THIRTEEN/WNET New York's Nature Series Presents:
Cloud: Wild Stallion of The Rockies,
Premiering November 4 ON PBS

A Symbol of Freedom Roams the American West

America's wild horses lead an exhilarating but perilous existence. The climate can be brutal, mountain lions and other predators stalk the young, and their dependence on public grazing lands for sustenance often puts them in competition with livestock interests. In some places where these magnificent animals roam, it is not unusual for a wild horse to fall victim to an illegal horse shooter.

Against this backdrop, Thirteen/WNET New York's NATURESM series presents the compelling story of a remarkable denizen of the West in Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies, premiering Sunday, November 4 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

NATURE, now celebrating its 20th anniversary season, is produced for PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York. Fred Kaufman is executive producer. William Grant is executive-in-charge.

Filmed in the mountains of Montana, this poignant, engrossing chronicle focuses on an extraordinary stallion, whose life has been recorded since his birth in the wild in 1995 by Emmy-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens. Ms. Kathrens' exceptional footage follows the striking pale white horse she names Cloud through a series of harrowing struggles and adventures, including expulsion from his own horse family, the rites of passage as he develops into a bachelor stallion and progresses toward establishing a band of his own, his capture in a government roundup and subsequent release, and the struggle to survive harsh winters and frequent summer lightning strikes. Although the particular mountainsides that are home to Cloud contain no livestock grazing land, and fortunately no shooting has occurred since 1996, survival remains a challenge.

"On the day of his birth, his wobbly legs carried him several miles up a steep mountainside as he followed his family band to forest snow banks for water," says Ms. Kathrens. "I always feared that his distinctive coat made him an obvious target for a mountain lion. But he survived that perilous journey. In the days and months that followed, I watched his feisty spirit develop and began to realize that a great stallion was in the making."

Viewers follow Cloud's progress through the seasons as he play-fights with other colts and then turns to more serious competition, beginning the sometimes brutal ascent to becoming a band stallion, while coping with many dangers of both natural and human origin.

As an illuminating visual record of the emergence of a natural leader, this is an unprecedented film about wild horses. Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies is a co-production of Taurus Productions Inc. and Thirteen/WNET New York. Producer and narrator: Ginger Kathrens. Ms. Kathrens also is the author of a companion volume of the same name, published by BowTieÔ Press and available in stores now.

NATURE has won more than 200 honors from the television industry, parents groups, the international wildlife film community and environmental organizations, including the only award ever given to a TV program by the Sierra Club. The series is made possible in part by Park Foundation. Major corporate support is provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., Ford Motor Company and TIAA-CREF. Additional support is provided by the nation's public television stations. NATURE is closed captioned for the hearing-impaired and distributed with Descriptive Video Service (DVS) for the sight-impaired.

For more information about NATURE, visit www.thirteen.org/nature. This web companion to the weekly series contains in-depth information and colorful graphics for each program.