This month’s theme:Horses

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November, 2005

From theProspector

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Howdy Prospectors!

Looks like I got into a bitof trouble this month. Ithought everyone would

enjoy an issue on horses. Afterall, how can you learn about thehistory of the West withouthorses? Apparently though,there’s one critter in Idaho who’snot too fond of equines, andunfortunately he works in myoffice…my mule. He’s furious.He thinks if we’re going to do anissue on four-legged creatures itshould be about mules. Too latenow. It’s going to take a monthof apples and sweet talk to turnhis anger back into a smile.Enjoy this month’s issue!

It would be difficult to imagineNative Americans withouthorses. The images we’re

familiar with in paintings, photo-graphs, and movies typicallyshow Indians riding across theplains on their great steeds. Tomost of us, Native Americansand horses go together likefireworks and the Fourth of July.You might be surprised to learnthen, that the Indians didn’talways have horses. In fact, theylived in North America forthousands of years before the

modern horse arrived. But if NativeAmericans didn’t always havehorses, when did they get them?And perhaps more importantly, inwhat ways did the arrival of theseanimals change the lives of NativeAmericans? It seems that there is no rightanswer for the first question, butmost of the experts who havestudied the arrival of the horse inAmerica put the date sometimearound 1600-1650. One thing theydo agree upon is that it was the

Indians and Horses

Lucky Noah

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By Glenn Newkirk

Spaniards who first introduced thehorse to Native Americans in theplateaus and deserts of the Ameri-can Southwest. From there theIndians began to trade horses witheach other. In very little time, horseswere roaming thehigh deserts andplains of NorthAmerica. By the end ofthe 18th century,tribes east of theMississippi riveralso began acquir-ing horses. Butthese horses weredifferent from theanimals originallyintroduced by theSpanish. Overtime, the Indianshad bred horsesfor the traits theyfound most useful. Compared to thehorses that European traders andsettlers brought with them, theNative American horses werestronger, faster, and able to runmuch further distances withoutstopping. This superior breed of horsebecame an important trade item forthe Indians. As European settlersmoved westward they brought withthem many items that the NativeAmericans wanted. Horses weretraded for everything from clothingand cooking utensils to tools andwhiskey. Horses also allowed theNative Americans to offer theEuropeans another important tradeitem, buffalo hides. Native Americans had hunted

buffalo long before horses arrived,but hunting a giant animal like abuffalo on foot could be dangerousand frustrating. Horses madehunting buffalo much easier. Thisnew method helped the tribes obtain

more food and useful tools. Buffalohides could be used for everythingfrom clothing to tepee covers. Theycould also be used for trade. Thismeant more contact between NativeAmericans and settlers. Indianssoon acquired many of the items thesettlers brought with them, includingguns and ammunition. If we think about the ways inwhich the invention of the automo-bile or the bicycle changed the livesof those people at that time we canget an idea of how the horse im-pacted the lives of Native Ameri-cans. The horse allowed Indians totravel much greater distances in ashorter time. This meant that theycould travel farther distances tohunt, trade, or simply find a better

place to plant their crops. One of the problems with thisability to move to new areas wasthat tribes began to move into theterritories of other tribes. Likeanybody else, Native Americans are

protective of thelands on whichthey hunt, fish,grow crops andlive, so some tribesbecame hostilewhen other Indiansbegan trespassing.Guns were usefulfor hunting, butbecame verydestructive oncepeople startedturning them oneach other. Oncethe tribes had guns,the warfare thatbroke out between

them was much deadlier than it hadbeen before horses arrived. The arrival of the horse meantbig changes for Native Americansliving in the Western Great Plainsand Northwest regions of NorthAmerica. Horses helped the Indiansobtain a better food supply, buffalohides for warmer clothes, and theability to move to warmer areasduring winter. On the other hand,horse allowed the Indians to obtainsome trade items that might causeeven bigger changes in the future.

Indians and Horses Continued

The Fun Page

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Find 9 differences between pictures A and B

Answers: 1) Horse in background changes directions 2) Extra feather on Indians head 3) Stripes on Indian’s clothing 4) Horse’s tail shortens 5)Horse’s forehead spot is a heart 6) Bushes change places 7) Tepees disappear 8) Indian’s ponytail disappears 9) Artist’s signature changes

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Next Month’s Activities

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Well, we’ve told you all weknow about horses in theWest, but we need your

help so that we can learn more.Pick from one of the activities belowor make up your own horse projectand send it in to our ProspectorHeadquarters.We’ll take some ofyour best work andprint it in nextmonth’s magazine.Remember toinclude your name,where you’re from,and the name ofyour Prospectorchapter. We can’twait to see what yousend in!

Painted Horses:Horses changed thelives of the NorthAmerican Indians.For the tribes livingnear the GreatPlains, horses meant that they couldtravel farther to hunt buffalo. Sincethey believed their horses wereimportant, many tribes treated themwith respect and decorated themwith painted shapes and patterns. Ifyou had a horse, how would youdecorate it? Show us a picture ofyour new precious pet and theartwork that would covers its body.

Horse Race: A horse is fast, butthere are other critters in NorthAmerica who are known for theirspeed. What if, when horses firstcame here, there was a race be-tween all of the animals so see whowas the fastest? Write a story about

the great race. Was the horse theeasy winner or was it challenged bysome of the other speedy wildlife ofthe West, like the antelope, falcon,or jackrabbit? We can’t wait to hearabout the great contest!

A Different Breed: One of thegreat horse breeds of the West is the

Appaloosa originally raised by theNez Perce Indians. But there aremany other famous breeds of horseshere in America and throughout theworld. Pick an interesting breedand do some research on it. Whatdo the horses look like? What

makes thebreed special?What part ofthe world dothese horsescome from?Write us up ashort reportand tell therest of theProspectorswhat youdiscovered.

Send in yourwork byDecember12th to:

Prospector ClubLucky NoahIdaho State Historical Museum610 North Julia Davis DriveBoise, ID 83702

Or email it to us atkzwolfer@ishs.state.id.us.