The Chickasaw Horse

                                          The Chickasaw Horse
        (From article in the Chickasaw Times by Holmes Willis Lemon in 1977)

I've started reading a book entitled Empire of the Summer Moon, by S. C. Gwynne, which tells the story of the rise and fall of the Comanche empire.

I guess I've been kind of racist in lumping the plains tribes together. I never realized that the Comanche had built an empire, but Gwynne makes a compelling argument. Anyway, I'm spellbound by the book. It's so nice to have a book about about Indian history on the best seller list.

Gwynne claims that the Comanche achieved dominance in the west by their  mastery over the horse. In his narrative he relates one of my favorite stories from the memoirs of Randolph Marcy, who made several trips west as far as California through Comanche country.   

Marcy was camped near a band of Comanche, and one morning saw two young Comanche women jump on their horses armed only with lariat ropes and chase a herd of antelope. As he watched in amazement, the girls each managed to corner and lasso one of those magnificent animals. 

I'll quote to you another story from Marcy's journal, about the Comanches' love of horses.  

I once made an attempt to purchase a favorite horse from a chief of one of the bands of the Southern Comanches, and offered him a large price, but he could not be persuaded to part with him. He said that the animal was one of the fleetest in their possession; and if he were to sell him, it would prove a calamity to his whole band, as it often required all the speed of this animal to ensure success in the buffalo chase; that his loss would be felt by all his people, and he would be regarded as very foolish; moreover, he said (patting his favorite on the neck), "I love him very much."

When you know a little bit about a subject, you're always going to find something to disagree with, and it's the same with me and Empire of the Summer Moon. All of Gwynn's talk about Comanche horses reminded me that the Chickasaw were also noted for their horsemanship and for breeding horses. Gwynne states in his book that none of the other Indian tribes bred horses, and I have to take exception to that.  

The Chickasaw may have even been the first Indian tribe to become acquainted with horses, since they first acquired them in 1540, after overcoming Hernando de Soto and his men (See blog of 8/25/2010). From those original horses, the Chickasaw created their own breed, which became known as the Chickasaw Horse.  

I couldn't find any references to the Chickasaw using their horses in battle, but they gave did use them to great advantage in hunting, and when the region became ranching country, the speed and intelligence of their horses made them valued by ranchers as the forerunners of the modern day quarter horse. They were small and muscular, and had short necks like a zebra, which caused them to have to spread their legs to graze. It is said that over a quarter mile there was no faster horse. 

The Chickasaw loved their horses as did the Comanche, and when it came time for them to leave their homeland on the Trail of Tears in 1837, they refused to sell them, taking 5 to 7000 west in great herds.  

In describing the Chickasaw and their horses, Col. A. A. M. Upshaw, the Chickasaws' conductor on the Removal complained:  

I have used all the influence that I had to get them to sell their horses, but they would about as soon part with their lives as part with a horse. 

The Chickasaw Horse is now extinct as a separate breed, having been replaced by the modern quarter horse.