The Wild Horses of Theodore Roosevelt NP

My second day visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park, near Medora North Dakota, had me rising early to catch sunrise.  But I'll share photos of that and all the other beautiful scenery I captured in another post.  This one is solely dedicated to wild horses.

Mare and her colt

Most U.S. national parks feature the opportunity to view wildlife.  One of the unique things about this particular national park is the large herd of resident wild horses that roam the plains.  After not seeing a single horse the day I arrived, I was hoping day two would bring better luck.

"What's that lady doing?"

It didn't start out very promising.  Driving through the first few miles, all I spotted were prairie dogs - and plenty of them!  But after glimpsing a coyote run across the road ahead, I pulled over and grabbed my camera to try and get a photo of the critter.  A lady passing by saw me prowling around with my big lens, rolled down her window, and informed me she'd just seen a large herd of wild horses near the park entrance.  After thanking her profusely, I jumped back into my car, made a u-turn, and headed back in the opposite direction.

Prairie dog sounding the alarm

The horses were supposed to be on a ridge above the first prairie dog town.  Pulling into the parking area, at first I didn't see them.  But then I heard a whinny, and realized the herd was above the prairie dog mounds a short distance away.  Too far to capture, even with my 100-500 mm lens, I'd have to walk a little bit closer.

In search of good grass

Setting out across a meadow littered with prairie dog mounds, my presence quickly had all the little creatures squeaking in alarm.  At first I was afraid the prairie dog calls would scare the horses away.  But the herd didn't seem to care in the least.  Apparently they were used to the little rodents freaking out.

These two were definitely a couple

There was about a dozen horses scattered across the bluff.  Nearly all of them were busy grazing for their breakfast.  At first, they didn't seem to do much but eat.  But excited about finally seeing some wild horses, I fired off shots anyway, even if they were just boring images of the creatures with their heads down.

A moment of horsey drama

But after a short while, their bellies seemed to fill, and the horses started moving around.  Two white horses appeared to be a couple, as the male was giving the female a lot of attention.  (Some of the photos I took of that interaction are not appropriate for this family-friendly blog.)

This colt took a roll in the grass

There were a couple of colts in the herd.  One little guy decided to take a roll in the grass several times.  It made for some fun images.

"Much better now!"

After awhile the horses all gathered in a group and just stood around.

Just hangin' out

I thought about heading back to my car.  But in the area between the horses and the parking area was this big fella.

A lone bison nearby

I didn't think it was wise to walk too close to the large bison grazing between prairie dog mounds, so I hung out near the horses for a little bit longer.

I steered clear of this fella!

Finally the big guy moseyed away, and I picked my way back through the chirping prairie dogs once again (those little rodents get so worked up when you walk by their holes!)

Horsey line-up

I saw a couple more wild horses in the park later that day.  But this large herd was by far the most horses in one place.  An extremely lucky sighting, I had that lady to thank!

A tender moment between these two

I'll be back with one final post from my time at Theodore Roosevelt NP - an entire day spent driving around the park, taking in all the incredible scenery.  After seeing my photos, you'll want to plan a trip there too!

If you missed day one, you can find the post here.