[MUSIC] BONNIE EWING: It's not a place to feel anger or anything, you know, it's kind of a place for healing.

I've had people say, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I said, don't be sorry, you didn't do anything.

You know, we're all here.

You know, we learn by our mistakes.

So, let's just all enjoy what we have.

[MUSIC] RODD BAXTER: For me, you can see something that man made by getting in a car, but if you want to see something that God made, you can get on a horse.

BONNIE EWING: I think when you put our kids on horses, they seem to sit up, you know, that pride, you know, I'm Nez Perce, I'm, I'm who I am, and this is me.

This is my culture.

[MUSIC] BONNIE EWING: The trail was too important for just me to go through and just let it go.

It was time to get our youth involved.

They have to learn.

They have to know what our ancestors went through.

LUCY SAMUELS: When I was younger, Bonnie Ewing, she's my granny, I was always around her getting prepared to come on this trail ride with all this youth and I always wanted to come.

And she's kind of like my role model, so I've always wanted to do stuff that she's done.

CIAHNA OATMAN: My Auntie Lucy, she got me into horses at a really young age, and I'd always like beg her to go ride horses.

Around 12, I'd always ask to go, and Granny was about to let me go, but she was like, no, you're too young.

So, I waited the extra year.

Everything that my Auntie Lucy does.

It does inspire me.

SAMUELS: I was 14 when I started so this is my 18th year on the trail ride.

I started in Joseph, Oregon in 2004.

I got my 13-year plaque at Bears Paw, in 2016.

LUCY BOHNEE: I'm excited to accomplish this because I think I'm the first girl in my family to do something like this.

MIKE EWING: You watch these kids that come from troubled homes or they come from, they just don't know, have a purpose, and they just react to these horses so quick and it gives them a purpose, and they come out and really bond with these horses.

It's, it's an amazing interaction.

This is pretty cool and their self-esteem just goes out of the roof and they get confidence and it's pretty sweet.

BONNIE EWING: What a horse teaches a young person, it teaches them so much.

Our students went from maybe skipping school, low attendance, bad grades, to excelling.

OATMAN: When I'm on the trail, I compare and think about and how good I have it compared to back then.

That kind of humbles me to stop pouting on my horse.

[LAUGH] And it's always great to see more of my homelands.

LUCY SAMUELS: I feel like as a Nez Perce tribal member, like we're really taught our history.

Like it's very embedded in us, and just to be proud of who we are.

But like, being able to like actual ride onto like the battlefields.

I don't know how to explain it.

There's a connection there, if you feel it, you feel it.

Like I, it's the best I can explain it.

[LAUGH] BONNIE EWING: There's portions of this ride where we're on original trail, and that's really meaningful.

You know it if you're going through those places, you just kind of be quiet and enjoy and reflect at those times.

[WATER FLOWING] On this ride, I don't think there's a divide.

I think we're all here because of the ride, the horse, you know, we all share something, everybody here is here for the same reason.

[MUSIC] RODD BAXTER: It changes when you're out here, because you are taking 80 horses, you're taking 80 people and comfort levels, and the intensity, the nervousness, the energy, it's all changed for when you get here.

And then you have to adapt and adjust and do the best that they can.

But it can be exciting, it can be nerve wracking, but we make it work.

[CHATTING] MIKE EWING: Myself, I like just being on the horse and just visiting with people as we go along.

[CHATTING] GENE MERRELL: I like the horse.

From the first ride, it was always about the horse.

I just love them.

They're dependable, they're smart, generally good health.

I just love them.

BOHNEE: I like how they're just a very like, vibey animal.

Like if you feel scared, they feel scared.

But I just love how much power they hold and how sensitive they are.

Like, you just never know how sensitive they are until you actually ride them.

OATMAN: Horses can change you because I think that it's changed me.

And I felt like I never really had I guess like a calming place or somewhere I can like, feel at peace or at ease.

And it's given me that aspect.

[MUSIC FADES] MIKE EWING: When I ride a horse and I train horses, and when I'm training, especially, I don't think about another thing except being on my horse, and it just kind of turns off the rest of the world.

BAXTER: For me, it provides the sanity that I need from things that go on in everyday life.

So when you're out here, yes, you can focus on your horse, but if you've made that connection with your horse over the time that you put into it, you're able to sit back and relax, allow your horse to do what it does, but you can look around and, and see the things that are out here, and it's absolutely beautiful.

VIVIAN BOBBIT: Well, it's just like our honeymoon really, wasn't it?

because we never had much of a honeymoon.

So, this is our honeymoon every year.

[LAUGH] To be together and no TV, no cell phones, you know.

And we can visit, enjoy each other.

MERRELL: It's a place with beautiful horses, beautiful scenery, and pretty good folks.

[CRICKETS CHIRPING] BONNIE EWING: This is my family, I can count on my hand, you know, the number of close, close friends I have other than my immediate family.

But here, we're all family, you know, you see it, people that I've ridden with for years.

SAMUELS: When you come on the trail ride, you meet different people from all over the nation and they just kind of slowly become your family.

And so that's what I love about it.

It's just really, I feel like I'm really surrounded by family a lot of the time.

BONNIE EWING: I can't speak for the tribe, I'm just me.

I do what I do and the Appy is the most important part of my life.

The horse and the kids, you know, that's my thing, that's what I know.

And I think all Nez Perce have a connection to the horse in some way or another.

There's all family stories, everything that goes with it.

It's all there, you know, just sharing it.

[MUSIC] Funding for Outdoor Idaho is made possible by the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation.

Committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis Family Legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television.

By the corporation for Public Broadcasting.

To find more information about these shows, visit us at idahoptv.org.

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