Historicizing the Horse in Native American Cultures (VIII). The Sun’s Horses (White Mountain Apache)
Historicizing the Horse in Native American Cultures (VIII). The Sun’s Horses (White Mountain Apache)

Summary/Abstract: In the prolegomenon to his 1955 landmark study The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture, John C. Ewers inventoried multiple reliable and relevant historical sources, including Spanish records, and their subsequent analyses and concluded that the horse entered Native American cultures through the Southwest. One of the first tribes to capitalize on the benefits and potential of the horse was the Apache, mainly through raiding. This early contact must have inspired numerous stories and altered pre-existing ones, in an attempt to incorporate the horse in the tribes’ historical and socio-cultural framework. One such story is The Sun’s Horses, told by the White Mountain Apache, recorded in 1910. In a context that mixes myth with history, the story ignores the creation of the animal itself, which was a primary concern in other horse stories, and explains how the first horses came to the Apache. Keywords:

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