The Comanche and the Horse | Native America | Sacred Stories | PBS
Today the image of Indians on horseback is iconic. But Native Americans never set eyes on a horse before the 15th century when Europeans bring them to America as a weapon of conquest. The Comanche and other native peoples adapt the horse as a powerful ally in the fight to protect their land and way of life. The Comanche consider the horse a relative and a gift from the Creator.
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Today, the image of Indians on horseback is iconic.
But Native Americans never set eyes on a horse
before the 15th century, when Europeans bring them
to America as a weapon of conquest.
The Comanche and other native peoples
adapt the horse as a powerful ally in the fight
to protect their land and way of life.
This rock art tells a story, this is commemorating an event,
a very successful horse raid.
We're looking at possibly the beginning of our empire
as Comanche people on horseback.
It's just amazing.
The panel is just one of hundreds found in this gorge,
created by Jane's ancestors.
These images in Comanche oral history
are rewriting the story of Native America
in the wake of European colonialism.
We're seeing the first encounter between the Spanish here,
the Comanche, and the horse.
The rock art may memorialize a pivotal moment in history,
a battle in which the Comanche seized the horse.
To the Comanche, the horse is a gift from the creator.
After US troops slaughter the Comanche herd,
Quanah Parker, the last free Comanche chief, surrenders.
I want people to see us and just think, oh my gosh,
that person is Comanche.
Those people, they're not historical.
They're still alive today.
Look, they're thriving.
And the spirit of the horse remains at the heart
of the Comanche nation.
When the moon is full, the Comanche
believe those mustangs, massacred in the Texas panhandle,
still run free.