August 7, 2009

The epic story of the horse's influence on Native American culture will be showcased in a Smithsonian Institution exhibition.

The exhibition, opening on November 14 and running until March, 2011, will feature about 100 works from the museum's collection to reveal how horses shaped the social, economic, cultural, and spiritual foundations of Native American life, particularly on the Great Plains.

Highlights will include historical ledger drawings, beaded bags, hide robes, and paintings, including new works by contemporary Native artists.

Also on view will be a Hunkpapa Lakota winter count by Long Soldier, dated around 1902, that depicts the horse's first appearance in the community.

It will also include the Nez Perce tribe's horse breeding programme, which began in 1995 in Lapwai, Idaho. It is based around cross-breeding old-line Appaloosa horses (the Wallowa herd) with an ancient Central Asian breed called Akhal-Teke in a bid to create a horse similar to one Nez Perce rode two centuries ago.

The Nez Perce horse's conformation is said to be longer and leaner than quarter horses or other stock horses of the Western US, with narrower shoulders and hindquarters, a longer back, and a lean runner's appearance.

The exhibition will be at the American Indian Museum Heye Center.