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WILD HORSES OF THE PLAINS Spaniards Brought first Horses IcTThis Continent They Became Parent Stock of Future Herds When the Spaniards crime to America they brought the first horses to the continent The animals escaped and were left behind by the Span ¬ iards to become the parent stock of future herds of wild horses that ranged the plains from Mexico to as far north as Saskatchewan and possibly far ¬ ther Horses from early American settlers escaped from time to tinio or were run off by the wild horse bands and added to the blood Indian tribes caught them in numbers and redomesticated them using them as means of transportation which they had never known before the advent of the Span ¬ iards Indeed it was the possession of horses that made the plains Indian tribes possible and later made roaming warriors of them for they never traveled far before they had horses horsesSome Some tribes became horse breeders and turned out flue stock the Cbmanches of Texas were al ¬ most like Arabs in this matter and the Cheyenne tribe of Wyoming gained fame as producers of the famous pinto or painted spotted horses of the plains plainsBands Bands of wild horses could be found almost any ¬ where where feed and water conditions were fa vonible as late as the eighties Two such bands ranged In the sand hllls of Nebraska between the Platte and NIobrara rivers ihe habitat of one band being around the head of Dismal River and the range of the other band being along the Loup River RiverWild Wild liorse herds were always led and strictly horded into individual bands by individual stal ¬ lions who l9oked after their charges with almost human intelligence leading them to feed and water and guarding them from danger of every sort These stallions would fight each other and any wild animal Such as the grizzly bear witli all the wild ferocity of a tiger They would even attack man if lie was afoot and alone as many an Indian or white hqrse lnmter can testify testifyThe The two stallion leaders of these Nebraska sand ¬ hill herds were well known up and down the plains for a number of years and every device and plan was tried to get them One was a coalblack trotter witli long sweeping mane and tail as beautiful an animal us ever rah free under the sky The other was a bay pacer with cream mane and tail that swept the ground and gave him a cometlike appearance while tunning full speed Two finer horses never lived I verily believe They were much sought by horse hunters for sev ¬ eral years and were finally captured capturedIndians Indians tried to valk them down by keeping them moving slowly all the time without a chance to feed or get to water but they never could get either one Cowmen tried encircling the herds and roping them many tiincs This method re ¬ sulted in the capture of the bay stallion on the head of the Middle Loup in 1885 I think it was by a gang of men from Steins Ranch and other ranches of the region regionCREASED CREASED BT RIFLE SHOT SHOTThe The black stallion was creased by a rifle shot through the top of the neck by a single hunter who thus captured the big fellow a year or so after the hay was caught The black was captured miles to the northwest of iiis old range iu the sagebrush desert of Wyoming after nearly all his baud had been captured by cowboys on regular organized horse hunts that often resulted in the capture of a whole herd at once onceThe The horse was the unit of value in trade among all the plains Indians the maii who owned many horses was rich Jie who oyned none was poor A wife was valued by a certain number of horses the more desirable the wife the greater the num ¬ ber of horses she would bring to her father when marriage day came around i Next to the buffalo the horse wasJhe mostivajuableof all plains ani ¬ mals to the Indian tribes tribesIndians Indians had always used dogs for pack animaU up to the time they got horses from the increase of the Spanish herds so it is only natural perhaps to find the Sioux calling tliehorse Shunkstonka literally bigdog because they could pack all their stuff on his hack just as they always had packed it for transportation on dogs before beforeThe The Blackfeet took a somewhat different view of the animal and called it Ponokomita which menus elkdog or more nearlv ljkeelklikedog Undoubtedly this name was selected because in size the horse was liketheelk but without his big horns and becausre tliey could pack their be ¬ longings on the liorse he was likethedog who had always been their pack animal before There ¬ fore the name selkdog as above aboveThe The Crow Indians who lived in the Yellowstone River country called the horse Echeta Just what this means I never learned but it is likely some ¬ what similar to the others The lust wildhorse herds that Tknow of were ranging in Washington and Oregon but these were rounded up and captured several years ago and as far as I know the Veal wild horse of the plains is gone forever now the nearest approach today be ins ranch horses which still vrun the open range here and there El Comacho in Our Dumb Ani ¬ mals
