A larger-than-life tribute to Kristi Noem along South Dakota’s Trail of Governors was supposed to be a celebratory homecoming.
Instead, the newly unveiled bronze statue has become an unexpected source of outrage.
Interestingly enough, it’s not the sculpture itself drawing the loudest complaints.
But once social media users noticed the name of the horse standing beside her, the reaction quickly shifted from ridicule to something far more uncomfortable.
The Aug. 7 unveiling in Pierre quickly lit up social media. Critics picked apart everything from the statue’s likeness to Noem’s decision to have herself immortalized alongside her quarter horse, Iceman.
According to South Dakota Searchlight, sculptor James Maher modeled the pair after their appearance at South Dakota’s Buffalo Roundup.
The finished statue was positioned to face the state Capitol.
One Threads user, Margo Christine, who described herself as a longtime equestrian who competed at the state-finals level and on the winter circuit in Ocala, Florida, offered her own assessment.
“I know horses. Those are my credentials,” she wrote, before turning her attention to the horse’s name. She argued that horse names are typically tied to breeding and lineage, often incorporating pieces of the sire’s and dam’s names, and claimed Noem’s horse had instead been deliberately renamed.
“Kkkristi’s horse being called ‘Iceman’ was a deliberate renaming and a specific choice,” she wrote, calling Noem “xenophobic” and “racist” before sarcastically signing off, “Thank you for coming to my horse talk.”
The name carried extra weight for critics given Noem’s tenure as Homeland Security secretary, where she became one of the administration’s most visible defenders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The horse is very real, and Noem has spoken about him for years, calling him her favorite horse and the one she rode while carrying the American flag at rodeos and during the Buffalo Roundup.
She’s described him as an unusually steady mount, unbothered by bison, fireworks or the chaos of professional bull-riding events. The decision to memorialize the pair was reportedly made back in 2025, though the ceremony wasn’t announced until days after her firing.
Whether “Iceman” has any real connection to that role is another matter entirely, and the timeline doesn’t support the claim. Noem was calling him “Ashwood Iceman” as far back as 2022, years before she oversaw ICE.
That didn’t stop the jokes from piling up.
“Did she…commission this weird a— statue herself?” one person wrote. Another cracked, “Oh look. A horse and it’s a—. A horse’s a—.”
Someone else offered a more innocent read: “Oh, I just went w Iceman being a Top Gun reference. But I am not a horse person.” Another wasn’t buying that theory, writing, “Iceman – the same moniker of a infamous mob enforcer & hitman/serial killer. That tracks.”
Others focused on the sculpture itself, asking, “Where’s the rest of the horse?” and “The Pony looks Great! The Phony looks just like a Phony!”
One commenter simply asked, “And these are the heroes. !! Make it make sense!!”
Noem was dismissed as Homeland Security secretary on March 5, following congressional hearings over a costly advertising campaign and mounting scrutiny over her relationship with aide Corey Lewandowski in Washington.
Trump quickly handed her a new title, Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly praised her record soon after.
Now the statue controversy has collided with recent reports about her marriage.
Noem’s 77-year-old mother, Corinne Arnold, told the Daily Mail her daughter is ending her 34-year marriage to husband Bryon Noem, revealing the news at a grandchild’s birthday party.
“It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,” Arnold said, recalling how Kristi finally confirmed it flatly: “No. No. We’re going to get a divorce.”
Between all the things going on in her life, the firing, the jet, the alleged infidelity scandal with Lewandowski, the statue and now the marriage, Noem’s comeback tour is starting to look a lot like a demolition derby, and Iceman may be the only one in the picture still standing upright.
