Don’t Miss Nakona, the Unusual ‘New Kid in Town’
Horse Tales

by Candice C. Dunnigan

“I really like his character. If he was a person now, he’d be just about my best friend.”

– Ian Miller, Canadian Equestrian, Gold medalist

If you enjoy looking at horses on Mackinac Island and are here for the summer, there is a new kid in town that you will not want to miss. He is a very unusual and rather captivating gelding named Nakona, who is owned by Marta and Peter Olson.

The Olsons, along with their two children, Brita, 15, and Kia, soon-to-be 13, have been involved with horses here ever since the summer riding program began. Going back a generation, Marta spent her own childhood on Mackinac. She was often seen riding a horse called Calypso.

Nakona

This is Nakona’s first summer on the Island, and I think that Mackinac Islanders will be seeing a lot of him, for he is stabled in the Mission district and will be spending a great deal of time on the trails and in the riding ring at Great Turtle Park for lessons. You can’t miss him.

Nakona is a registered nine-year-old Appaloosa gelding, of medium size, with a very pretty head and a distinctive star in the middle of it. The face, neck, forelegs, chest, rear hind, mane, and tail are all a glossy dark brown, which in certain light makes the horse look liver chestnut in color. The surprise is that his rump, belly, back, and flanks are white with small dark flecks. From a distance, he looks as if he is solid white and that someone has taken him by the four legs, held him upside down, and dipped him in a vat of chocolate fudge, but missed the middle.

There are other Appaloosa horses on Mackinac Island. It’s fun to see how many there are. The breed comes in a wide range of coat markings. Dark spots on a white background are called leopard and light on dark are called snowflake. Other variations include frost, marble, and white blanket, or not being spotted at all but having white quarters and loins on an otherwise dark coat. The usual background color for an Appy is roan, but any color combination that fits one of the six pattern types is allowed. Feet are often striped and sometimes the skin is mottled on the lips and genitals. In the mane and tail department, the majority of Appaloosas are lacking, but not so with Nakona. His are just fine.

Nakona’s registered name is Heza Nitro Cloud, and he is a Michigan horse, born not too far from the Straits, in the Pellston area. The horse was owned by a 16-year-old boy who was joining the ministry and decided he wouldn’t have enough time for him.

Nakona is a sensitive horse, and he seems to be the type of animal that learns best by not being confronted, but rather coerced. Again, the saying that “horses choose their owners” seems in this case to be correct.

Since 1999, the Olsons have been leasing a sweet bay Arab cross gelding known to all as Lucky. Lucky is also back again this summer. No one, however, knows how old Lucky is. We do know that he’s a lot closer to 30 than 20, and then some.

Brita and Kia Olson have also aged, turning into tall, lanky teens. Their mother, Marta, who loves riding, too, aptly summed the reason to search for a new horse: “It’s important to me now, for some reason. It proves a great connection to a wonderful animal, a way to always learn something new and to keep active, and for me, especially a favorite way to experience Mackinac. I also believe that horses and teenagers are a natural match. Care of horses is a great way to learn responsibility and a fun activity for them to enjoy with their friends.”

Nakona’s purchase also coincided with Marta’s 50th birthday.

Marta’s search to look for a mount lively enough to keep them on their toes, but not too hot to make uncertain, led her in many directions. The Web site www.dreamhorse.com was one of the routes she took, along with other Internet-based horse sales, tips from friends, and MHA summer riding instructor Anne Miller, who lives in Boyne City. An advertisement in Pellston described Nakona as “an athletic nine-year-old Appy gelding.” The Olsons made an appointment to see him the following day, but being nearby (off-Island in the Harbor Springs area), they decided to drive by the address that night.

Says Marta, “It was too dark to get a good look at him. All we could see were the white tips of his ears flickering back and forth as he peeked out of the shed, and he stole our hearts.”

Nakona spent his first winter with the Olsons, stabled in Mackinaw City at Hiawatha Hawk Ranch where, weather permitting, the Olsons could ride him and Lucky. It was Peter who picked out “Doc’s” new name, fittingly a Native American one, to go with the breed’s Native American heritage.

Appaloosas have been a part of America since before Lewis and Clark. Interestingly, it was Meriwether Lewis who noted them.

“Some of these horses are pied, with large spots of white irregularly scattered and intermixed with a black born bay or some other dark color,” he said. “Their (the Nez Perce Indians) horses appear to be of an excellent race; they’re lofty, elegantly formed, active, and durable.”

I know the Olsons agree. Welcome to Mackinac, Nakona.

Candice Dunnigan is an active member of the American Equestrian Association, the Waterloo Hunt, and the Mackinac Island Horsemen’s Association. Seasonally she resides at Donnybrook and Easterly Cottage.