Ownership is probably the wrong word, but you can’t overstate the importance of a horse to a Native American. “He took my horse so I stabbed him” would get a bunch of approving nods.
Horses were in the Americas but went extinct before Europeans reintroduced them. There is significant oral tradition that remembers the importance of horses. How long ago the extinction of horses happened is hotly debated between white and native academics and likely varied widely depending on what part of the Americas you are studying. Scientists keep discovering horse bones that are radiologically dated to more and more recent times. The “official” extinction date has been revised down several times in the last few decades. There is even one highly debated sample that puts the date as little as 1500 years ago. Some native academics are working on genetic testing of wild horses in an attempt to prove American horses never went totally extinct at all.
I was writing a fantasy story with a Cree friend of mine that included realistic representation of Native American culture. We did extensive research to incorporate elements of the Cree, Haudenoshone, and Tlingit mythology and culture derived specifically from non-white sources. I don’t have a doctorate or anything, but I know what I’m talking about.
Do you have any recollection if the relationship was many-to-many, like “my (group) takes care of these horses, and you aren’t in our group” or singular stewardship “this horse and I take care of each other” or something?
IIRC a lot of it depended on the size of the tribe. Smaller ones everyone was basically treated like an extended family group, so everything was very communal. Larger tribes had more in-group/out-group politics, where certain families within the tribe maintained their own family property. People being people, there is sometimes bonding that happens with some animals. A horse or a dog becomes “yours” because of mutual preference and affection, not economics.
Ownership is probably the wrong word, but you can’t overstate the importance of a horse to a Native American. “He took my horse so I stabbed him” would get a bunch of approving nods.
You know horses aren’t native to North America and were brought over by the Europeans right? Horses are only a brief part of their history.
Horses were in the Americas but went extinct before Europeans reintroduced them. There is significant oral tradition that remembers the importance of horses. How long ago the extinction of horses happened is hotly debated between white and native academics and likely varied widely depending on what part of the Americas you are studying. Scientists keep discovering horse bones that are radiologically dated to more and more recent times. The “official” extinction date has been revised down several times in the last few decades. There is even one highly debated sample that puts the date as little as 1500 years ago. Some native academics are working on genetic testing of wild horses in an attempt to prove American horses never went totally extinct at all.
Based on…
I was writing a fantasy story with a Cree friend of mine that included realistic representation of Native American culture. We did extensive research to incorporate elements of the Cree, Haudenoshone, and Tlingit mythology and culture derived specifically from non-white sources. I don’t have a doctorate or anything, but I know what I’m talking about.
That’s neat
Do you have any recollection if the relationship was many-to-many, like “my (group) takes care of these horses, and you aren’t in our group” or singular stewardship “this horse and I take care of each other” or something?
IIRC a lot of it depended on the size of the tribe. Smaller ones everyone was basically treated like an extended family group, so everything was very communal. Larger tribes had more in-group/out-group politics, where certain families within the tribe maintained their own family property. People being people, there is sometimes bonding that happens with some animals. A horse or a dog becomes “yours” because of mutual preference and affection, not economics.