Horse Lords of the Plains

The first part gives background information. In the 1600’s, the Lakota people lived in the woodlands of the Upper Mississippi River, where Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa now are. They gathered wild rice and hunted small game and deer. They used dogs as pack animals, dragging their household goods on a set of poles called a travois.

By the 1700’s, horses arrived from Central America through the Rocky Mountain trade networks. These big animals were tame like dogs and did the same sort of work, so a horse was called a sun’ka wakan or “holy/mysterious dog.” They transformed the woodland people into horse people of the plains.

Hunting on Horseback

This middle part tells how hunters used horses. Horses allowed the Lakota to hunt bison. In large groups, hunters rode into a herd and shot their arrows just after the final rib. The arrows marked which hunter had felled the animal. Lakota used all of the bison—eating the meat, tanning the hides for clothing, and carving the bones and horns. Horses enriched the Lakota, and they thrived, going from a population of 8,500 in 1800 to 16,110 by 1880.

Fighting on Horseback

This part tells how horses helped the Lakota defend their lands. Horses made the Lakota people nomadic, bringing them into contact with other tribes such as the Crow, Blackfeet, and Cheyenne. They fought together, but these conflicts were small compared to the wars with white settlers.

The Lakota made many treaties with the U.S. government, but most were broken as miners and settlers invaded Lakota lands. Horses allowed them to defend themselves.

In 1876, Lakota mounted warriors led by Crazy Horse defeated General Custer and his cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Horses allowed the Lakota to continue their defense until the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.

Lakota Horses Today

The ending sums up the article. Horses remain important to the Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Reservation. They are symbols of a glorious past, a proud present, and a hopeful future