For Native Americans today, horses endure as an emblem of tradition and a source of pride, pageantry, and healing.

Horses had opened new possibilities. They relieved women of some onerous duties, such as lugging possessions from camp to camp. They tipped the balance, in population growth and territorial expansion, between hunting tribes and farming tribes, favoring the former.

They also replaced the only previously domesticated animal in North America, the dog, which was much smaller and weaker and had to be fed meat. A horse could live off the land, eating what people and dogs didn’t want: grass. When drought or winter snows made grass unavailable, it could even survive on cottonwood bark.

You embrace skills and a passion that have come down from your ancestors; you learn the skills from your elders and make the passion your own; you become proficient, then expert, then generous with your expertise; you care for your animals smartly and lovingly; you pass the favor along to younger kin. You make your family proud and whole. That’s the ultimate Indian relay.

Many Native American tribes and families held certain horses in high regard as Spirit or Medicine horses. The designation was made for horses with unusual markings.

These horses could range from appaloosas with a 'bearpaw' or ‘handprint' marking in its spotting to paints or pintos with an unusually shaped spot or spots (Medicine Hat or War Bonnet markings were highly prized) to the solid colored animal with an unusual facial marking.

Many so-called Spirit or Medicine horses also had blue eyes which were often called Sky-eyes or Heaven-eyes and added to the mystique which surrounded them.

The term Spirit or Medicine horse could also be placed on a more 'normally' marked horse who had shown its owner some unusual talent or power, such as alerting its rider to danger that the rider/owner hadn't discerned or being able to find game

Indian Museum Horses from winter on Vimeo.

The largest equestrian complex in the nation opened its doors Tuesday to shelter more than 3,000 horses and other animals from Hurricane Ian – and they did it for free.

As Hurricane Ian intensified and knocked on Florida’s door, horse owners began arriving early in the morning to set up their animals in 25 barns across the center’s 600 acres, according to Vinnie Card, operations manager of the World Equestrian Center. Since the center’s schedule had plenty of open space in its barns, Card said, the facility was happy to take in animals in need of shelter.

“The love for the animals, that’s why we do what we do,” Card said.

As horses and a variety of other animals found shelter the center began to feel like a modern-age Noah’s Ark.

One barn will shelter Turbo the tortoise, 46, and a kangaroo named Spanky, both from The Peeps Foundation based in Ocala, mere steps away from the Equestrian Center. And another barn with a separate owner will house donkeys.

Josh Dolan, founder of the miniature horse rescue, said Hurricane Ian will be the organization’s first hurricane since moving to Ocala a year and a half ago.

Without the space at the World Equestrian, he said, more than 50 miniature dwarf horses and other animals under his care would have been moved to Georgia to avoid the storm.

Laura Casati and Bill Lacy sat with four horses and their dog, Rihanna, in a barn Tuesday afternoon. They were just across the street from the on-site hotel where they will stay during the hurricane.

Card said the facility’s staff began preparing for extreme weather Friday. Although space for boarding horses is filled at WEC, each barn is temperature controlled and outfitted with a back-up generator. He said the facility is unlikely to lose power for more than a few minutes.

“It’s one thing we can control,” he said.

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Currently in Fort Myers, Florida. Video by Loni Architects #flwx #Ian #hurricane pic.twitter.com/8nfncFlG9G

— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) September 28, 2022

Dramatic video captured the moment a horse ran back into a raging wildfire to save other horses, including a small foal. It had been brought to the relative safety of a road, but charged back towards danger to make sure its stablemates were okay.

The Easy Fire is burning in Simi Valley, California, where it devastated 1,000 acres of land in just three hours. Footage of the horses emerged yesterday showing ranchers trying to get the animals to safety on the Tierra Rejada Road.

The incredible footage shows the black horse break away and circle back, then return again as soon as it reaches its family.

According to CBS, all the horses on the ranch were moved safely excepted one called Mayer, 28, which had to be put down because she broke her two front legs while running.

The so-called Easy fire, which forced 26,000 people to flee, broke out just before dawn off a road named Easy Street, sending a wall of flames racing across scrub-covered slopes.

It started around 30 miles from a separate conflagration burning in hills near the Getty Center museum that has displaced thousands of residents from some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods.

The Getty museum houses a collection that includes paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Manet, ancient Greek statues and an array of manuscripts.

The Reagan Library, Getty Center and Getty Villa in Malibu were all forced to close due to the flames and thick clouds of smoke, although all three facilities were said to be out of imminent danger by evening.

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Cruise the horse is a very appreciative audience to his Marty Calhoun’s flute playing and has the cutest reaction every time his dad plays a piece of music.

In the adorable video below, Marty is in front of Cruise’s stall in the barn. Marty obviously enjoys playing the Native American flute for his horse as much as Cruise enjoys listening to it!

Marty reveals that Cruise is an Appaloosa (a Native American breed of horse) and says that Cruise loves being serenaded by Native American Flute.

Marty adds, “A little factoid; his [Cruise’s] niece is the spotted horse that Leonardo Dicaprio rode in the movie The Revenant.

The Native American flute makes a distinctive sound, which is often referred to as “warbling.” Maybe it’s this warble that Cruise really loves. And as it turns out, Cruise is not the only horse to enjoy flute music.

The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting patterns overlaid on top of one of several recognized base coat colors.

Today, the Appaloosa is one of the most popular breeds in the United States; it was named the official state horse of Idaho in 1975. It is best known as a stock horse used in a number of western riding disciplines, but is also a versatile breed with representatives seen in many other types of equestrian activity. Appaloosas have been used in many movies; an Appaloosa is the mascot for the Florida State Seminoles. Appaloosa bloodlines have influenced other horse breeds, including the Pony of the Americas, the Nez Perce Horse, and several gaited horse breeds.

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Two Clydesdales escaped from their historic farm and found themselves in deep water – literally – after falling through the ice on a frozen lake.

Gunther and Wilhelm, the two draft horses, broke out of their field at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm in Pennsylvania. The geldings were found less than a mile from their home stranded up to their necks in freezing water. A neighbor happened to spot them in the middle of the lake with their binoculars and immediately called for help.

Firefighters were called to the scene for the two 1500-pound Clydesdales in need of rescuing. However, because of their size and distance from shore there was no way to lift them out of the water.

Instead, the rescuers used chainsaws to cut a path through the ice to shore. Once the path was made the horses were guided through it to safety. They were pulled to shore where a veterinarian was waiting to examine them.

The whole town came out to help bringing blankets, heaters and even a boat.

“With the dedication of Blue Ridge Hook and Ladder, Stroud Township Fire Company, Shawnee Fire Company, Wind Gap Fire Company, Northeast Search and Rescue, Portland PA Fire Company, Cross River Veterinarians, Quiet Valley Staff and Volunteers, and countless neighbors lending boats and towels the horses were rescued,” posted the farm.

Both were wet, cold and hungry with a few minor scrapes. They both immediately started to eat the hay that was offered to them. The vet started both on IV fluids to prevent colic and continued to monitor them. The farm posted an update that the horses were doing well and assured everyone that the horses would be fine.

As for the farm, the staff is putting up a double fence to keep the giant geldings from going on another adventure. “They are also grounded for the foreseeable future: no after hours romps, girlfriends, cell phones, etc.,” posted the farm.

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Los Angeles (AFP) - From "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Electric Horseman" to "The Horse Whisperer," movie star Robert Redford has spent much of his career in the saddle.

So it came as no shock to fellow cast members on the set of his latest movie when the Hollywood hero dropped everything to come to the rescue of a neglected gelding in the wilds of New Zealand.

"There was a horse who was clearly abused, who was tied to this wooden fence that was right by the freeway," Bryce Dallas Howard, Redford's co-star in the Disney fantasy "Pete's Dragon," told AFP.

"And we would drive back and forth to work and the horse looked emaciated and abused, and neglected -- and there was no water for the horse, no hay."

The cast and crew on location in the Redwood Forest, Rotorua, monitored the horse as they drove by several times, noticing that it remained tethered and was looking increasingly unwell, Howard, 35, said.

"Bob went and he got someone to knock on all the doors in the neighborhood and say 'Is this your horse?'" she said at a recent publicity event for the movie in Hollywood.


"No one would claim it -- they'd say 'Yes, that horse is always out there' -- and so he coordinated with a rescue place and he himself went and rescued that horse."

That wasn't the only distraction holding up Redford as he was filming his part as old wood carver Mr Meacham in Disney's remake of the classic 1977 adventure, which hits US theaters on Friday. The 79-year-old veteran of more than 40 films got lost in the wilderness one morning when a helicopter pilot who was supposed to be delivering him on set dropped him off in the wrong place.

"I don't know how that happened, "Pete's Dragon" director David Lowery said. "There's no one around. Did he and his assistant just get out and then the helicopter took off again?"

"They would have been lost -- it would have ended poorly -- but then a driver came by, someone driving a sports car just cutting through the country roads," he added.

Redford and his assistant pushed aside energy drinks cans covering the back seat and got in, Lowery told AFP.

"He drives them till they see the set and get out. On the way he's like, 'Are you guys movie stars?' He had no idea who he was," the director said.

"Robert Redford was very happy that day. That was a fun day for him, just because that entire experience was so ridiculous. I think he really enjoyed it."
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