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Photo of Ivory Pal by Cheri Prill   Tennessee Walking Horse  Issue August 2010
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Photographer Aaron Huey went to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and took pictures of what he saw and experienced.  You can see those photos in a Ted Talk he gave this past year. http://www.ted.com/talks/aaron_huey.html  

I was struck by how many photos there were of Lakota youth and horses.  Most of the youth are riding bareback, some on the plains others through the home sites and neighborhoods strewn with broken cars, windows, toys, houses and people.   And yet here were smiling youth riding their horses like proud warriors as defined by Nathan Chasing Horse.  “Being a warrior isn’t about taking lives.  Being a warrior isn’t about showing strength.  Being a warrior is not about showing how much knowledge you have.  Being a warrior is learning how to cry.  When a man learns how to cry he is learning understanding because when a man cries, compassion starts to grow.  Being compassionate.  Loving all children.  Protecting your family. Respecting everybody.  “

I couldn’t help but see the irony of the poster created from Huey’s photograph of a Lakota boy and his horse.   Native American peoples are more than “still here.”  Even though First Nations peoples suffered an almost successful genocide, many Native American communities are healing from their historical trauma and re-claiming their historical greatness.  

Both white and Native peoples used the horse to make their lives easier and more prosperous.  The horse carried their elders, children, sick, and belongings, pulled their travois’ and wagons, brought them to better hunting grounds and become their partner in competitive games, races and ceremonies.  The horse was also forced to participate in the genocide, massacres, and wars.   Today, when someone asks, “ How much horse power is in that engine?”,  I am reminded that we still base engine capacity on the power of the horse.

Now, it is the wild horse that faces a similar genocide.  Some cattle ranchers, who built fortunes on the back of the horse, complain and falsely accuse the horse of hurting their government leased grazing lands.  Many mining, gas, uranium and oil companies used the horse to explore and develop their fuel rich lands, now pay huge amounts to lobbyists and politicos, to remove the wild horses so they can remove mountain tops and drain aquifers.

Several tribes have gathered some their wild horses and sold them for slaughter.  I can’t help but think of all the times horses were forcibly taken from Native peoples as punishment and killed right in front of them.  “Curtis Kills Ree , the medicine man, said that in this day and age, a man and his horse have been separated and there is no relationship between them.  It is so with the people.  A man making decisions by himself is not making good decisions.  The thoughts of the horse and the thoughts of the man must join to fulfill good thoughts of the people.  When that is achieved the man is respectful and treats his people with respect and can think clearly for them. “  Alex White Plume (Lakota)

Today, many white and Native peoples have come to the rescue of the wild horse.   They are using the horse for healing programs for historical, generational and combat trauma along with other physical, emotional and spiritual issues.  Bidding over of the kill buyers, wild horses are being bought at auctions and put back onto grasslands.  (Saving Americas Mustangs, www.mustangmonument.com; Lifesavers, Inc., www.wildhorserescue.org; Return To Freedom, www.returntofreedom.org; Blackhills Wild Horse Sanctuary, www.wildmustangs.com and many others)  Demonstrations protest the Bureau of Land Management wild horse policies.  Mustang makeover events, offer wild horses an opportunity to shine in their own spot light showing off their athletic prowess and partnering ability. (Extreme Mustang Makeover, www.extrememustangmakeover.com)

As we get into our cars, press our foot on the gas pedal, and feel the horse power, we are reminded of the huge debt of gratitude we owe to one of this country’s greatest gifts, the wild horse.   I ask white and Native American peoples to please prevent yet another genocide, a loss too devastating for all generations.



Red Horse Nation (www.redhorsenation.org) helps Tribes and Native American agencies develop community owned and managed "Horse Inspired Growth and Healing" programs and ranches.  Co-founders Eric Acosta, (Cochiti Pueblo) and Suzi Landolphi.  RHN is a division of Lifesavers,Inc. (www.wildhorserescue.org)  Contact: suzi@redhorsenation.org 818-470-2013 Join us on Facebook at Red Horse Nation