
PLATE 18, right side
click on picture for life size copy
of entire plate
"On the right hand side of the page stands a curly-haired
horse, who has feathers attached to its mane. The riderless horse
awaits the return of his two-legged owner, who has been transformed
into the powerful Elk Dreamer or sacred elk."

plate 36, left side
click on picture for life size copy
of entire plate
Black Hawk did a sequence of
drawings showing pairs of warriors - each plate shows one Crow warrior
in regalia, and one Lakota warrior in regalia. His reason for doing
so is not understood since anything apart from battles between them
are quite uncommon in Lakota art due to "...the fact that
the Crow and the Lakota were traditional enemies... [Much more common
is the recording of ongoing warfare with the Crow.] The meaning
of these images is hard to decipher. Could they have been part of
his dream or vision? In his vision, did a finely dressed Crow enemy
bring Black Hawk a masked horse for his horse ceremony? Did this
relate in some fashion to his vision of Thunder Beings (in whose
honor horse dances are held)?113 Or do these drawings
chronicle an event or ceremony that Black Hawk witnessed ...during
one of the infrequent pacts of peace between the Crow and the Lakota,
or is the artist fascinated with the customs of the enemy for other
reasons? Although we don't know the precise origin of Black Hawk's
specialized knowledge of these foreign customs, or exactly what
is being conveyed in this remarkable sequence of drawings, he certainly
provides a vivid picture of nineteenth-century Crow Ceremonialism.
"In two of these drawings, the mounted Crow
are paired with Lakota pipe-bearers (plates 37, 38) who resemble
headmen. Of these Lakota-Crow pairs, plate 37 is particularly intriguing,
for the mounted Crow in ceremonial dress seems to lead an unusual
horse to the Lakota pipe bearer. The horse wears a buffalo mask,
suggesting a relationship to Thunder Beings.

PLATE 37, right side
click on picture for life size copy
of entire plate

©2000 CrowCountryCurlyHorses
*Dos Estrellas, a bay roan
Curly Horse mare.
Her bloodlines trace to WY and NV wild curlies, and MFT.
"The coats of both this horse, and the one
in plate 36, left, are different from the smooth-coated horses Black
Hawk usually draws. Repeating hatch marks in black or red ink suggest
that a wiry- or curly-haired horse is being represented. Several
winter counts record that at the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the Sioux either captured curly-haired horses from their Crow enemies
or caught wild ones on the prairie.111 A warrior named
Young Eagle recalled, "these horses were raised by the Indians as
far back as anyone can remember. Most of them were dark in color
with hair 'singed.' Hence their name, which is Sung-gu-gu-la,
literally 'horses with burnt hair.' "
"Is Black Hawk recording an instance of a Sung-gu-gu-la
being presented to a Lakota by a Crow? In traditional Lakota life,
pictures like this would be shown when men recounted the events
of the past. Each picture, with its richly evocative details, would
give weight and credence to men's recollections."

PLATE 43, cropped
click on picture for life size copy
of entire plate
"Black Hawk depicts many fine Lakota horses.
He has taken exceptional care in drawing the portrait of one particular
horse (plates 43, 47). This may be a horse with long, curly hair;
or the artist may be trying to depict the intermixed dark and light
hairs of a roan (the chestnut red coat with white hairs in it).

PLATE 47, cropped
click on picture for life size copy of entire plate
This horse may have been considered particularly handsome, with
four white stockings evenly matched, a rare occurrence.124
The horse has a white blaze on her face; she also appears in a simple
portrait study, where her tail hangs loose, and her mane is decorated
with feathers to honor her prowess in war (plate 18)."

©1998 Sorrel
*CCC Seekers Foxtail, a *Bad Warrior
bloodline Curly Horse mare.
The *Bad Warrior bloodline traces directly back to Sitting Bull's
horses.
NOTES:
"111. See Howard, The British Museum Winter Count,
p. 22; for a discussion of the varied recountings of this event
within different winter counts see pp. 21-22. Depending on the winter
count, the year for this event ranges from 1801-4."
"113. The Crow had a Horse Dance that Lowie characterized
as a "minor ceremony." Unlike the complex pageantry of the Lakota
Horse Dance, which commemorated a vision of Thunder Beings, the
Crow Horse Dance seemed to be principally a rite for restoring exhausted
horses to full vigor, or for providing more horses to the tribe.
See Lowie, Minor Ceremonies of the Crow Indians, pp. 329-34."
"124. Personal communication from equestrienne India
Frank, December 1999. Horse breeder India Frank suggests that the
white stockings indicate a genetic basis for the identification
of this as a roan horse, which is characterized by a coat of intermixed
red and white hair. In two other drawings Black Hawk shows similar
horses. In plate 36 (left), a Crow warrior seems to be riding the
same horse. Did he capture it in a horse-stealing raid? In plate
37, a Crow warrior leads a roan horse horse wearing a buffalo mask.
Here, its coat is indicated by strokes of pink ink."
Lakota Winter
Counts Online Exhibit, this website displays & explains
more about how the Lakota marked the passage of time by drawing
pictures of memorable events on calendars known as winter counts.


©2002 Sorrel
*CCC Warriors Perfectn, another
*Bad Warrior bloodline Curly Horse mare.
The *Bad Warrior bloodline traces directly back to Sitting Bull's
horses.
My private musings: [India Frank
would actually be referring to the sabino pinto gene, not the true
roan gene. "Roan" sabino horses are also characterized by sharp
jagged edged socks, white lower lips & chin, and frequently
spots on belly or lower rib area. The sabino pinto gene occurs much
more frequently in red based horses, than it does in black (&
bay) based horses].
Perhaps the Winter Counts are not just marking a year that
Curlies were stolen from the Crow by the Sioux, or caught on the
plains... Perhaps Black Hawk's unexplained drawings of pairs of
Lakota and Crow warriors, with the the Crow warrior apparently gifting
the Lakota warrior with a Curly Horse, was actually the same memorable
& significant event that the Winter Counts depict. Maybe Black
Hawk did drawings of this remarkable event, to commemorate it in
detail?

Plains
Indian Winter Counts
Blue Thunder Variants (High Dog, Swift Dog, No Two Horns, etc.)
picture the winter of 1801-02
with a Curly Horse being exchanged between, or (taken) from, Crow
to Sioux
Winter Count in Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills,
Michigan
Curly
Horses in the Battle of the Little Bighorn

The scan above is from the
Time Life book series - it is the picture that is cited in
Myth & Mystery; and it is actually drawn by Red
Horse, not Red Cloud as mistakenly stated in Myth & Mystery.
It is a drawing of a Lakota warrior riding off from the Little
Big Horn battle with the Army's captured horses. The Curly
is ridden by the Sioux. The horse in front of him is a captured
Army horse. You can see the Sioux Curly has the Indian style
war bridle made of rawhide.
Again here is what looks like a blaze-faced curly with 4 white
stockings... |
General
George Cook, an Army Officer, stated that the Sioux
were the greatest light Cavalry the world has ever known.
Date: Saturday, July 23, 2005 8:17 AM
Email To: SiouxCurlies@yahoogroups.com
From: Rod Vaughn, of Diamond Willow Ministries
Hello,
This is an email that my friend Sheldon forwarded to me a few days
ago. Sheldon is a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe (that reservation
is just across the Missouri River from where we live on the Crow
Creek Sioux Reservation). Sheldon is also a direct descendant of
Meriwether (sp?) Lewis of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Lewis
fathered a son from a Lower Brule Sioux woman here on his way upriver
in 1804. (Just a little L&C history for those of you interested.)
He is very interested, as are many here, about the Curly horses.
It is exciting to see the interest among those on the reservations
here growing. We are very saddened by the loss of the foal last
weekend but remain encouraged by the support we get from all of
you and by the interest we are getting from those here that knew
these Curlies for centuries. There are better days ahead.
Rod
Diamond Willow Ministries,
Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, Fort Thompson, SD
Office: (605) 245-2685
e-mail - info@d-w-m.org
---------------------
Rod,
Note the two references that talk about curly haired horses. I thought
it was intresting. These are from winter counts.
Sheldon
Note: forwarded message attached:
Wintercount Creator: Battiste Good
Year: 931 - 1000
English Year:
Lakota Year:
Notes: From the time the man represented in [a previous image] was
seventy years of age, i.e., from the year 931, time is counted by
cycles of seventy years until 1700.This figure illustrates the manner
of killing buffalo before and after the appearance of The-Woman.When
the Dakotas had found the buffalo, they moved to the herd and corralled
it by spreading their camps around it.The Man-Who-Dreamed-of-a-Wolf,
seen at the upper part of the circle, with bow and arrow in hand,
then shot the chief bull of the herd with his medicine or sacred
arrow; at this, the women all cried out with joy, "He has killed
the chief bull!" On hearing them shout the man with bow and arrow
on the opposite side, the Thunder-Bird (wakinyan, accurately translated
"the flying one") shot a buffalo cow, and the women again shouted
with joy.Then all the men began to shout, and they killed as many
as they wished.The buffalo heads and the blood-stained tracks show
what large numbers were killed. They cut off the head of the chief
bull, and laid the pipe beside it until their work was done. They
prayed to The-Woman to bless and help them as they were following
her teachings.Having no iron or knives, they used sharp stones,
and mussel shells, to skin and cut up the buffalo.They rubbed blood
in the hides to soften and tan them.They had no horses, and had
to pack everything on their own backs.The cyclic characters that
embrace the period from 1001 to 1140 illustrate nothing of interest
not before presented. Slight distinction appears in the circles
so that they can be identified, but without enough significance
to merit reproduction (Mallery 1893:291-92).
Wintercount Creator: Battiste Good
Year: 1141 - 1210
English Year:
Lakota Year:
Notes: Among a herd of buffalo, surrounded at one time during this
period, were some horses.The people all cried out, "there are big
dogs with them," having never seen horses before, hence the name
for horse, sunka (dog) tanka (big), or sunka (dog) wakan (wonderful
or mysterious). After killing all the buffalo they said "let us
try and catch the big dogs;" so they cut a thong out of a hide with
a sharp stone and with it caught eight, breaking the leg of one
of them. All these years they used sharpened deer horn for awls,
bone for needles, and made their lodges without the help of iron
tools. {All other Dakota traditions yet reported in regard to the
first capture of horses, place this important event at a much later
period and long after horses were brought to America by the Spaniards.
See this count for the year 1802-03, and also Lone Dog's Winter
Count for the same year.} (Mallery 1893:292)
Wintercount Creator: Battiste Good
Year: 1631 - 1700
English Year:
Lakota Year:
Notes: This represents the first killing of buffalo on horseback.
It was done in the year 1700, inside the circle of lodges pitched
around the herd, by a man who was tied on a horse with thongs and
who received the name of Hunts-inside-the-lodges.They had but one
horse then, and they kept him a long time. Again the bundle of count-sticks
is in the recorder's hands. This is the end of the obviously mythic
part of the record, in which Battiste has made some historic errors.
From this time forth each year is distinguished by a name, the explanation
of which is in the realm of fact. It must be again noted that when
colors are referred to in the description of the text figures, the
language (translated) used by Battiste is retained for the purpose
of showing the coloration of the original and his interpretation
of the colors, which are to be imagined, as they can not be reproduced
by the process used (Mallery 1893:293).
Wintercount Creator: Battiste Good
Year: 1762 - 1763
English Year: People were burnt winter.
Lakota Year:
Notes: They were living somewhere east of their present country
when a prairie fire destroyed their entire village. Many of their
children and a man and his wife, who were on foot some distance
away from the village, were burned to death, as also were many of
their horses. All the people that could get to a long lake, which
was near by, saved themselves by jumping into it. Many of these
were badly burned about the thighs and legs, and this circumstance
gave rise to the name Sican-zhu, burnt thigh (or simply burnt as
translated Brule by the French), by which they have since been known,
and also to the gesture sign, as follows: "Rub the upper and outer
part of the right thigh in a small circle with the open right hand,
fingers pointing downward" (Mallery 1893:304-305). This is the only
winter count to give such an explanation for how the Sicangu/Brule
acquired their tribal name.
Wintercount Creator: Battiste Good
Year: 1803 - 1804
English Year: Brought home Pawnee horses with their hair rough and
curly winter.
Lakota Year:
Notes: The curly hair is indicated by the curved marks. Lone Dog's
Winter Count for the same year records the same incident, but states
that the curly horses were stolen from the Crows (Mallery 1893:314).
Many counts mark this year as when they acquired curly haired horses;
see Rosebud, Flame, Lone Dog, Major Bush, and Swan, as well as Long
Soldier (1801-02) and No Ears (1804-05). White Cow Killer calls
this year "Plenty of woolly horses winter" (Corbusier 1886:134).
Wintercount
Creator: Lone Dog
Year: 1803 - 1804
English Year: They stole some "curly horses" from the Crows.
Lakota Year:
Notes: Some of these horses are still on the plains, the hair growing
in closely curling tufts.The device is a horse with black marks
for the tufts. The Crows are known to have been early in the possession
of horses (Mallery 1893:273).
White Cow Killer calls it "Plenty-of-woolly-horses winter" (Corbusier
1886:134). Many counts mark this as the year when they acquired
curly haired horses; see Rosebud, Good, Flame, Major Bush, and Swan.
See also Long Soldier (1801-02) and No Ears (1804-05).
Wintercount Creator: American Horse
Year: 1805 - 1806
English Year: The Dakotas had a council with the whites on the Missouri
River, below the Cheyenne Agency.
Lakota Year:
Notes: They had many flags, which the Good-White-Man gave them with
their guns, and they erected them on poles to show their friendly
feelings. The curved line is to represent the council lodge, which
they made by opening several tipis and uniting them at their sides
to form a semicircle. The marks are for the people. American Horse's
father was born this year (Corbusier 1886:134).
As noted by Corbusier, this may have been a meeting with the Lewis
and Clark Expedition. White Cow Killer notes the year 1790-91 as
"All-the-Indians-see-the-flag winter," while Cloud Shield calls
1807-08 the year when "many people camped together and had many
flags flying" (Corbusier 1886:132-33, 135).

Crow Country
Curly Horses, Sharpshooter Ridge, Custer Battlefield
The Crow Country Curly Horse main breeding
herd roams a leased pasture
on the famous Little Bighorn Battlefield in 2004.
In 2001 I had the good fortune of meeting Rod & Valerie Vaughn
when they came to visit me on the Crow Reservation. They had received
a Berndt mare as a donation to the Diamond Willow Minstry on
the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. They became interested
in finding out more about the buffalo horses, and were looking at
stallions in the region. They were very interested in preserving
these old Native American Curly Horses, but they had very little
funding. They were offered several more Curly Horses, but they were
not Warrior or Berndt bloodline curlies. Therefore, they had to
decide whether to worry about breeding just Curly Horses, or whether
to preserve this line in its purest remnant state... We discussed
a lot of perspectives during a very enjoyable conversation.
|