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Lorreta on her horse, I’m Your Dreamfinder, crossing one of the many creeks that run off the mountainsides in the Mary Mountain area.


by Loretta Waltner


History & Horses Chief Joseph Trail ride blends two passions.


joleary@crowellweedon.com


www.crowellweedon.com koleary@crowellweedon.com


It must be 3:30 a.m. Doug, one of my fellow trail mates just went out the door to do first feeding. I hear the generators on the food truck humming. Only one-half hour more to sleep before breakfast is ready. The heat is running in the living quarters of the trailer, so I know it’s a typical cool morning. Soon Doug returns with coffee for both Lori and me. Bribery is good on a morning like this. Anytime someone brings me camp coffee, I am up and ready to go. The full moon shines brightly among the stars and the Montana air is crisp. It’s going to be another great day.


www.brigittenoel.com


Friends Doug and Lori Richards and I are on the Chief Joseph Trail Ride. Joseph was the Nez Perce Indian Chief that gathered his tribal members, mostly women and children, and their horses and trekked 1300 miles trying to out-run and out-fight the US Calvary. Every year the Appaloosa Horse Club retraces 100 miles of the Nez Perce Trail. In 2012 the ride was based out of an old World War Two air strip in West Yellowstone Park and was referred to as year nine of the 13 years it takes to ride the entire trail.


Horses have always been an integral part of my life. I grew up in Pony Club, fox hunting with the Arapahoe Hounds, showing hunters and jumpers and doing horse trials. In my “young adulthood” my two daughters and I showed Saddlebreds and had the time of our lives. I have held USEF steward and dressage TD licenses for more years than I care to count, and in the past 10 years, added two FEI licenses. Most people in the show horse world know me as an official, not as a rider.


In the last few years I have taken up trail riding and camping with my horses, and today it plays a central role in my life. My late husband, John R., had never ridden before we met, but gladly joined me in riding the trails and loved it. He used to tell me that I had the strangest group of friends. Coming from a retired banker, I can see his point, but he loved the friends, the riding and all the places we went. After John R.’s sudden death in July, 2011, I needed to regroup. Many of the non-horse related activities we enjoyed as a couple no longer appealed to me. Without his companionship, working horse shows was not as high a priority as it had once been


36 California Riding Magazine | March 2014 | www.ridingmagazine.com


either. Vistas of time opened up, creating a unique opportunity for me to combine my passion for history with my love of horses…and trail riding.


The “Jo”


I found out about the “Jo,” as it is commonly referred to, when my then 87-year-old mother and I were on an American Paint Horse Association ride in the Black Hills of South Dakota (yes, she still rides). I met a group of ladies that were getting their horses in shape for the Jo. I started asking questions and investigating. The ride was a month away and requires riders to be mounted on an Appaloosa to participate. My farrier’s family raises Appaloosas and they were going to the Jo. Long story short, I found my horse.


My trusty mount is a 12-year-old gelding named


I’m Your Dreamfinder. (His nickname is LP or Propane). Little did I know when I started riding him how well he would live up to his registered name. He has a calm temperament, is sensible, well- schooled and the perfect size for me. So there I was – steeped in the historical treasures of Yellowstone Park and the Nez Perce Trail, meeting new friends that share my passion for horses and history, with the perfect horse. Truly, dreams were coming true. Being a horse lover, I am always interested in the history of various breeds and what they were originally bred for. The Appaloosa horse was developed by the Nez Perce Indians in their home area near the Palouse River in Idaho. I never had given any thought to where they got their name, but now it makes sense. The Nez Perce bred tough horses that didn’t need a lot of fuel to run their bodies. They were very efficient and able to cover many miles while on the trail. Once the US Calvary got ahold of the horses, most of them were killed at the command of General Oliver Howard. The horses that escaped the mass slaughter did not necessarily represent the best quality. They happened to be those that dodged bullets or were not on the Nez Perce trail. The rebuilding of the gene pool has been a tedious project. (The plight of the Appaloosa reminds me in some ways of the flight of the Trakehners during WWII.)


Horses taking a drink at Mary Mountain Lake while riders visit.


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