One of two spotted horses on Cadzi Cody's painting
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For over 2000 years, before the arrival of the Europeans, many Plains
people lived as hunters and farmers on the edges of the Great Plains in
permanent villages of earth-covered lodges. In the 17th century, the Plains
Indians acquired some of the horses that had been brought to North America
by the Spanish, and by the 18th century, most of the Plains farmers had
been transformed into nomadic
buffalo hunters. The revolution in lifestyle that the horse brought to
the Plains can be compared to the revolution in lifestyle brought by the
car 200 years later.
On this elk hide, the blue, red and yellow horses
represent real horse colors found in nature, such as sorrel, bay or buckskin.
There are even two pinto or spotted horses on the elk hide. While the human figures
seem stiff as paper cut-outs the horses run, prance, leap and rear into the air,
evidence that Cadzi Cody was a skilled observer of the valued horse. |