North Dakota
Riders say encounter with bachelor stallion at Theodore Roosevelt National Park was 'magical,' not dangerous
MEDORA, N.D. — A group of six riders had just finished packing and started on a trail ride through the Badlands at Theodore Roosevelt National Park when a wild horse came scurrying down a butte toward them.
“All of a sudden I heard a whinny come from up on the bluff,” Kelly Ringer said. She was one of the riders visiting the park from Park Rapids, Minnesota. “He came barreling down.”
The horse’s dramatic arrival came with a spirited exchange of whinnying and neighing as the wild horse, a 5-year-old stallion named Alluvium, and the horses in the riding group chatted.
At first, Ringer, who was riding a young horse who had never before been exposed to a wild horse and was unfamiliar with the terrain, was concerned. But her worries quickly faded.
“It was magical,” Ringer said. “He was fine. He wasn’t aggressive.”
It soon became apparent that Alluvium had a particular interest in a “little mare” named Gypsy in the riding group, she said, which was departing from the Roundup Group Horse Camp 12 miles from Medora in the park’s south unit, where 185 to 200 wild horses roam.
“He decided to hang around” and followed the group as it left for the 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 not hurt.
“That’s just what horses do,” she said. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
Alluvium followed the riders for a time but stopped after a while, seeming to keep to a certain area while avoiding others.
“I think that was probably his territory,” and he appeared to regard other areas as off-limits, possibly because they were the turf of other wild stallions in the park, Ringer said.
The wild horses are organized into social groups called bands, each led by a stallion.
Later on during the ride, when Alluvium was no longer tailing the group, Ringer’s horse again bucked, possibly spooked by some brush.
“It’s horses,” Ringer said. “They have a mind of their own. It’s a risk that you take.”
Horse advocates have said Alluvium, a bachelor stallion, was acting naturally by trying to recruit mares to form his own band.
Ringer and her fellow riders had another drop-in visitor at Roundup Group Horse Camp — a bison that came up close to the corral and charged, spooking Boone, who was inside the corral.
“He took a couple of charges at the corral with my horse in it,” she said. “That was a little unsettling.”
Contributed / Kelly Ringer
But the group of riders came to the park knowing that it is home to wildlife, including horses and bison, Ringer said.
“These are just risks that you take,” she said. “What would that park be without the bison and the wild horses? The park would not be what it is without the wildlife, and that includes the wild horses.”
During their stay, a park ranger paid a visit to 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 a ranger came in one day and the horse (Alluvium) was there and asked if he was a nuisance.”
Ringer mentioned that she had been bucked off. The ranger asked if they wanted Alluvium removed and was told no. The ranger left soon after, and Ringer thought no more of it — until she learned the park considers Alluvium a “nuisance animal” that poses a danger to the public and will remove him from the park.
“That’s why I feel so bad,” she said. “We told the ranger, ‘No, leave him.’”
She added: “This is a young bachelor stallion. He’s just doing what is natural. Horses are herd animals.”
Another rider in the group, Kaylee Bickey, also of Park Rapids, said Alluvium was not acting aggressively around Gypsy and the other horses.
“He wasn’t really trying to cut her out or anything,” she said. “When we said, ‘Git,’ he got, he went away. He just wanted other horses to be with.”
After their ride, when Gypsy was returned to the corral, Alluvium stayed close by.
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 wild horses. It was probably a top-five experience of my life.”
The riders brought young horses that hadn’t experienced situations like those in the park and reacted more than seasoned horses would have, Bickey said.
“It wasn’t any fault of Alluvium,” she said. “It was our fault for not exposing them to things before just taking them out. Once they had been around him for a little bit, they were fine.”
Ringer, who has ridden horses for 30 years, recalled encounters with dogs, deer and even inanimate objects that spooked horses. “If I would go and eliminate something every time it spooked my horse — that’s just insane,” she said.
Park officials have not given interviews about Alluvium but issued statements.
Park Superintendent Angie Richman said Alluvium was “harassing visitors and visitor’s horses at the horse camp campground. Park staff relocated it once and it found its way back to the camp the next day. This is a nuisance animal that can potentially harm 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 said earlier.
Contributed / Chris Kman
Chris Kman, president of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, asked park officials to allow Alluvium to stay in the park. He was in his home and acting naturally in the encounter with visiting horses, she said, noting bison are dangerous but remain in the park, apparently even after goring visitors.
By describing the horses as livestock instead of wildlife, a term the park formerly used, park officials are doing a disservice to visitors by making the horses seem tame, Kman wrote in an email to Richman.
In an interview, Kman said it appears Richman is determined to reduce the size of the herd, and Alluvium’s encounter with the mare provided an excuse to get rid of a horse. She said a horse trailer has been parked near the pen where Alluvium is being held, apparently in preparation for transporting him.
Contributed / Gary Kman
Park officials did not directly respond to the points raised by Kman or the account given by Ringer and Bickey that found no fault with Alluvium’s behavior.
“I would adopt him if I could,” Bickey said. “For a wild horse, he was pretty well-behaved.”
Park officials haven’t yet made arrangements for an auction sale of Alluvium.
“We currently do not have any additional details concerning an auction,” Maureen McGee-Ballinger, deputy park superintendent, said in an email. “When/if there is an auction, the details will be announced.”
My Heartfelt Christmas Wish To You North Dakota.
Not a “catchy-clicky” title and I doubt many of my listeners or readers will probably even read this article.
However, I wanted to share something with you that is on my heart. This is so not me, as I’m more the guy who writes about “North Dakota’s 10 most quirky this and that”.
It’s not that I’m not a sensitive guy, because when I was growing up, I was probably too sensitive. I would avoid sad movies, songs, or anything that would spark too much of an emotion.
Yes, you could say my heart has become a bit jaded and cold over the years. It’s not something I’m proud of but more of a defense mechanism.
2024 has probably been one of the most challenging years for my family.
From losing loved ones to family issues to health issues to very challenging financial times, it’s been one of those years where you just can’t catch a break. I’m sure many of you can relate.
As we were attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service last night a young child caught my eye.
She was a cute little toddler who was starting to act up. Something I remember oh so well at church with my little now 20-year-old son.
As her father took her outside the sanctuary to attend to her, I couldn’t help but notice this child’s extremely unfair situation. She had a disability at a year or so old, that none of us could ever imagine. It broke my heart.
This poor child and her family no doubt have a long road ahead of them. As we lit our candles later in the service, I caught the wonder in her eyes, and it couldn’t help but melt my cold heart at the time.
She was perfect and I found myself saying a prayer for this little blonde girl with curly locks and her family.
Her situation also reminded me that I should be thankful for what I have and not what I don’t this Christmas. This is my Christmas wish for you North Dakota, that you will realize the same thing.
Be thankful for who you have around the tree today, not what’s under it.
Merry Christmas to all my listeners and readers. I hope at least a few of you get to read this and it will touch you the same way this little girl touched me on Christmas Eve.
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BISMARCK — Christmas Day marks the ninth anniversary of 31-year-old Michelle Duppong’s death. While her family and friends will feel her absence on this day, they also feel the love, kindness and faith she demonstrated during her short life, along with abundant hope that she not only shared while alive but continues to share in death, which is one of the reasons she is slated to become the first person from North Dakota to become a Catholic saint.
Contributed
In June 2022, Bismarck Bishop David D. Kagan announced the opening of a diocesan investigation into Duppong’s “holiness of life and love for God,” officially starting the long and arduous process of canonization to a saint. On Nov. 1, 2022, Kagan deemed Duppong a servant of god.
Duppong is on track to be the first North Dakotan and one of few around the world to be canonized, said Father Tom Grafsgaard, of Hazen, North Dakota. According to Catholic publications, only 11 people from the U.S. have become canonized saints.
“It’s never happened in the history of North Dakota in either (the Bismarck or Fargo) Diocese,” Grafsgaard said. “It’s quite exceedingly rare for this to be happening.”
In the process of canonization, the Catholic Church declares people “saints.” There are three paths to sainthood: to have died as a martyr for Catholicism; if one lived an expression of love and died a rather quick and unexpected death; or if they gave a heroic example of living all the Christian virtues.
The process of canonization is governed by a strict canonical or juridical procedure established by St. John Paul II in 1983.
After Kagan began the process, Duppong’s cause entered the diocesan phase of investigation into her life. The Michelle Duppong Guild was created — a group tasked with promoting an awareness of her life. Officials are poring over Duppong’s writings, work, demonstrations of faith and the great number of lives she touched while alive, which are illustrated through interviews with those who knew her, Grafsgaard said.
Her case will be built up and eventually sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints in Rome for the Roman Phase of canonization. A Vatican panel will also investigate and determine if Duppong lived a heroically virtuous life. The Dicastery can then issue a “decree of heroic virtue” in which Duppong would be given the new title of “Venerable Servant of God.”
The third step, beatification, then begins. During this phase, it must be proven that one miracle has been granted by God through Duppong’s intercession. If the Pope declares a true miracle occurred, then Duppong would be declared “Blessed.” Last, a ceremony of canonization would take place where the church declares her a Saint in heaven with God.
“The process is very long,” Grafsgaard said. “I often say, ‘It takes as long as it takes.’ ”
Contributed by michelleduppong.org
Michelle Christine Duppong was born Jan. 25, 1984, the fourth of six children to parents Ken and Mary Ann Duppong. She grew up on the family farm in Haymarsh, North Dakota, where her parents said she loved to help with chores, including caring for sheep but especially gardening, mowing, pruning, weeding, harvesting and canning, according to her mother.
Duppong was named valedictorian and president of her senior class and later attended North Dakota State University, where she earned a degree in horticulture.
After earning her degree, she became a FOCUS missionary at four college campuses, including the inaugural year at the University of Mary, mentoring college students to draw them deeper into the faith. FOCUS is an apostolate dedicated to evangelizing college and university students.
In 2012, she became the director of faith formation for the Bismarck Diocese, where she led parish missions, launched a podcast and spearheaded a three-day Eucharistic conference that drew thousands to the Bismarck Civic Center in 2013.
In the fall of 2014, Duppong was experiencing sharp abdominal pains that doctors initially thought were ovarian cysts, a common but painful issue for women that will sometimes dissolve and go away without major medical treatment. But by December, the pain was unrelenting, and an outpatient surgery was scheduled that month to remove the cysts.
According to Mary Ann Duppong, surgeons were “shocked to find” Michelle Duppong’s abdomen was “full of stage four cancer.”
Doctors expected the young woman to die within months, and hospice care was recommended.
“Michelle was not one to blame anyone for anything,” Mary Ann Duppong said. “Her attitude was, ‘If God wants me to go through this, I will go through this.’ “
Despite the diagnosis, Michelle Duppong continued her life for nearly a full year.
According to the website that outlines the canonization process for Michelle Duppong and its status, she told one of the sisters providing hospice care that she believed she would pass on Christmas Day. Michelle Duppong died at 11:23 p.m. on Dec. 25, 2015.
Shortly after Bishop Kagan initiated the process for Michelle Duppong’s canonization, U.S. bishops affirmed their support for the cause’s advancement.
In this first stage, the primary focus is to raise awareness of Michelle Duppong and the push for her sainthood by spreading as much information about her and her life as possible, which is done through the creation of a guild and much of which can be found at
www.michelleduppongcause.org.
Contributed.
In January, a FOCUS-produced documentary titled “Thirst for Souls: The Michelle Duppong Story,” was screened at a FOCUS convention in St. Louis. Afterward, Michelle Duppong’s parents were inundated for hours with comments about how much the movie and Michelle had influenced viewers.
While one cannot necessarily predict when or if Michelle Duppong will become a saint, Grafsgaard said a bishop must believe canonization is likely to begin the process.
“For a bishop to initiate a cause, there should be a well-founded hope for its success,” he said. “There certainly was reputation in her life, and she continues to have it in her death.”
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