KEEPERS OF THE HORSE
Dir. Shane White | Student Film | USA | 2022 | 70 mins
For 30 years, Bryant Rickman of Hugo, Oklahoma has devoted his life to saving the Choctaw horse bloodline. These horses are the direct descendants of the horses that Hernando De Soto brought from Spain in 1539 and later carried the Choctaw Tribe across the trail of tears. Until the late 20th century these Horses ran free in the mountains of Southeast Oklahoma but now they face their demise without the help of Rickman. He has given everything he has to create sanctuaries for these bands of horses and get them off land owned by timber companies, who have granted hunters permission to kill any horse that still roams the mountains. To this day, this 72-year-old man still rescues these wild horses and gives them homes on open land where these ponies can still be free but with the comfort of safety and his daily offerings of native food and mineral blocks.