born in April
It was a cold, wet, rainy day
All of a sudden, the
mare's laying down
It was an amazing feeling
and just an amazing thing
to be a part of
We just could not
be more excited
for the future
of this little foal
So I wanted to take a
moment today to present to you
UVM Denali
She is sassy
She is just happy to be there
You know, she just
sort of embodies exactly
what we hope to have here...
Pretty little Morgan
with a fiery attitude
and really just wants
to be in front of people
♪
She's doing well
She's wearing a halter
She's learning how to lead,
and she's learning some
patience, which is good
No matter what breed you have,
if you're a horse person,
you're a horse person, right?
The Morgan people, or
the thoroughbred people,
or the quarter horse people
Horse people are their
own unique kind of group
And there's a lot of pride
that goes in with that,
and their horses are
part of their families
Their horses are part of them
They're pretty cool
After so much
time and tradition,
the lines between a people
and their horses begin to blur
For the
McFarland-Yearout family,
gathering with the
Appaloosa herd
is an opportunity to
honor something timeless
We come together today
for a short prayer on this land
where we keep our
horses, our sik'him,
and just so grateful that we
are able to use our horses,
to dress up and parade,
to bring out our things that
some have been handed down
and some are brand-new
This is my mom's hat
I think this dress is from
my great-grandmother
It makes me feel cool
I don't know why,
but it just does
Like, I feel cool in it
Everything that's put
together, it has a story
When you're doing
this, you're doing honor
not only to the Sik'him,
the Appaloosa, the Maa'min,
and remembering our
ancestors who raised horses
and taught us of horse way
but everybody who contributed
to what you're wearing
and to who you are
It brings to mind so many
memories of my childhood,
taking those journeys
with my grandmother
and my mother on horseback
These trails have been used
for centuries by our ancestors
We're just a part of
the big creation's puzzle
We have something to share,
something important to continue
We have that language in common,
and we have our homeland
But the horses are
always a part of that effort
to really bring us together
And, of course, for us,
it's been the Appaloosa
that's been the binding
And that love of the Appaloosa
is shared by people
all over the world
Sagebrush, badger holes,
it's really wild and western
It's not arena
Anything can happen
For a certain breed of cowboy,
pasture roping
is the ultimate test
For the Millers and
their top quarter horses,
it's the culmination of
another year of hard work
I'm roping with my son, Wes,
and I'm riding Texas Red
I think he'll rise
to the occasion
It's super-ranchy
team roping is what it is
Some guy horseback brings
that cow at a run up that chute
And then when
he blasts by you...
off you go
You chase a cow down, rope it
You're seeing why the
quarter horse was invented
Once the quarter
horse was invented,
competition added
fuel to the fire
The winning horses
were bred, and, over time,
the breed itself was refined
This is going to be team 15,
Mike Miller, Wes Miller
You guys are up
♪
♪
Well, shucks
We tried
Times are changing, for sure
I think there will
always be horses
Whether there's going
to be cowboying like I do,
I don't know
You know, very proud
that our kids want to do
what we want to
do, and our grandkids
Kinda makes you smile
The quarter horses,
which we raise,
they're friends, you know?
I hope that my family continues
to have an interest in horses
and love them like we do,
and, you know, just
keep the deal going
For millions of years,
American horses developed
in tandem with this continent
An evolution that
flows, in modern times,
through human hands
But deep in the Pryor Mountains,
horses continue to flourish,
as they have for
countless generations...
In the wild
After a season of plenty
on the mountaintop,
another long winter
is bearing down
For Phyllis, the
transition is bittersweet
It's the very beginning
of a really long,
tough winter for them
Hundreds of years of living
up here, they've adapted,
and they're survivors
♪
Their strength, their ability
to survive against all odds
in an environment that
pushes them to the limits,
and they're still here
These are truly a
different type of horse,
a very valuable horse
Their genetics need
to be carried forward,
because if we lose what we
have here on this mountain,
we won't ever get it back
Since the return
of American horses,
we've become a country
moved by horsepower
Breeds will come and go
Times will always change
But the horse is here to stay
♪
♪
♪
♪
horses helped forge a new world
In return, this new world,
created unique horses
♪
Each breed has its
own story and legacy
The quarter horse and the cowboy
have come a long
way through the years
And it took both
of them to get there
In my family, we've always
had horses as far back
as I can remember
with my mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother
And that love of Appaloosa
is shared by people
all over the world
Shaped by land
and work
but sustained by
their connection to us
These are American horses
♪
♪
America is the
birthplace of legends
Some live right among us
They come in a profusion of
color, proportion, personality
Spirited, gentle
willing, wild
With names like mustang, Morgan,
Appaloosa, quarter
And that's only the beginning
In the five centuries
since horses returned
to North America,
they've taken this
continent by storm
With over a hundred
registered breeds,
the United States has the
most variety of equidae on Earth
♪
It began with the mustang
that swept across the continent
Soon, the Morgan horse
had tamed the American frontier
♪
While first people also created
one of the original
American breeds...
The Appaloosa
A next chapter gave rise to
the American quarter horse,
molded by cowboys
on the open range
These signature American horses
forged in the old alchemy
of horse-human connection
Enough horsepower
to fuel a new nation
And it all started from zero
Their stories begin here,
in the middle of nowhere,
with a horse unlike
any other... The mustang
In the desert foothills
of the Pryor Mountains,
spring is often the
harshest season
All winter, these horses rely on
snow as their only water source
Despite being one of the most
adaptable mammals on Earth,
these conditions
push them to the brink
But change is in the air
As a wave of green
travels up the mountainside,
the migration has begun
♪
For hundreds of years,
horses have gathered here,
near the summit of
East Pryor Mountain
And not just any horses
Pryor mustangs are noted
for their distinct
conformation...
V-shaped face, thick neck,
sloped croup, deep body
And, each spring, when
the reunion is in full swing,
a familiar guest arrives
Naturalist Phyllis Wray
studies individual horses
to gain a deeper understanding
of mustang behavior
Today, she's meeting
several for the first time
This band just made it to
the top of the mountain today
We've got a
couple of new fillies
The one on the
top is little Victoria
And her sister, who's a
little bit lower, is Venus
She's the life of the party
and starts the little fights
and tussles with her sister
All of the horses,
together, are a herd
and then they divide
up into individual bands,
and it's comprised primarily
of a band stallion, like Naolin,
the lead mare, who is
not always the oldest mare
But she's very intuitive
and has experience
And then, there's also kind
of a hierarchy within the mares
They're like families
Mustangs have been
coming here for centuries,
but to understand
how they got here,
you have travel back in time...
Deep... into the fossil record
On this very ground,
the 'dawn horse' emerged
56 million years ago
These ancient horses
continued to evolve
here in North America
until, finally, the contemporary
horse, equus caballus,
became so successful
that it spread...
Across the globe
But in the blink of an eye,
horses disappeared from
the American landscape
The root cause of this
widespread extinction
is still unknown
But one thing is clear...
For 10,000 years,
the horse was gone
Until, one day, with a
little help, they returned
Spanish conquistadors
brought European horses
to North America,
back to the cradle from where
they had evolved long ago
As these Spanish
horses flourished
in the wilds of the
American West,
they became known,
simply, as mustangs
Pryor mustangs still display
zebra stripes on their legs,
dorsal lines running
down the spine,
and barring across
the shoulders,
all genetic markers
of Spanish blood
These primitive
physical markings
unlock the story of
the mustangs' arrival,
but it's their
behavior that reveals
how these complex animals
have survived for so long
At the height of
breeding season,
a band stallion fends
off bachelor stallions
eager to claim
mares of their own
For Phyllis, it's an opportunity
to see how strong
these bands truly are
The grullo is Jupiter
The gray
And he is tormenting the band
stallion, Knight, who's a roan
And he's keeping the
bachelor away from his mares
He's positioning
himself in between them
This is getting a
little more serious
I can tell you Knight
will not back down
He will fight to the
end for that palomino
When the stallions
confront each other,
you almost know
what's going to happen
just by watching their
eyes, watching their ears
And here we go
♪
Oh Ouch
Got another band
stallion getting in the mix
Other bands are
getting drawn into it
♪
The band stallions
don't know where to go
because they are
being challenged
from all different directions
Wow!
My goodness!
It's very, very intense
Wild horses,
doing what they've
done here for ages
Their return set the stage
for an epic comeback...
The first equids on
American soil in 10,000 years
♪
As mustangs ran wild out West,
on the other side
of the continent,
a new icon was born,
a breed whose power
would shape the settlement
of the New England frontier
The Morgan horse...
Pound-for-pound, one of the
strongest horses in the world
Bright eyes, small, foxy ears,
compact, muscular frame,
high head, arched
neck... Regal posture
On the University of
Vermont's Morgan horse farm,
the legacy of this
dynamo continues
Kim Demars sees today's
Morgans as living proof
So, the mother is UVM Whisper
We like this mare a lot
And she's turned
out to be a great mom
This is her first baby,
so she's really taken to it,
which is great
But to Kim,
Whisper is much more than
just a successful broodmare
You know, she's
got a lot of presence,
and she's very curious
This mare is about as
pretty as you can get
She's kind of that
quintessential Morgan size,
and she's just really graceful
and strong and athletic
and feminine all
at the same time
Whisper has "presence"
A posture born
out of conformation
with the ideal traits
of the Morgan breed...
Balance, athleticism,
and typiness...
All rolled into one
Then, there are the
intangible factors, like spirit
I want a horse
that's into itself,
that's proud, that's
ready to go to work,
that wants to show off
So having that attitude
sort of ingrained in them,
we take a lot of pride with
that as well as with the breed
And her bloodlines go
back to the government era
and then eventually
Justin Morgan
It's a pedigree that traces
back over two centuries,
16 generations,
to the year 1789,
when a small, unassuming
colt named Figure was born
But, as he grew, so did the
legend of the Morgan horse
Figure was owned by a
schoolmaster, Justin Morgan
A little horse,
received as payment for a debt
But despite his diminutive size,
Figure was a bundle of energy
♪
He could ride forever
and never falter
Work day and
night and never tire
No matter the conditions,
Figure was unstoppable
The living embodiment
of the frontier spirit...
No excuses
Pure grit
But he wanted to show
the world who he was
Figure was more than
just brawn and stamina
He was versatile, charismatic,
and his reputation
continued to grow
In time, he became "The
Justin Morgan Horse,"
named after his owner
And when he was
bred, it was discovered
that he possessed
another special quality
The Morgan horse had
genetic pre-potency...
All of his offspring
looked exactly like him
Each mare was different,
but they would reproduce this
phenotype over and over again
A "perfect" workhorse
meant survival on the frontier
And word of this horse
spread like wildfire
From these humble beginnings,
the Morgan breed took off,
and today, a new
generation is on the way
It's always fun to say,
"If the weather
drops or changes,
she's going to foal tonight"
But these mares really serve
you up a piece of humble pie
I think the more scientific
you seem to get about things,
Mother Nature just kind of
slaps you around a little bit more
and is like, "Oh, no
You don't have this figured out"
Well, we're at milk almost!
Already darker than this morning
"Foal watch"
is a season of
tremendous risk and reward
For Kim, it's also
a labor of love
I had my first Morgan horse
when I was 7 years old
Her name was Tanner
She was 4, unbroke
Her commitment to Morgans
has only grown stronger with age
But even after a
lifetime of experience,
there's always more to learn,
especially during foaling season
If we can have six healthy
alive mares and foals
at the end of a season,
that's all I really want
Most foals are born at night,
an instinct that can be
traced back to wild horses
Stealth keeps them
safe from predators
But first-time moms like Xena
are notoriously unpredictable
The team checks each
mare in 30-minute intervals
around the clock
But even under
tight surveillance,
it's impossible to know
when labor will begin
Only time will tell
♪
♪
♪
Mom's pretty tired
In that moment, it's so natural
Like, she just laid down,
she pushed, she did her job
The whole act of
pushing that baby out
only took 16 minutes
This is about as
perfect as it can go
It's not something
you get tired of
The first thing
I'm worried about
is obviously if it's healthy,
and then what the gender is
If this is a female,
she could be
the next replacement
for her mother,
and, like, your
brain just goes crazy
It's really cool
And it just kind of
brings it all back of, like,
"This is why we're here,
this is why we're doing this"
I'm not your mom
You know that, right?
I'm not your mom
I want you to go see your mama
Once we know that this
filly can nurse by herself
and stand by herself, we'll
let them just bond and be alone
Best case scenario
is the foal just gets up,
is hungry, wants to nurse
The mare will stand quietly,
and then the baby
just kind of latches on
You are a big baby
No wonder your mom was tired
Hopefully, the stars align
and she'll kind of latch on
Good girl
This is huge
This is a great success story
This is awesome
The more you get to be around
them, you learn more about them
They all have their
own personalities,
which will develop, and
we'll learn more about
Even in a few days or
a week, she'll be full of it
You're curious Hi
As horses repopulated
the new world,
they were increasingly
sought after
in every corner of the continent
including by people
who had lived here
for thousands of years
♪
Poppy, don't scare my horse
Here, horses
I'll go tie Poppy up
On the M-Y Sweetwater
Appaloosa Ranch,
horses are like family...
The legacy of a close
kinship with these animals
since long before the
time of Lewis and Clark
So my Nez Perce name is Wi'Cesa,
and Wi'Cesa means
born and reborn
We're always told, "Who are you?
Where do you come from?"
And that is so important
This is our home
base right here,
these 50 acres
We are located down
here in the valley,
pretty much, and on top is
what they call the Palouse
At one time, a
particular Nez Perce man
was the owner of these horses
And they started calling
them "A Palouse Horse"
And then that gradually
became "Appaloosa"
He's a gelding, and we
named him "See-uk-its,"
which is "beautiful"
He's just put
together really nice
Yeah, you're pretty...
You're a pretty handsome guy
The hallmark of the Appaloosa
is unmistakable...
spots lots of them
Controlled by a single gene
known as the "leopard
complex," or "LP,"
spotted horses may have
been selected for camouflage,
useful during hunts or in battle
Or perhaps, simply
for their beauty
They call it a raindrop
It kind of filters
out and turns gray
But these "raindrop horses"
are characterized by several
distinctive features...
Striped hooves,
mottled skin,
light and sturdy frame,
and white sclera around the eye
Hundreds of years ago,
Rosa's ancestors innovated
their own form of selective breeding
These were trail horses,
prized and bred for endurance
In time, their fitness
brought wealth and power
to the Nez Perce,
allowing them to trade
and travel far and wide
It also nurtured a
reverence for horses
that passed through
the generations
These saddles are kind of heavy
In my family, we've always
had horses as far back
as I can remember
with my mother,
grandmother, great-grandmother
Our story of the native
people is so complicated
People have talked about
the generations ahead
what legacy do we as
a people want to see
And so every family
seems to have certain things
that they specialize in,
and so our heart
is with the horses,
carrying on the
tradition of the horses
That family, that's
the center of our lives,
and it always
comes back to family
♪
That does bring a
warm feeling to my heart
♪
But this traditional horse
culture was nearly lost
In 1877, after being
forced from their homeland
and refusing to settle
on the reservation,
a group of Nez Perce
fled over a thousand miles
across the northern Rockies
They took their greatest
possession... their horses
Months later, only miles from
Canada, they were surrounded
Following the conflict,
the great herds
of spotted horses
were rounded up and destroyed
But, in secret, a
few bands survived
The Nez Perce tribe
received a call from ranchers
They had these horses
that had been in their
family for generations
And they said that these horses
were descended from the herds
that Chief Ollokot had
Ollokot was a warrior...
The younger brother of
legendary Chief Joseph
Following the Nez Perce
war, Joseph's leadership
helped his exiled people
return to the northwest
♪
His Indian name
is "Thunder Rolling
Over the Mountains,"
and people conjure up
that image of Joseph's spirit
being with us
But Chief Joseph's brother,
Ollokot, never returned
But long after his death
during the final battle
of the Nez Perce war,
Ollokot's lost band of horses
was about to return home
And so Ollokot asked a rancher
to keep his horses,
expecting to come back
So then the family decided
they'd like to find out,
"Is there a
descendant of Ollokot?"
and some of our
family is connected
We ended up with a lot
of those horses in our herd
They gave us a
lot of good horses
They really were strong
And some of our horses
from that particular line
have ended up all over,
all over the United States
Today, a new generation
is becoming caretakers
of this tradition...
And doing it in their own style
To have the horse as our
common thing in our family,
that's been amazing
to watch over the years
But it's these younger girls
who have really taken an interest
in learning about
training horses
And it's fun to
see them have fun
They want to learn how
to stand on their horse
and sit on it backwards
and do all of these things
Fun things like that
You really take time to
become close to the horse
and connected with it,
you know, and you can
control the horse with your body
My great-grandmother
was doing things like that
you know, a long time ago
Yeah, I guess after a
while, you do call it wisdom
Oh, my gosh
Okay Whoo!
As American settlers
drifted into the wild West,
new cultures and new livelihoods
arrived on the open range
Destiny brought another
breed to these oceans of grass,
mountains, and sage:
the American quarter horse
Should we score one, rope one?
He looks like a runner
Wooahhh
We roped him pretty quick,
but I got out really quick
She's got a little speed
Yeah, buddy!
♪
The quarter horse and the cowboy
have come a long
way through the years
And it took both
of them to get there
♪
Horses are our life
We just love them
and always have
Always looking for how
we can make a better one,
by either breeding or training
Seems horses are on
our mind most of the time
For Mike and Tara Miller,
ranch life has been a calling
You told me since
you was this high,
you knew you always
wanted to be a cowboy
Well, I did and still do
Started out, you know, I rodeo'd
You know, I'd been
on the ranch all my life,
and I was dumbfounded by what
a person could do with a horse
Made the right choice
It's been a good life
We enjoy it together, and
we're partners in this ranch
I had a crush on
him for a long time
You thought I was
kind of ornery, though
I'd flirt with him, he couldn't
even tell it was flirting
Yeah, it didn't
seem like flirting
For the Millers,
partnership is the bedrock
that supports a
working cattle ranch
Together, they know
how to breed for success,
one quarter horse at a time
♪
The American quarter
horse was first celebrated
for quick bursts of speed...
Up to 55 miles per hour...
Consistently the
fastest horse in the world
in the quarter mile
All that speed comes
from the quarter horses'
unique conformation
This is Chicken Hawk, he's 5
I'll just point out
some of the reasons
that I would like him
even if I didn't know him
He's well-balanced, overall
That's nice
He's got a nice thick girth
for his respiratory system
He has a...
His neck comes out
of his body real nice
A quarter horse's neck
joins its sloping shoulders
at a 45-degree angle
to allow it to work head-down
Resting stance is balanced
Supported by straight,
powerful legs
Body is well-muscled,
especially in the hindquarters
He has what you
want to call saddle bags
That's more muscling in the
hip to hold those stops and turns
and helps him use his hind end
A quarter horse
generates incredible power
from these haunches...
Not only speed but the ability
to stop and spin on a dime
But for all it's physical power,
it's the trainability
of the quarter horse
that sets it apart
One of the wonderful
things about quarter horses,
they're so trainable
And they want to please you
You know, that's
one of the things
that made quarter horses great
They have great heart and try
Yeah
I've had perfect horses
They might not
even look perfect,
but who cares
when they're great?
The great ones fuse
strength, trainability,
and heart into a
horse built to perform,
out on the range
or under the lights
Now entering the arena,
number 146, Mike Miller
and Playboy's Buck Fever
♪
For Mike and Tara,
no horse did it better
than Playboy's Buck Fever
He was just, from day one,
so trainable and
easy to be around
and athletic and plenty of speed
Made the finals at the
World's Greatest Horseman
on him
But to become a champion
requires something deeper...
A conversation with no words
♪
When I'm reining,
it's total communication
with the horse
You're controlling
every movement
Your legs, your hands
That's how you talk
It's a total communication
without using your mouth,
but they understand,
and you understand
You know to do it right,
to get along with your horse,
you need to kind
of think like one
It's basic, basic stuff
But it is amazing
Once the communication develops,
it's easy to pursue any target
But nothing focuses
a quarter horse
quite like a cow
My great-grandfather
came to this country
to Wyoming in 1875
They ran cattle from Western
Wyoming to Eastern Wyoming
They'd start out on
the desert in the Spring,
work their way up
through the summer,
and in the fall,
they'd come down this
Wyoming range
This landscape brought
cowboy, quarter horse,
and cattle together
And as all three evolved,
they became more and
more specialized for the job
We spend more time on a horse
working than anything else
and what horse
you're on determines
how much you enjoy your work
Definitely some
horses have a lot more
cow sense than others
- A - horse with "cow sense"
has a natural instinct
to anticipate, track,
and direct a cow's movement
Horses claim space and control
movement to assert dominance,
normally with other horses
A quarter horse is wired
with one key difference...
It will show a cow who's boss
Quarter horses
seem to excel in it
That's their forte
We go into the herd,
see the cow we want
Cow goes this way,
steer them over there,
then the cow goes that way
Just loose reins
It's no accident
that "cow sense"
has become one of the single
most desirable
traits of the breed
They started the quarter
horse for that kind of work
It's been a part of
us for a long time
Horses are our life
We've spent a lot of
our life around them
and have enjoyed it all
Just glad we could do it
As the quarter horse
became the most
popular horse in America,
an old star was quietly
fading out of view...
The mustang
But sooner or later,
everything old is new again
And for Kaelynn Clark,
adopting and training mustangs
has been her lifelong passion
She remembers every
milestone, every breakthrough,
every inch of forward
progress along the way
But the journey has
also led her back...
To discover the mustang's
special place in history
Today, she'll experience
that heritage firsthand
with her mustang, Spartan,
on one of the oldest proving
grounds in the American West...
The Pony Express Trail
Gopher holes, washouts,
gullies, badger holes...
These are just
some sketchy spots
that you can get caught up in
We're out here in
the middle of nowhere,
and it does take a
minute to get out here,
and if anything did happen
it would take a minute
to get out of here, too
Yeah
He could just decide he's
wild again and be gone
But the road that led them here
began many years ago
It was just surreal
You're like, "Oh, I'm
really going to do this
I'm really getting a wild horse
that's going to come
and live at my place"
When I first met Spartan,
I was 14 years old
he was the very
first mustang I did
through the 4-H
BLM gentling project
For hundreds of years,
American mustangs have
been adopted from the wild,
their genes infusing countless
other breeds along the way
But doing so
requires a leap of faith
You get the butterflies,
and you look at him,
and you're like,
"What's the next step?"
Throughout the ages,
people have built
relationships with animals
That's kind of our
human heritage, in a way
You are carrying on
a tradition that many,
many people have done before you
A lone mustang is a prey animal,
ruled by instinct,
adrenaline, fight or flight
But inside the herd,
they develop close
and long-lasting social
bonds... Relationships
A special quality that
horses share-with humans
After they come home,
one of the first things
is building trust
They're looking at you,
they're respecting you
They're looking to
you for leadership
In the wild, most of the
time, you have your lead mare
that's taking care of the herd
And so I need to
make myself a leader,
and by doing that,
I gain their respect,
I gain their trust
Once a leader
emerges, trust begins
And with it comes opportunity:
a horse known
only as number 1512
now becomes Spartan
That's that point where
they're no longer wild
Now we can dive
into the deep stuff...
The leading, the pressure
and release, the rope work
Spartan will
always be the first,
but for Kaelynn,
the list of names is
growing longer every year
Each mustang has
its own personality
And each training
program is designed
to test individual
strengths and weaknesses
Lots of people use the
term breaking the horse
I like to think of
it as the horse
is always learning something new
You're going to work on things
that might scare
them a little bit,
and you're going
to build that trust
That's why our tack shed
is full of such weird things
Pool noodles with tissue
paper on the top of them
Kiddie pool for water
to lead them through
We've got hula hoops
Just anything to
keep them engaged
and to keep their mind thinking
♪
After countless hours
of overcoming fear
and doubt together,
it's time to take the
biggest step of all
It's a good feeling to know
that I have prepared
this horse for this step,
I've done all the
work, and I can get on,
and he'll still be connected
to me when I'm under saddle
Yeah, you can break them,
but it implies that you're
breaking their spirit,
and Spartan still has
very much of that spirit
Trust opens the door
to a world of possibility
But, eventually, you
have to ride through it
On the Pony Express Trail,
the mission for
Kaelynn and Spartan
is the same as it was in 1860
Expert riders wanted
Willing to risk death daily
Mail from St Joseph,
Missouri, to California
in 10 days or less
Kaelynn is one
of over 700 riders
who will re-create
this 2,000-mile journey,
to experience a
vision of America
connected only by
horseback... Vast, untamed,
the way it was before the
telegraph or the railroad
For 10 days straight,
24 hours a day,
a single replica mail-bag,
called the mochila,
is relayed across
the continent...
And "The Pony" rides again
When I saw the rider coming,
my heart started
to race a little bit,
and I was like, "Oh, here we go
We're about to do this"
Got it Get on the other side,
and then I'll flip it over
Realizing that he
was ready to go,
he knew what his job was,
that helps relax me down a lot
The time is now... Get
the mail to the next post,
and ride like the wind
Thank you
♪
♪
That moment when
you just get on,
you just feel so alive
Running at full speed,
you get to feel the power
that animal has
Knowing that I'm on a mustang
and I'm in their
natural habitat,
on a horse that I trust...
I know he's sure-footed
This is where he's from
This is his heritage
Then and now,
mustangs are uniquely
adapted for this harsh terrain...
They were born for this
Hard hooves, keen
senses, heat tolerance,
endurance for days
You're re-enacting something
that's such an important
part of human history
along with the horse
That partnership
of being together,
it's just an amazing feeling
A partnership
that reveals horses
still connect America,
one horse, one rider,
one ritual at a time
At the end, I kept telling him
that I knew he could
give me a little bit more
because I know he
has that extra gear
And he did give it to me
there a couple of times,
so I'm really proud of him
While mustangs
were preferred stock
for pony riders out West,
another breed was favored
by riders in the east...
The Morgan
It's easy to understand why,
during the biggest showcase
of the year at the
Morgan horse farm,
when all the sleepless
nights, early mornings,
and endless training,
could finally pay off
Since the beginning
of the Morgan breed,
they've been known for
their incredible work ethic,
their tractability,
their demeanor,
and their prettiness,
and I think Vermont Day
is a great example of that
It's an exhibition
of versatility
that shows off the true
range of the Morgan...
And the attitude to match
They like a crowd
They like to be out there
They like to
flip their tails up,
and they like to be expressive
This mare is very special to us
She's an exceptional mare
Very tractable, extremely
athletic and beautiful
Just sort of the essence
of a Morgan mare for us
Her foal was born in April
It was a cold, wet, rainy day
All of a sudden, the
mare's laying down
It was an amazing feeling
and just an amazing thing
to be a part of
We just could not
be more excited
for the future
of this little foal
So I wanted to take a
moment today to present to you
UVM Denali
She is sassy
She is just happy to be there
You know, she just
sort of embodies exactly
what we hope to have here...
Pretty little Morgan
with a fiery attitude
and really just wants
to be in front of people
♪
She's doing well
She's wearing a halter
She's learning how to lead,
and she's learning some
patience, which is good
No matter what breed you have,
if you're a horse person,
you're a horse person, right?
The Morgan people, or
the thoroughbred people,
or the quarter horse people
Horse people are their
own unique kind of group
And there's a lot of pride
that goes in with that,
and their horses are
part of their families
Their horses are part of them
They're pretty cool
After so much
time and tradition,
the lines between a people
and their horses begin to blur
For the
McFarland-Yearout family,
gathering with the
Appaloosa herd
is an opportunity to
honor something timeless
We come together today
for a short prayer on this land
where we keep our
horses, our sik'him,
and just so grateful that we
are able to use our horses,
to dress up and parade,
to bring out our things that
some have been handed down
and some are brand-new
This is my mom's hat
I think this dress is from
my great-grandmother
It makes me feel cool
I don't know why,
but it just does
Like, I feel cool in it
Everything that's put
together, it has a story
When you're doing
this, you're doing honor
not only to the Sik'him,
the Appaloosa, the Maa'min,
and remembering our
ancestors who raised horses
and taught us of horse way
but everybody who contributed
to what you're wearing
and to who you are
It brings to mind so many
memories of my childhood,
taking those journeys
with my grandmother
and my mother on horseback
These trails have been used
for centuries by our ancestors
We're just a part of
the big creation's puzzle
We have something to share,
something important to continue
We have that language in common,
and we have our homeland
But the horses are
always a part of that effort
to really bring us together
And, of course, for us,
it's been the Appaloosa
that's been the binding
And that love of the Appaloosa
is shared by people
all over the world
Sagebrush, badger holes,
it's really wild and western
It's not arena
Anything can happen
For a certain breed of cowboy,
pasture roping
is the ultimate test
For the Millers and
their top quarter horses,
it's the culmination of
another year of hard work
I'm roping with my son, Wes,
and I'm riding Texas Red
I think he'll rise
to the occasion
It's super-ranchy
team roping is what it is
Some guy horseback brings
that cow at a run up that chute
And then when
he blasts by you...
off you go
You chase a cow down, rope it
You're seeing why the
quarter horse was invented
Once the quarter
horse was invented,
competition added
fuel to the fire
The winning horses
were bred, and, over time,
the breed itself was refined
This is going to be team 15,
Mike Miller, Wes Miller
You guys are up
♪
♪
Well, shucks
We tried
Times are changing, for sure
I think there will
always be horses
Whether there's going
to be cowboying like I do,
I don't know
You know, very proud
that our kids want to do
what we want to
do, and our grandkids
Kinda makes you smile
The quarter horses,
which we raise,
they're friends, you know?
I hope that my family continues
to have an interest in horses
and love them like we do,
and, you know, just
keep the deal going
For millions of years,
American horses developed
in tandem with this continent
An evolution that
flows, in modern times,
through human hands
But deep in the Pryor Mountains,
horses continue to flourish,
as they have for
countless generations...
In the wild
After a season of plenty
on the mountaintop,
another long winter
is bearing down
For Phyllis, the
transition is bittersweet
It's the very beginning
of a really long,
tough winter for them
Hundreds of years of living
up here, they've adapted,
and they're survivors
♪
Their strength, their ability
to survive against all odds
in an environment that
pushes them to the limits,
and they're still here
These are truly a
different type of horse,
a very valuable horse
Their genetics need
to be carried forward,
because if we lose what we
have here on this mountain,
we won't ever get it back
Since the return
of American horses,
we've become a country
moved by horsepower
Breeds will come and go
Times will always change
But the horse is here to stay
♪
♪
♪
♪