Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary & Dinner Show

First a little bit of history about the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. Dayton O. Hyde founded IRAM (Institute of Range and American Mustang) in 1988. IRAM is a 501(c) non-profit corporation and is home to hundreds of unwanted mustangs on 11,000 acres. The sanctuary is made up of canyons, pine trees and prairie where the sky goes on forever. Funding for the Sanctuary comes from donations, bequests, grants, tourism, and the sale of fouls.

We joined Faye and Marshall on the Sanctuary's 2-hour guided bus tour. First stop, of course, was the office to check in for the tour. Here is a shot of some old farm equipment near the office that use to be someone's home.

Here is a shot of a chuck wagon. We were told that it is an original and that only the canvas covering was new.

In addition to the wild mustangs, they also have quarter horses that they breed and tend to. As you can tell, it was breakfast time.

Here is a cute shot of one young mustang. Our guide said he/she was only a day or two old.

There is section of land in the Sanctuary where the Cheyenne River heads north, south, east, and west. It is this section of land that the Sioux considers sacred. The Sanctuary allows the Sioux to come on to the land every June for a week of sacred rituals known as the Summer Solstice. At this time, the Sanctuary suspends tours to this area.

Below is a picture of last year's Tree of Life. As they prepare for this year's rituals, they will cut a tree down near the sacred area of the Cheyenne River. The Indians will then hang colored cloths and rawhide strips from the tree. One of the rituals will be where bone is pierced through the skin at the breastbone or on the upper back, the bone is attached to rawhide hanging from the tree, and the Indian will be suspended from the tree until which time the bone breaks through the skin. OUCH!

In the picture below, is the frame to a sweat lodge. A buffalo skin used to be used to cover the lodge but now a synthetic material is used. Rocks are heated to red hot and put in the center of the lodge where participants sit in temperatures up to 130 degrees in order to receive visions from the spirits via hallucinations. The tipee is then used to recover once the vision is received. No spectators are allowed in the area of the Tree of Life or sweat lodge. Also, during these sacred rituals, the participants are not allowed to eat. Family and supporters are allowed down the hill from this sacred area. They will set up tipees as lodging and set up cooking areas as they wait for this part of the celebration to be completed.

Here is a beautiful mare that has Spanish lineage. The long mane and tail and the dark markings on the legs are indicative of her lineage. We saw some beautiful Spanish stallions but weren't in a good position to get any pictures as they were corralled.

On the tour, we were taken to a large sandstone outcropping. In front of this outcropping sat a little building. This building was called the Post Office. As this was a well known travel route, cowboys would leave mail in this Post Office. When travelers would pass through, if they were headed where the mail was addressed, they would carry it on. Our driver said that cowboys weren't known as good spellers or readers so sometimes the mail would get carried to the wrong part of the country. Sounds like Post Office today doesn't it?

In the sandstone, there are petroglyphys. Here is a picture of one section. The National Geographic Society has carbon dated them but we don't remember the age. There are, of course, much more current ones that have been carved and dated.

In the sandstone, there is a cave. Our driver told us that one of the settling families spent their first winter in this cave - 13 of them. Talk about close confines.

If you would like to see all of pictures taken at the Sanctuary, just click here for a slideshow.

We enjoyed the tour but agreed that horses are horses whether they are wild or not. It is nice knowing that a part of our American history is being tended to and cared for instead of rounded up and sent to a slaughter house. We all enjoyed seeing the beautiful countryside the mustangs call home.

The four of us stopped for a mediocre lunch in Hot Springs and then headed on home. Boy, was our truck filthy with red mud. I guess I know what we will be doing tomorrow.

We were able to unwind for a couple of hours before we headed up to the High Country Guest Ranch located near Hill City. Paul (campground owner) had given eight of us tickets for the dinner and show. The dinner was shredded roast beef, baked potato, corn, biscuit, and dessert. The show was a group called Fiddlers Three. Actually, there are five of them who perform - three brothers, a sister, and a wife. They played patriotic folk music. All of them are extremely talented and sounded terrific. Folk music just is not our thing but a free dinner and show can still be appreciated.

On our way home, we took guesses on how many deer we would see on the way home. None of us were dead on. John was the closes with a guess of 20; the actual count was 41. As it was dusk, heaven knows how many we drove past that we didn't see.

It was a busy and delightful day.