MEDORA, ND — A group of six riders had just finished packing and were about to embark on a trail ride through the badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park when a wild horse bolted toward them from a mesa.

“All of a sudden I heard a neighing sound from up on the cliff,” said Kelly Ringer, one of the horseback riders visiting the park from Park Rapids, Minnesota. “He was coming down at full speed.”

The horse's dramatic arrival was accompanied by a lively exchange of neighs and snorts as the wild horse, a five-year-old stallion named Alluvium, and the horses in the riding group chatted.

Ringer, who was riding a young horse that had never been in contact with a wild horse before and was unfamiliar with the terrain, was initially concerned. But her worries quickly faded.

“It was magical,” Ringer said. “He was fine. He wasn't aggressive.”

It soon became clear that Alluvium had a particular interest in a “little mare” named Gypsy in the riding group, she said. The group had set out from the Roundup Group Horse Camp 12 miles from Medora in the southern part of the park, where 185 to 200 wild horses roam.

“He decided to stick around” and followed the group as they set out on their trail ride on Thursday, May 16, Ringer said. Alluvium circled the riders and after about five minutes, Ringer's horse, Boone, bucked and she fell. She was uninjured.

“That's what horses do,” she said. “It was no big deal.”

Alluvium followed the riders for a while, but after a while stopped and seemed to stay in a certain area and avoid others.

“I think that was probably his territory,” and he seemed to consider other areas off-limits, possibly because they were the territory of other wild stallions in the park, Ringer said.

The wild horses are organized into social groups, so-called herds, each led by a stallion.

Later in the ride, when Alluvium was no longer chasing the group, Ringer's horse bucked again, possibly spooked by some brush.

“They're horses,” said Ringer. “They have a mind of their own. That's a risk you take.”

Horse advocates say Alluvium, a young stallion, was acting naturally as he tried to recruit mares for his own herd.

Ringer and her fellow riders received another visitor at the Roundup Group Horse Camp – a bison that approached the pen and attacked, frightening Boone, who was in the pen.

“He made a few attacks in the pen where my horse was,” she said. “It was a little disturbing.”

But the group of riders came to the park knowing that wild animals live there, including horses and bison, Ringer said.

“These are just risks you take,” she said. “What would this park be without the bison and the wild horses? The park wouldn't be what it is without the wildlife, and that includes the wild horses.”

During their stay, a park ranger visited the group of riders at Roundup Camp and they told him about their encounter with Alluvium.

“We didn't necessarily report it,” Ringer said. “We didn't contact the park, but one day a ranger came by and the horse (alluvium) was there and asked if it was a nuisance.”

Ringer mentioned that it had been dropped. The ranger asked if Alluvium should be removed and received a response from him: “No.” The ranger left soon after and Ringer thought nothing more of it – until she learned that the park considers Alluvium a “nuisance animal” that poses a danger to the public and will be removing him from the park.

“That's why I feel so bad,” she said. “We told the ranger, 'No, leave him alone.'”

She added: “This is a young bachelor stallion. He's just doing what's natural. Horses are herd animals.”

Another rider in the group, Kaylee Bickey, also of Park Rapids, said Alluvium did not behave aggressively around Gypsy and the other horses.

“He didn't really want to shut her out or anything,” she said. “When we said 'Git,' he walked away. He just wanted other horses to be with.”

When Gypsy was returned to the pen after her ride, Alluvium stayed nearby.

Bickey's recollection of the discussion with the park ranger about alluvium matched Ringer's.

“We told the ranger about him, but we never complained. We went to see the wild horses. It was probably one of the top five experiences of my life.”

The riders brought young horses that had not experienced situations like those in the park and reacted more strongly than experienced horses, Bickey said.

“Alluvium wasn't to blame,” she said. “It was our fault for not exposing them to things before we just took them out. After they were with him for a while, they were fine.”

Ringer, who has been riding for 30 years, recalls encounters with dogs, deer and even inanimate objects that spooked horses. “If I cleaned something up every time it spooked my horse, that's just crazy,” she said.

Park officials have not given interviews about Alluvium, but have issued statements.

Park ranger Angie Richman said Alluvium “has been bothering visitors and visiting horses at the horse camp campsite. Park staff relocated it once and the next day it found its way back to camp. It is a nuisance animal that has the potential to cause harm to visitors or their animals.”

Park officials have been holding Alluvium in a pen for several weeks “until it can be sold or transferred to a tribal partner or other government agency,” Richman previously said.

Article by Chris Kman

Chris Kman, president of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, asked park officials to allow Alluvium to stay in the park. He was at home and acted naturally when encountering the visiting horses, she said, noting that bison are dangerous but stayed in the park, apparently even after goring visitors.

By describing the horses as livestock rather than wild animals – a term previously used in the park – park officials are doing visitors a disservice by making the horses appear tame, Kman wrote in an email to Richman.

In an interview, Kman said it appeared Richman was determined to reduce the herd and Alluvium's encounter with the mare was an excuse to get rid of a horse. She said a horse trailer was parked near the pen where Alluvium is being held, apparently to prepare him for transport.

Article by Gary Kman

Park officials did not respond directly to the points raised by Kman or to the accounts of Ringer and Bickey, who found no fault with Alluvium's conduct.

“I would adopt him if I could,” said Bickey. “For a wild horse, he was pretty well behaved.”

The park management has not yet made any arrangements for an auction of the alluvium.

“We do not have any further details on an auction at this time,” said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, deputy park superintendent, in an email. “When/if there is an auction, details will be announced.”