Originally researched, authored and posted by Patricia Nell Warren on June 1, 2016.

I often wonder what year the very first horses appeared in the Deer Lodge Valley. Some historians tell us that Spanish horses had already trickled as far north as Canada by around 1700. But French horses may have trickled in from Canada as well, with the first Metis working the fur trade. We have to imagine a band of First Nation people seeing their first horse or two at a spring trading fair -- their eyes lighting up as they compute the beauty and usefulness of this amazing animal.

At some point, the valley began seeing the annual pass-through of the Nez Perce on their way to hunt buffalo on the plains with a big herd of well-bred spotted horses. By 1860 the valley saw the arrival of horse traders like John Grant, Louis Maillet and Thomas Lavatta with whole herds of horses to do business with. Soon the valley was dotted with ranches that were breeding good horses -- the Kohrs & Bielenberg Ranch, the Larabies' Willow Run Farm, the Zosel Ranch and others.

Since those days of horse-powered daily life, the Deer Lodge Valley has seen a lot of change. But one old-time thing has still not gone away -- the appreciation of the horse. At the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, its interpretation of ranching history includes the all-important role of the horse, both under saddle and in harness. The annual Draft Horse Expo just happened to land in Deer Lodge. Meanwhile it's always fun to look in on the Fraser School of Driving Horses just across the I-90 from the GRKO, to see what everyone is up to. Here is Donika Schrauger's young team learning how to cross a creek.

(Photo by Kayo Fraser)

Research, Authored and posted January 16, 1917 by author Patricia Nell Warren

 

IMPRESSIVE HORSE. Several generations of the Gabelhei family have lived in the Deer Lodge Valley -- the Gabelhei Ranch was located east of town. In 1977, the year the Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS opened to the public, Joseph Gabelhei came by to donate this photograph. The big draft horse was named Major, and Joseph is holding the lead shank. I don't have any background on this great-looking horse, but presumably he was bred by Kohrs and Bielenberg and sold to the Gabelheis. The photo might have been taken around 1912, going by the look of the Grant-Kohrs ranchhouse, where changes were being made in the porch and fencing. (Photo from GRKO archives)

Researched, authored and posted October 29, 2015 by author Patricia Nell Warren

WHO LIVED HERE? In more recent times, this log building was dubbed the "Leeds Lion barn," after a Shire stallion who lived there for a time. But the barn was built in the 1870s, and Leeds Lion (a British-bred import) didn't arrive at the ranch until around 1907. So what stallion or stallions made it their home before that? With so many different horse-breeding operations at the home ranch, stallion management was a priority, with each horse needing his private quarters and a turnout.

Since this barn is located next door to the big long barn traditionally called the Thoroughbred barn, where John Bielenberg housed his prized brood mares, I suspect that the original resident may have been Regent, the ranch's premier TB stallion, who sired the most winners. Regent arrived at the ranch late in 1878, along with Strideaway, both having been purchased in Iowa by Conrad Kohrs. Regent lived out a good long life at the ranch, servicing both race mares as well as native-bred mares who produced the ranch's part-Thoroughbred cow horses. He died in 1894 at age 27.

The ranch's other race stallions of note, Strideaway and Eolian, may have occupied the two other stallion barns that still stand near the Thoroughbred barn.

If I'm right about which horse lived where, then where did the ranch's early draft stallions live? The 1885 ad in Leeson's "History of Montana" shows Clydesdale, Percheron and Norman stallions. My guess is that some of these horses were accommodated in similar barns on the former Tom Stuart place, located between the Grant-Kohrs Ranch and Deer Lodge, which Kohrs and Bielenberg bought from Stuart in 1884. Tom Stuart was a big patron of local racing and had kept at least one stallion that I've found mention of. The 1883 "bird's eye map" of Deer Lodge clearly shows barn-like structures on that parcel. Those old Stuart buildings were still there till the 1930s, when they were removed.

Not all the Kohrs-Bielenberg horse-breeding programs were located right at the home ranch. In his autobiography, Kohrs mentions his 1879 purchase of two Clydesdale stallions and a carload of Clyde mares. These draft horses were settled at Nevada Creek, near Helmville, in the care of rancher colleague Adolf Hoepfner, a friend of Kohrs.

The last stallion to live in the Leeds-Lion barn, in the mid-1940s, was a young Belgian. Around 1947 Con Warren finally sold this horse as part of his dispersal of the ranch's Belgians.

See our post on the life-story of Leeds Lion https://www.facebook.com/GrantKohrsRanchFoundation/photos/pb.343753235705044.-2207520000.1442053727./516847045062328/?type=3&theater

(Photo by Jack Boucher for the Historic American Buildings Survey HABS, now in Library of Congress collection)

Researched, authored and posted August 30, 2015 by author Patricia Nell Warren

For ranches, back in the day, the equivalent of the tribes' fall buffalo hunt was shipping the beef herd. With the first hint of fall in the air, roundup preparations would be underway. An important task was assembling the cavvy, or picked mounts for the roundup crew -- several horses for each man. Here's the 1910 cavvy at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch's range headquarters at Prairie Elk in McCone County.

These Kohrs/Bielenberg crossbred horses would be considered "warmbloods" today. They were usually offspring of Thoroughbred stallions X Native-bred mares. The goal was a horse with hybrid size and strength for roping big steers, plus Thoroughbred ability to gallop long distances while gathering cattle, blended with the endurance and easy keeping of the region's native strains of horse.

(Photo from Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS archives)

Researched, authored and posted July 30, 2015 by author Patricia Nell Warren

In the 1860s, Kohrs kept a string of good road-horses, to get him around the territory on cattle-buying trips. In 1864, he purchased this brown horse, Woodtick, from John Grant. The price was $250, a small fortune in those days. Woodtick was considered "the best long-distance horse in the territory," according to Kohrs. Rider in this photo was John Bielenberg, with the aforementioned pommel bags over the saddlehorn.

Woodtick served the Grant-Kohrs Ranch long and well. He was still around in 1883, probably in his mid-20s by then, when the family made their camping trip to Yellowstone Park. He was gentle enough that son Will, age 4, was riding him on this trip. A horse that is well-cared-for can live to be 40 years old or more.

(Photo from Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS archives

Researched, authored and posted September 11, 2014 by author Patricia Nell Warren

At the start of the Warren era, the ranch switched to a new draft breed. The old Kohrs & Bielenberg breeding stock had been dispersed, but there was still a market for draft horses, and young Con Warren had fallen in love with Belgians. In this 1930s photo, a Warren show team is getting some schooling, with a few connections riding in the thoroughbred wagon behind teamster Warren. (Photo from GRKO collection).

  

Researched, authored and posted December 20, 2013 by author Patricia Nell Warren

On a winter's day, maybe seven decades ago, the local FFA group visited the Grant-Kohrs Ranch to hear Con Warren talk about Belgian draft horses. (Photo from GRKO archives)

 

Researched, authored and posted March 24, 2017 by author Patricia Nell Warren

Historical Belgians at a later period (1978) on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS. Here a team driven by Montana rancher Pete Cartwright are busy mowing along one of the ranch lanes. The color sorrel or chestnut has always been favored in the ranch's Belgians, both during the private-ownership era and the present era as a national historic site. (National Park Service photo)

Researched, authored and posted March 23, 2017 by author Patricia Nell Warren.

Historical Belgians take a break from getting the job done on a wintry day during the Warren era. Young Con Warren II on the lead shank. (Family photo from Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS archive)