NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/654753
APRIL 2016 • NEBRASKAland 39 release trumpeting vibratos through flared nostrils, and then they wait prick-eared for responses. This is a homecoming for most of these horses; their mothers are here. The obstacle course changes yearly, so contestants never know exactly what to train for, but one quality is always needed: speed. One by one they compete – load a massive log onto a trailer, cross the Cedar River, traverse a small wooden bridge, skip through a pile of dead trees, jump a ditch, splash through a marsh, drag a caged goat from point to point (goat looking equally confused at each turn), cross the river once more, then push through a metal gate next to a fire- spitting branding-iron oven. Add full- on sprinting between each challenge and that's a ranch trail course. Men compete against women on this course – the horses are the stars. Lakota Pappan of Steelville, Missouri, took second place on her red roan barrel-racing horse. As if running for its life, Lakota's horse attacked each obstacle fearlessly and with attitude, just as great quarter horses should. Receiving my compliments, Lakota smiled, patted her mare's neck and beamed, "She's my baby." That gesture sums up everything I have ever witnessed about horse folks and their horses. Pitzer horses are born to run and destined to be loved, and within this arrangement between animals and humankind, some animals will become legendary. ■ Mark Harris is the Associate Director of the University of Nebraska State Museum. TOP: Horses watch their kin compete as riders socialize at the Pitzer Horse Ranch Invitational, the ultimate test of a ranch horse's skill and speed. MIDDLE: Women compete against men in the ranch course and this is fair; the horses are the stars. Lakota Pappan and her horse thump across a wooden bridge at a gallop. They will take second place. BOTTOM: The chaotic power of a horse sprinting through water is remarkable. Horses and riders are equally determined; this is what they love.