TAKE A TRAIL RIDE INTO BIG BEND:
Horses, Cowboys and Stories
T
Tres Amigos. Painting by: Phyllis Maille-Kimbrig
he horse revolutionized the
American West. Nothing had as
great an impact on the American
West as the reintroduction of the horse by
the Spanish. Native Americans, Texas
cowboys, Mexican vaqueros, U.S. Cavalry,
mountain men, buffalo hunters and
explorers, all benefited from the horse.
The horse brought freedom and mobility
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By Howdy-Nocona Fowler
Cenizo
that had never before been dreamed of in
North America.
Native Americans quickly realized the
great value of the horse. They no longer
had to plod along wearing out their moc-
casin soles walking from place to place
with burden-laden pack dogs searching
for food. The horse could swiftly carry
whole tribes and their goods from place
Third Quarter 2015
to place. Native tribes quickly incorporat-
ed the horse into their lives, religion, food
gatherings and warfare. In a relatively
short period of time once powerful native
empires fell in the wake of thundering
hooves, while other tribes rose to power
on the backs of their newly acquired
“god-dogs.”
Without the horse there would never
have been a Texas cowboy, Longhorn
trail drives, or the vast ranching empires
for which the West is famous. Seeing the
West from the saddle is the experience of
a lifetime. Will Rogers once said, “There
is nothing better for the inside of a man,
than the outside of a horse.” How right
he was.
continued on page 26
Imagine