The Sioux, Comanche and other Native Americans had ancient ways that had gone unchanged for centuries. Less often appreciated is that these peoples were also adaptable and innovative. Maybe the best example of this is the story of the Plains Indian and the horse.
The Native American warrior on his horse, solitary and communing with the land, is a truly iconic figure. It's a little disconcerting to be reminded that those classic scenes reflect a period that, in actual historical terms, did not last two hundred years. Horses are not, in fact, native to the New World, and the Natives' ability to master them represents a triumph of boldly adapting to a new opportunity.
It was the Spanish conquistadores who were first to bring horses across the Atlantic, interrupting millenia of an Indian lifestyle that might look strange to us today. The Spanish were all too aware that their monopoly over the horse was a big part of their domination over the Navajo and Pueblo peoples around them, and they made an effort to retain that monopoly. The steady transport of horses by ship that characterized the 16th Century was never quite enough to produce any large, free herds in the Americas.
In time, the Spanish started hiring ranch hands from among the Pueblos and Navajos around them if only because their lands were growing large and their herds numerous. Indians learned about the horse and the abilities it gave the Spaniards through word of mouth, and they were impressed enough to steal horses from the ranches almost whenever they could. However, not until the closing decades of the 17th century would horsemanship begin to make its way beyond the Southwestern Indians closest to the Spanish.
1680 saw major Pueblo victory over the Spanish, including their acquisition of thousands of horses. Now the horse population among the Southwest peoples was sufficiently large that horse trading could begin with peoples elsewhere on the continent. By the beginning of the 18th Century the Comanches became the first of the Plains peoples to begin their adaptation to the horse.
The Comanche warrior established a level of communion with the horse that was powerful, and an expert level of horsemanship. To an outsider, it was at such a high level that it looked like an ancient teaching. What it really was, was an act of genius, and the Comanche peoples should get more credit for it. On horseback, they overran neighbors the way Genghis Khan and his Mongols once overran theirs, and taught them the value of mounted warriors.
Comanche horsemanship became the model later adopted by other Indian nations. It would also be adopted by the legendary Texas Rangers. They were notable for their high speed acrobatic feats, such as firing arrows while hanging onto to the side of a horse at full gallop.
Mastering the horse would become the obsession of people after people throughout the 18th Century, especially since it was so important to the buffalo hunt. The Lakota Sioux cultivated the armies on horseback that would destroy Custer at Little Big Horn. The story of their horse riding skills should be celebrated as an historical example of the power to innovate.
The Native American warrior on his horse, solitary and communing with the land, is a truly iconic figure. It's a little disconcerting to be reminded that those classic scenes reflect a period that, in actual historical terms, did not last two hundred years. Horses are not, in fact, native to the New World, and the Natives' ability to master them represents a triumph of boldly adapting to a new opportunity.
It was the Spanish conquistadores who were first to bring horses across the Atlantic, interrupting millenia of an Indian lifestyle that might look strange to us today. The Spanish were all too aware that their monopoly over the horse was a big part of their domination over the Navajo and Pueblo peoples around them, and they made an effort to retain that monopoly. The steady transport of horses by ship that characterized the 16th Century was never quite enough to produce any large, free herds in the Americas.
In time, the Spanish started hiring ranch hands from among the Pueblos and Navajos around them if only because their lands were growing large and their herds numerous. Indians learned about the horse and the abilities it gave the Spaniards through word of mouth, and they were impressed enough to steal horses from the ranches almost whenever they could. However, not until the closing decades of the 17th century would horsemanship begin to make its way beyond the Southwestern Indians closest to the Spanish.
1680 saw major Pueblo victory over the Spanish, including their acquisition of thousands of horses. Now the horse population among the Southwest peoples was sufficiently large that horse trading could begin with peoples elsewhere on the continent. By the beginning of the 18th Century the Comanches became the first of the Plains peoples to begin their adaptation to the horse.
The Comanche warrior established a level of communion with the horse that was powerful, and an expert level of horsemanship. To an outsider, it was at such a high level that it looked like an ancient teaching. What it really was, was an act of genius, and the Comanche peoples should get more credit for it. On horseback, they overran neighbors the way Genghis Khan and his Mongols once overran theirs, and taught them the value of mounted warriors.
Comanche horsemanship became the model later adopted by other Indian nations. It would also be adopted by the legendary Texas Rangers. They were notable for their high speed acrobatic feats, such as firing arrows while hanging onto to the side of a horse at full gallop.
Mastering the horse would become the obsession of people after people throughout the 18th Century, especially since it was so important to the buffalo hunt. The Lakota Sioux cultivated the armies on horseback that would destroy Custer at Little Big Horn. The story of their horse riding skills should be celebrated as an historical example of the power to innovate.
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