Horse of the Americas Newsletter
April 2012
Volume 10 Number 2
Membership & Award Program paid members. Any ques ons, see membership form, or please e-mail or call me -Updated Information ([email protected]). April 1, 2012 Also, small changes were made to the Awards Howdy Members, Spring is here and I am sure all Program, please read over the divisions before of us are looking forward to working with our filling out the forms. Also the point sheets have horses and ge ng out there to the shows, on the been changed and the name of the rider has trail, riding, driving, and compe ng. How been added. Please be sure to fill out completely exci ng with all the foals being born, training the to get all points possible. Please note that you young ones, or just spending me with your MUST be a CURRENTLY PAID member to be favorite horse and loved ones. eligible to accumulate points, example: points accrued during January-March of 2012 will not The Board of Directors held a mee ng in March count if you are not a paid member, and if you and has voted to make several changes to the pay in April only points can count from the date Membership Form. you pay, points are not retroac ve.
Please note the due date for ALL membership Please watch the website for more current will now be January 1st. Please see the website membership forms and awards point sheets, we for forms and for payment available with Paypal. are working on making them all available to We have also added an Addi onal Point Rider print. fee. For example, a family has a friend over o en As always we welcome new members to the to ride yet they are not an HOA member, if they Awards Commi ee or any sugges ons you have pay the Addi onal Point Rider Fee those trail to improve our program. Thanks for all your hours on that HOA horse can be accumulated. Or, par cipa on in the past and I look forward to if a Farm/Ranch has someone showing their HOA seeing your point sheets in the future. horse at a show or expo, those points can also be accumulated for the HOA horse. Leased horses Have a wonderful riding season! can accumulate points if the rider and owner are -Kathy Peacock Politics of Color - Bays! - by Beverly Davis
Bays have been around since the beginning of was said to have been split by Bayard's mighty human-horse interaction. A bay horse carries hooves. In the next town, down the River both the Extension (E) allele and a suppression Namur stands a locally famous statue of the gene known as the agouti gene (A).The agouti Horse Bayard and the Four Aymon Brothers gene, dominant over the black gene, limits or along the River Meuse. suppresses the black coloring to black points, The Bayard legend is also celebrated in other allowing the underlying red coat color to come towns most notably in the Flemish town of through. Dendermonde, where a large procession is organized every ten years. Processions are also organized at Mechelen and Ath. There are Bayard statues at Ghent and Grembergen. Over time in England the name Bayard came to mean any bay horse, and more often or not a foolish bay horse, thanks to Chaucer naming one of his foolish horses Bayard. He went from noble to ignoble in one stroke of a writerʼs pen. In the Rig-Veda the Hindu god Indra was named the god of bay horses. Achillesʼ chariot horse, Xanthus was a bay, and Justin Morgan was a bay.
All three tale-male foundation sires of the Thoroughbred were bays. The Byerley Turk was captured by Capt. Byerley at the Battle of 1904 photograph of a proud Ute man and bay Vienna against the Turkish army. The Darley horse. Arabian was purchased in Syria, and the Godolphin Barb was purchased in France. The word bay entered the English language through the Normans. In French mythology The great Thoroughbred Lexington was a bay during the times of Charlemagne, Bayard (a who set a record for four miles at 7 minutes, 19 magical bay horse) was the property of Renaud 3/4 seconds in Louisiana on the second of April, de Montauban. The horse was capable of 1855. This was all the more remarkable due to carrying Rinaldo and his three brothers ("the the fact that he had a massive head infection four sons of Aymon") all at the same time and of that robbed him of his sight. Although a famous understanding human speech. Near the end of sire of racehorses, his most famous son the work, Renaud is forced to cede Bayard to remembered today has to be Cinncinati, the Charlemagne who, as punishment for the mount of General US Grant in the Civil War. horse's exploits, has a large stone tied to General Grant was renown in his youth as a Bayard's neck and the horse pushed into the ʻHorse Whispererʼ. The ultimate irony in this is river; Bayard however smashes the stone with that Lexington had to be rescued from the his hooves and escapes to live forevermore in Union Army that was conscripting all horses the woods. In a more common myth, when his they found for service. Old and blind, he had to master turns away, he drowns. I like the running be ridden to safety. free in the woods version myself. Outside the town of Dinant in Belgium stands The British Jockey Club was so concerned "Bayard rock", a large cleft rock formation that about Lexington's dominance in the pedigrees Politics of Color - Bays, cont.! - by Beverly Davis of American-bred Thoroughbreds, and the fact that the British Thoroughbred breeders considered him not a purebred, was a large factor in the Jersey Act of 1913, where the British Jockey Club limited the registration of horses not traced completely to horses in the General Stud Book.
“In 1913 the Jockey Club and the owners of the General Stud Book passed a regulation named by the foreign press after the Jockey Club's senior steward, Lord Jersey, The Prophet Mohammed owned a bay named prohibiting the registration of horses in the The Torrent, and the following is an Arab legend book unless all of their ancestors had been about bay horses: registered. Despite protests from American The Legend Of The Bay breeders the regulation was in force until “When God created the horse, he 1949. Among the factors influencing its summoned the South Wind and said, "I relaxation were the racing success of shall create from thy substance a new being ineligible horses in Europe (Man OʼWar and which shall be good fortune unto my his descendents) and the damage being followers and humiliation to my enemies. caused to British and Irish breeders by the Condense thyself!" And the wind condensed unavailability of French Thoroughbreds itself. And the angel Gabriel caught a during and after the Second World War. In handful of it and said to God: "Here is the addition, by 1949 the impure ancestors of handful of wind." And God created a horse the American bloodlines had receded far of bay color and addressed it by saying, "I back in most horses' ancestry.” have created thee and named thee 'horse.' “
Proof the money talks. The British and Irish At the Spanish Riding Academy in Vienna, breeding programs were becoming so inbred, where the white stallions dance, there is usually they desperately needed the succussful at least one bay stallion present. According to American lines to keep from becoming second lore, when there are no bays present there is rate. And this all because of one 15 hand bay war. Apparently that was the case in the late horse from America. thirties and early forties. Unless the policy has changed, the academy still does not breed its bay stallions. Egypt, Cincinnati, and Jeff Davis, the horses of General Grant. Jeff Davis, the smallest horse, was acquired in Mississippi (Gulfport) at the In America, few horses are held in such high home of Jefferson Davis. Choctaw horses were esteem as the half mustang Comanche from considered the finest small horse at the time Custerʼs ill fated attack on the Cheyenne and prior to the arrival of European ponies. King Dakota at Little Big Horn. Found two days after Ranch also shipped many Texas mustangs to the battle, he was the only living thing on the the Confederacy via the ports in Gulfport and battlefield. Nursed back to health, he became Mobile. Could Jeff Davis be a King Ranch the darling of the American public. Spanish Colonial? Politics of Color - Bays, cont.! - by Beverly Davis
His remains are on display at the University of In Black Elks Speaks, the horse dance, he rode Kansas in the Dyche Museum of Natural a bay horse that had bright red steaks of History, at the corner of 14th St. and Jayhawk lightning on his legs, and on his back a spotted Blvd. This is because the officers of Ft. Riley, eagle with outstretched wings was painted KS who had him stuffed were too cheap to pay where Black Elk would sit. Black Elk was the taxidermy bill. Sad but true. painted red all over with black lightning on his limbs, and he wore a black mask from which a single white feather hung. http://www.firstpeople.us/articles/Black-Elk- Speaks/Black-Elk-Speaks-The-Horse- Dance.html Lastly, in dreams, if you see yourself riding a fine bay horse, your fortunes will increase and your passions will be satisfied. For a woman, it foretells a yielding to importunate advances and enjoying material gains. Alas, nothing about women who own small dun horses. -Beverly Davis
Since 1961, AIHR has been dedicated to honoring the Horses of Native American tribes & nations.
Look for news in our next newsletter for dates of the next AIHR/HOA National Show (probably September). Unique awards are given for those who show, trail ride, or who enjoy their horses at home. Bob Emmett Brislawn, “The Wyoming Kid”! Part One
Bob Brislawn was a true son of the old West. Many names were nominated and one of these He was born in Sprague, Washington on Nov. names was Brislawn. However on one could 18, 1890. This is the same time the large cattle come up with a name agreeable to everyone. drives ceased. Finally an old Indian looked to see a big storm As a boy, Bob worked at barbershops and coming and shouted, “Oshoto! Oshoto!” (Which saloons cleaning the places but he loved to meant a big storm was coming). The listen to the stories that the old time mountain government man looked around and said good men and cowboys had to tell. enough and pounded his gavel and Oshoto was the name of the new Post Office and town. His father died at an early age, of pneumonia, and Bob liked to say that whiskey killed his Bobʼs wife died, leaving him with five children. father. He didnʼt have any. He never married after the death of Genevieve and since he like the ladies, people asked him why. His reply was, “No man can be lucky Once out of school, Bob became a packer for twice!” and “Good Enough!” the United States Topographical Survey and traveled all over the west. Bob was also in Columbus, New Mexico when Pancho Villa Bob quit the survey, ran the ranch and still raided the town in 1917. studied his beloved horses.
Bob said that the biggest change in the West In 1957, Bob and his older brother Ferdinand for him was bridges. founded the Spanish Mustang Registry. Bob was 86 years old when he passed on. A great life and a great man. In 1914, he moved to Wyoming twenty miles or so from Moorcroft, Wyoming, and bought 4,000 acres of prairie land. Here he raised his family and cattle, but still worked for the Survey and studied the little horses that he used in him pack string.
Two of the pack horses he talked of was Ping and Pong. He and these two horses packed higher in the Rocky Mountains than any other horse had ever gone.
A few years after settling in Wyoming, it was felt they needed a Post Office and that meant a town would be established. A government man arrived to see what name the residents wanted on their Post Office. An assembly of the local residents gathered with the man to decide on a name.
Politics of Color - Black! - by Beverly Davis
Black horses often get a bad rap in legend. This In Black Elk Speaks: The Horse Dance, he has is unfair because the first horse I ever loved specific horse colors representing North, South, was a half Tennessee Walker-Colonial Spanish East and West. Black horses represented the gelding named Trouble. His dam, a wild-born west and were painted with blue lightning filly from Montana, had belonged to my father. streaks on their legs. http://www.firstpeople.us/articles/Black-Elk- He had named her Queen Annie, and she came Speaks/Black-Elk-Speaks-The-Horse- to Mississippi in a cattle car. Queen Annie lived Dance.html her entire life on Persimmon Ridge pulling a plow when needed and carrying my father on his nighttime outings. She was supposed to Black horses were not popular in the Persia have been real fast and head-strong. I never Empire because of their association with saw Queen Annie alive, but her colt Trouble demons, but the Sassanid shah Chosroe II was my dream horse when I was little. Pure once owned a black stallion named Shabdiz. black with a white snip and four white socks, he He loved the stallion so much that he was the prettiest horse that Iʼve ever seen. threatened to kill the man who told him the horse was dead. When the terrible day arrived The following is a Yaqui legend simply titled: a famous poet Barbad was hired to take the The Black Horse news to Chosroe, and in a poem that spoke of the stallionʼs exploits, the verb WAS was used, “I HAD BEEN riding my black horse through ergo telling the shah that his horse was dead. the thickets of pitahaya from early morning until past midday. I had no water and the In Zoroasterism Apoash the black demon horse sweetness of the pitahaya honey caused of drought was in constant battle with the white me great thirst. There was no place within horse bringer of life Tishtryna, viewed in the sky one hundred and sixty kilometers where I as the star Sirius. And it doesnʼt help that in could get any water. I was getting Christian mythology Famine rides a black horse. desperate, thinking I might die any minute. But at that moment some great, beautiful By and far the most famous modern black clouds formed. I looked at those clouds and horse in modern literature is Walter Farleyʼs jumped on my horse and rode to the top of Black Stallion. Arabs called black horses al Dum and considered them worthy of a king or a hill. I carried a long stick with a fork on the prince and excellent for show but bad end of it. When I got there, I kicked my tempered, particularly if they had no white on horse with my wooden spurs and he gave a them. Bedouins claimed black horses feared great jump up toward the clouds, and I, with stony ground and would not ride a black horse my forked stick, made a stab at the cloud. to war because he was unable to endure hot My aim was good. As we came down, we sun and little water. In the movie The Black were followed by a torrent of fresh water. Stallion, a San Antonio Arabian named Cass Ole played the part of the Black. I drank and also my horse drank and we both bathed. Water ran in all the washes. It This ancient legend comes from India and ran deep in Sabino arroyo. From that time concerns Prince Siddhartha. on there has been water in Sabino arroyo, for which we all have to thank my wonderful Buddha and the Black Horse horse.” “When the Buddha was about to marry, the Politics of Color - Black, cont.! - by Beverly Davis king organized a contest. In the horse riding True black horses are not allowed in the activity the Buddha had his white (tobiano in modern Indian warrior horse breeds as they are most myths and art) horse Kanthaka, the considered possibly of demonic origin. The ancient Celts also feared that black horses fastest horse in town. All competitors said were demons in disguise, although the hero that with that horse he would always win, in Cuchulainn owned a black stallion named Dub fact, anyone with that horse would win. The Samhain. King then decided that instead of their horses, everyone should try to mount a However, in Spain and Hungary, black horses fierce black horse that threw everyone in were considered lucky. This might explain why the ground. Prince Anirudha tried first, being some of the famous old Spanish pony breeds are now all black or dark bay. The French on one of the best riders in the country, he the other hand thought black horses were mounted the horse without effort, then he unlucky. wiped it hard to force him to run around the yard. When he did this the horse went wild Of course black horses appear in the Spanish and threw him off to the ground. Helpers Colonial breed, and as any good horseman had to rush in to help and save the prince's knows itʼs the size of a horseʼs heart and not of life. the color of his coat that matters. The conquistador Cortez rode a black stallion, and we all know what the sight of men on horses did Next was Prince Siddhartha. He to the Aztec psyche. approached the horse from the front, and instead of immediately jumping on it, he Fly SMR#19 is the first black horse in the started petting him on the cheek, and then Spanish Mustang Registry. The most prolific on the neck. He whispered some words with must go to Ka-maw-i SMR 115 owned by Neil a soft voice. Before riding the horse he Ubrislain. explained what he needed to do and asked This is an excellent website on Ka-maw-i and the horse for permission. his descendents. http://www.neilu.vcn.com/Kamawi's Everybody was then surprised that the %20Bunch.html fierce black horse had calmed down, and let the Prince ride gently, moving forward and Owning a black horse today is simply a matter backwards in front of all the country's of taste. If you have one, enjoy it. There is no such thing as an unlucky good horse. audience.”
-Beverly Davis
The following pages contain the forms talked about on page one.
You can print these out, or you can go to www.horseoftheamericas.com and print them from there.