Historicizing the Horse (VII). Sky Dogs (Plains Blackfeet)
Historicizing the Horse (VII). Sky Dogs (Plains Blackfeet)

Summary/Abstract: After the introduction and spread of the horse across North America, Native American tribes vividly engaged in a complex process of historical assimilation and cultural internalization of the new animal. Numerous stories were created with a view to logically accommodate the horse and make it an integral part of tribal existential narrative(s). Most such stories relied on an archetypal representation of the horse, depicted as having mythical origins and supernatural powers, on the one hand, and as being a repository of knowledge, on the other hand. Sky Dogs, a story told by the Plains Blackfeet/Piegan, explains how the first horses came into existence and how they first appeared to the Blackfeet. he beginning of the process of historicizing the horse is set in an ahistorical time, However, the context is historically anchored, as it described the tribe as a nomadic one, constantly on the move, with all their belongings being carried on travois pulled by dogs as they roamed across the plains. The loose, indefinite temporality of the story (a long, long time ago) immerses the events in a time when Blackfeet culture is already shaped and functional, but unaware of the existence of horses. When it comes to the process of historicizing the horse, Sky Dogs presents similarities with other stories analyzed in this series of articles, especially when it comes to the three stages behind it: de-historicization (extraction of the horse from the immediacy of historical fact), mythicization (transfer of the horse to the mythical realm), and re-historicization (the horse is acquired from the mythical realm and becomes an active component of tribal culture and history). It also highlights the transformative power of the horse through direct allusions and references to the many ways in which it reshaped daily life among the Piegan.

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