In a conversation with Charles Deland, Sitting Bull was asked, "Are you a chief by inheritance and if not, what deeds of bravery gave you the title?" "My fathers names was Jumping Bull," He replied. "My father was a very rich man and owned many ponies in four colors: roans, white and gray."

The Nokota are descendants of horses that were confiscated from the Hunkpapa when Sitting Bull turned himself in July 19th 1881. Nokota come in many colors but are predominantly blue and bay roans, blacks, and grays with a tendency to throw over paint patterns with bald faces and an occasional blue eye. This suggests selective breeding. Horses that were bred and cherished for these genetic traits. We would like to revive a Hunkpapa breeding program.

In 1883 the Marquis de Mores, who founded Medora, North Dakota purchased 250 heard of confiscated horses from post traders hoping to use the mares as a foundation stock. In 1884, De Mores sold sixty of the Sioux mares to A.C. Huidekoper, founder of the immense HT Ranch near Amidon, ND>. Wallis Huidekorper wrote that some fo the horses still carried scars from bullet wound suffered in battle. Over time the Nokota found themselves in the Badlands of North Dakota where they were fenced in when Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in 1947. Theodore Roosevelt National Park became the last stronghold of wild horses in the Dakota's.