# Native's horse in "Dances with Wolves"?



## pcwerk (Sep 2, 2003)

Been re-watching "dances with wolves" with/by Kevin Costner and now that
I'm into horses I noticed how beautiful the white horse that Graham Greene 
rides. I think its an Arabian but not sure? Anyone remember?
pc


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## pcwerk (Sep 2, 2003)

Apparently, no one has seen DWW lately ;-) (Its nearly three hours and
taking me forever to finish, but it was a darn good show) Anyway, decided
it looks too stocky to be an Arabian but it sure is pretty. Brings up the question, 
what kind of horses did the Native Americans ride? It was whatever
the Spaniards brought over I guess? 
pc


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Spanish Mustangs, I believe, are what the native Americans rode. Stocky, hardy little things. See pics here: http://www.spanishmustang.org/page/history.htm Just gorgeous critters. I cannot find anything on the breed of horse that the Native American was riding, all that is discussed is Cisco (Justin), the buckskin QH ridden by Costner. My guess (having not seen the movie ina long time) would be mustang or QH. Some Mustangs have a dished type face from the Spanish bloodlines. Just entirely guessing on that one, though.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

While Native Americans rode horses descending from Spanish stock, some of the tribes became pretty good horse breeders. Two examples would be paints and appaloosa. I would suspect each tribe had horses bred for their needs, spiced up by horse theft and trade with other tribes. I believe that the Flatheads were noted breeders of mountain horses.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

If you want to know what the Indian horses looked like in the 1800s and early 1900s, look up the artwork of Charles Russell and Fredrick Remington. They had the "models" in front of them when they were painting.

http://stores.americanwesternwalls.com/-strse-5895/Russell-dsh-33245-Canvas-Giclee/Detail.bok

Most of the cowboy horses of the time looked about the same ... and the mustangs as well. Small, wiry, plain heads ... and look at the size of the riders and where their feet were when compared to the size of the horses.

As an artist myself, I have to laugh when I see most of the modern paintings of Indians or early cowboys ... and particularly mustangs ... they just simply did not LOOK like that!


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Tink, point well taken: after all, the Appy was bred for the Nez Perez tribe. But God can have a strange sense of humor: why would you give a fly magnet like a horse NO TAIL?? I have a rat-tail appy, and it is just sad to see him swish that little half-tail in vain.

SFM, I like that pic in the link.


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## Wanoga (Feb 27, 2007)

Most Spanish Mustangs who are appy colored have a lot of mane and tail. They are most like the foundation apps and look nothing like the modern apps except for color. I have a stawberry roan Spanish Mustang mare. I love the breed. They are on the endangered spieces list and have a lot of history behind them. And they are like potatoe chips... you can't have just one!


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## Wanoga (Feb 27, 2007)

Sorry, I forgot to say that I read somewhere that the only Spanish Mustangs they used were in the back ground and some were used to pull travois. (probably spelled that wrong) They wanted to keep it as authentic as possible but decided they would be too small for the actors to ride.


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## pcwerk (Sep 2, 2003)

Interesting info ya'll  I think the horse might have been a quarter
horse--to heavy to be an Arabian and too stought to have been a
real Spanish Mustang. Thanks again!
pc


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

beccachow said:


> Tink, point well taken: after all, the Appy was bred for the Nez Perez tribe. But God can have a strange sense of humor: why would you give a fly magnet like a horse NO TAIL?? I have a rat-tail appy, and it is just sad to see him swish that little half-tail in vain.
> 
> SFM, I like that pic in the link.


Probably because the Nez Peirz were a mountain tribe and insects are not much of a problem in the mountains.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

tinknal said:


> Probably because the Nez Peirz were a mountain tribe and insects are not much of a problem in the mountains.


I'm not sure about "all" mountains ... but mosquitoes were always horrible in the Big Horn mountains during the summer. Anytime we went up there fishing the first thing we packed was the bottle of repellent.

We never rode horses up there because we didn't run cattle on the mountain, so don't know about noseflies ... can't remember if there was a problem with deerflies or horseflies ... but I DO remember the mosquitoes.


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

these are indian horses here. http://www.laclacroixindianpony.com/


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## Axxiss (Jan 1, 2021)

That white horse is an albino quarter horse that my dad owned in dances with wolves


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

That is extremely cool.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

The Spanish brought over Iberian horses. Which were the ancestors of today’s Andalusian and Lucitanior(sp?) breeds among other breeds. There was probably some Arabian influence to them as well. Later as settlers came and brought their bigger work horses and various riding breeds also got mixed into the Indian and wild herds as animals escaped or were stolen in raids. The “Spanish Mustang” we see today is the result of a melting pot of breeds put into both natural selection and human “interference”.


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