Before the Horse

People on horseback are often the first mental pictures most people have of Plains Indians; but fewer than 75 years before Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery trekked through Montana, the people of the Northern Rockies had never seen a horse. Fifteenth century European explorers brought the horse to North America when they arrived in the southern regions of the continent—the Yucatan Peninsula. It took 200 years before the horse showed up in the Northern Rockies, making the horses' influence a very recent part of the societies that have lived here for thousands of years. "Before the Horse: Northern Rockies Lifestyle" will enhance people's knowledge about the earlier centuries of Northern Rockies living when the extensive use of dogs was most prevalent.

With use of maps and pictures, this program gives information about those millenia when dogs as draft animals was more unique to this region than any other place on the Plains; hunting and social development was based on this. The many ancient kill sites and pictographs validate the thousands of years the people lived here without horses. As part of the presentation, replica animals are used, along with maps and drawings to enhance the information. Cheatham will stress the resourcefulness of the first immigrants to this land, and she hopes to encourage people to re-think how ancient cultures are perceived.

This program was part of Humanities Montana Speakers' Bureau 2004 - 2019. Contact Kae Cheatham to sechedule a presentation.