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This painting was inspired by a trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park this past summer, one of many visits I have taken over the years to observe, enjoy and be inspired by not only the beauty of the North Dakota badlands, but mainly the wild horses that call TRNP their home. Like many visitors to the Park, I love watching the horses interact within their tight family bands as well as watching the awe-inspiring and often confrontational actions between opposing stallions or bachelor stallions vying for mares. I feel very fortunate to have witnessed these beautiful creatures in their natural domain, something I read about and dreamed about as a young girl.

On this particular day, two bands were grazing in the same area. One band kept moving slowly closer to the other - whether this was the band stallion's idea to possibly steal a mare or two from the other band, I can only surmise, but the other band stallion was not having it! He charged towards the other band and they immediately turned and ran in the opposite direction! These two in the painting were on the run with the other members of their family as fast as they could run. After he got his point across, the angry stallion backed off, snorted, shook his thick mane, then turned back to his family to continue protecting them. What an amazing thing to witness!