The Sacred Horses

Years ago on the great earth roamed a herd of beautiful sacred horses. They were very happy and loved each other. They were great warriors hunters and the spirits gave them many gifts and talents. They were prosperous and they had the best the earth had to give. The land was plentiful, they wanted for nothing and they had great light. 

They played, laughed, ran and danced with joy, they had many children and they all worked together as one. Their lives were blessed and the spirits were pleased. The horses had great festivals and they celebrated their happiness and honored each other for their gifts and they were very thankful. 

One day when they were not looking another heard of horses snuck up behind them and pushed them and cornered them into a corral, they put up fences to keep them in. They told them that they were bad and ugly and the sacred horses believed them and hung their heads in shame.  

The other horses outnumbered the sacred horses and would not let them leave the corral. The sacred horses were fed bad food and water, they were given shelter and split up. Some of them escaped and were never seen again. Some of them went with the other horses because they were so beautiful that the other horses wanted them as part of their herd. 

The sacred horses fought with one another and stopped speaking to each other. The sacred horses became angry and would kick the weaker and smaller horses. Sickness took over from the bad water and food, their beautiful hair became thin and their bodies full of parasites. They all withdrew from one another and were no longer a herd even though they were all still together.  

Years and years passed. The other horses became tired and sick as well and they stopped pushing them, eventually leaving, but the sacred horses did not realize it and they were still filled with shame, hopelessness and sickness. They had become apathetic and their spirits were tired and they did not see the light anymore. They did not see the gifts of the spirits. They did not honor each other anymore and were complacent with how things were.

 The sacred horses drifted through time going through each day without thankfulness and gratitude, this troubled the great spirits, they stood by watching and weeping as they waited for the sacred horses to seek them. They longed for the days of happiness and love. They wished for the herd to be one again.  

One day, one of the sacred horses saw the light and spoke with the great spirits. The spirits gave the message that the sacred horses all had gifts that were waiting for them and that they no longer had to stay in the corral and that they must reunite as a herd to become powerful again, that they had forgotten that they were sacred and it was time to become one again.

The great spirits sent the message with the one sacred horse. He went back and gathered all of the sacred horses together, but some of them would not come and some of them would not listen to the message that was sent from the great spirits because they were drunk with bad water and bad food.  

The sacred horses that heard the message united and a great healing took place, they all received their gifts of sacred beings, they woke up and found their true spirits and purpose for being. The light became great and again they were great warriors, hunters, caring, loving sacred horses. They began a great festival to celebrate their great awakening.  

They realized that they were no longer in a corral and that they were free again to be the great sacred horses of the earth. That they possessed the blessings of the spirits and the earth and that they reigned supreme beings and that they no longer needed to feel shame. The sacred horses felt forgiveness and love for one another again.  

They put away the bad water and food and restored their bodies from the parasites and sickness and became radiant and even stronger than before. The earth looked to them and was pleased. The great spirits were very happy to have their sacred horses whole again as they wept tears of joy.  

The sacred horses again worked together as one and the spirits bestowed upon them many great gifts of music, good food,  health, fertility and prosperity and they have became the light of the earth, which they were in the first place but they had forgotten.  

The sacred horses were put on the earth to shine light upon each other and to show all beings that even through adversity that the power of one, being a herd of sacred horses is the most powerful and strongest energy on the earth.  

The sacred horses were named as such because they honor the earth, they live their lives as directed by the great spirits and are noble and respectful of all things, mostly each other and they are aware of their power as one.  

Again the earth is abundant and each sacred horse does their part according to their gifts that they have been given. Each sacred horse is unique and has a talent that it gives to the earth as an act of thankfulness, love and respect. The sacred horses are divine gifts from the earth. Love being the greatest gift. 

As a little girl my father told me stories, about my great great great grandmother that was a Blackfoot. Maybe she was greater than that. I dearly wished that I could have met her in my lifetime. I do not have any documentation, only the stories. 

I have been drawn to my ancestors through my dreams and I attended quite a few tribe meetings in my native state of Ohio.  I can not describe the feelings in my heart when I was there except joy.  I enjoy reading the stories and I am thankful for this website. 

It is my dream to one day go to my ancestors home and connect with the people.  One day I hope to put it all together and find my family. I am very proud to have this heritage. I have friends from other tribes around the United States and I care deeply for them and they have given me an understanding of their lives. I enjoy pictures of nature and art. 

If we have each other, we have everything. 

I wish for all of you much happiness and love.  I welcome your stories and comments. 

Scalping, introduced prior to the French and Indian War by the

English,*confirmed the suspicion that Indians

*Notice, for example the following proclamation: 

Given at the Council Chamber in Boston this third day of

November 1755 in the twenty-ninth year of the Reign

of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the

Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, 

King Defender of the Faith.  

By His Honour's Command

J.Willard, Secry.

God Save the King

Whereas the tribe of Penobscot Indians have repeatedly

in a perfidious manner acted contrary to their solemn

submission unto his Majesty long since made and

frequently renewed.  

I have, therefore, at the desire of the House of

Representatives...thought fit to issue this

proclamation and to declare the Penobscot Tribe

of Indians to be enemies, rebels and traitors to

his Majesty....And I do hereby require his Majesty's

subjects of the Province to embrace all opportunities

of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroy-all and

every of the aforesaid Indians.  

And whereas the General Court of this Province have

voted that a bounty...be granted and allowed to be

paid out of the Province Treasury...the premiums of

bounty following viz: 

For every scalp of a male Indian brought in as evidence

of their being killed as aforesaid, forty pounds. 

For every scalp of such female Indian or male Indian

under the age of twelve years that shall be killed

and brought in as evidence of their being killed as

aforesaid, twenty pounds. 

were wild animals to be hunted and skinned. 

Bounties were set and an Indian scalp became

more valuable than beaver, otter, marten, and

other animal pelts. 

-Custer Died For Your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr.     pg.14

The Blackfeet Forced Patent claims cover 293,000 acres of the grazing and farm lands of the reservation that were stooen by white men in 1918-1922, and are the subject of THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS EXTENTSION HEARINGS, Monday, December 17, 1979, U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Indian Affairs, Washington D.C. The 2415 Indian claims program and Public Law 96-217, Section 2, were laws passed by Congress to establish title to Indian lands. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Forrest Gerard testfied under Before the Select Committee on Indian Affairs:" Our claims program has affected a significant number of our [white] citizens in this country. In many instances we are dealing with regaining title to property under circumstances in which defendants [white men] through no fault of their own are holding by void title. The title issues in these claims are not subject to the statute of limitations as are the tort issues. A great majority of Indian claimants are heirs of deceased allottees or trust patentees. We are unable to locate many of them. The United States, of course, has a [trust] responsibility to them just as ot does to recognized tribes, bands or groups." 

The local BIA has a list of 1,200 Blackfeet forced patents cases, which are Blackfeet allotments that were stolen by the local white men such as Joe Sherburne, the agency trader, and Blackfeet Agency Superintendents Horace Wilson, F.C. Campbell, and T.C. Power who served as superintendents in rapid succession during 1917-1922 when 293,000 acres of Blackfeet allotments were stolen by the "agency ring' a criminal conspiracy. We tried to get the list of Blackfeet Forced Fee Patents from the BIA superintendent but he wanted over $7,000 for copying costs and the tribal council refused to pay the costs, so we were once again stonewalled from our claims. The frustration is that Chairman Old Person blocked our claims since 1980 and the new tribal council members are following his moccassins. Now the Blackfeet land fraud claims have gone over 500,000 acres and are growing each year. We have all of the research on the claims and it was dubbed a "deliberate conspiracy" by the senate investigator, and he blamed Joe Sherburne and local white men for defrauding the Blackfeet allottees in Glacier County courts. It is deception for Forrest Gerard to testify in Congress that the white men sitting on the stolen Blackfeet allotments "through no fault of their own" because it was a deliberate conspiracy of the BIA and local white men to rob the Blackfeet Indians, and the BIA very well knows where the descendants of the Original Blackfeet allottees are residing because we are all on the reservation and on general assistance thanks to the white men robbing our grandma's. The white ranchers and farmers in Glacier County profit $61,000,000 each year in crops and livestock sales on the stolen Blackfeet allotments, and the Department of Agriculture gives them another $6,000,000 in federal farm subsidies for a total of $67,000,000 on our stolen allotments. That is our land and our money they stole from us. The Blackfeet Indians were successful cattle ranchers by 1896 and their success is written into the 1896 Agreement/Articloe Five which reserved the entire reservation for the support of the Blackfeet cattle ranchers. The allotment act gave the white men the opportunity to rob the illiterate Indians one by one as they were called into the agency office and forced to accept patent in fees on their allotments in violation of the law. We need the tribal council to support our forced patent claims, and we need to send the President a message to open up the Indian claims. We brought the claims to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 1980 and 2001 and again in 2005 but all that time chairman Old Person was telling THE SENATE LAWYER THE BLACKFEET WERE NOT INTERESTED IN PURSUING THE CLAIMS! He was even kicked off the Cobell case claims for secretly giving the information to his BIA masters! The white ranchers and farmers and Glacier County are white apaertheid territory set up on the Blackfeet Reservation on the stolen Blackfeet allotments. The best reservation grazing and farm lands were taken by whites, including oil wells, gas, coal, and the water holes and water courses so that the Blackfeet landowners are forced to lease their dry lands to white ranchers and farmers. This is called the "prisoners dilemma" whereby the disorganized, illiterate Blackfeet allottees are unable to prevent the white men and Glacier County from imposing "collateral or unresolved" conditions on the continued use of their property. This is state coercive power over our private property rights because of the creation of county monopoly power over the treaty rights of the Blackfeet Indians to tax free lands and freedom from state laws on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The resultant economic damages to the Blackfeet heirs is displayed in the poverty of the Blackfeet Indians and the rich white men sitting on stolen Blackfeet allotments. The only way to break the forced patents conspiracy of the white man, Glacier County and the BIA is public exposure of their crimes against the Blackfeet Indians.  There is the added burden of tribal councilmen and tribal members who are state senator and county commissioners who are fighting against tribal sovereignty, and the passive tribal chief and tribal council in these claims. We have written a history book outlining the Blackfeet claims and have tried for 30 years to get the support of the tribal council. I see the county is suing the tribe for $600,000 in county taxes-that is ridiculous, but understandable because they pushed Old Person around when he was chairman. All we need to do is bring our claims to Congress and the white man will be removed from the reservation by government condemnation payments and ordered off the reservation, and we estimate a billion dollars or more to tribal members in compensation payments to the heirs of the original Blackfeet allottees and trust patentees, but most of all we will have our reservation to ourselves as our ancestors willed it to us. Bob J.