Texan Horses and cowboys by Erwin Smith

Salvete Omnes, 

 new month of March 2025.

let us start with some fine photographs by a Texan artist Erwin S. Smith (1886 -1947), perhaps one of the finest photographs of the cowboy life and work-   collection of his work is located at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art . 

for the reference purposes - Turner's essays on the frontier in American history published in 1920 - on Archive World Library.

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Arapaho horses in 1870 - Fitz Hugh Ludlow

 Salvete Omnes,

travois in this print from Fitz' book

a quick lope into the Kansas and Colorado Great Plains of the post-1868 war ( battles of Washita and Summit Springs),  our witness to the life of the Plains people, the Arapahoes and their horses, was Fitz Hugh Ludlow .

 

Fitz of New York, was a writer and traveler who made a long trip across the Plains & the Rockies to California* and Oregon -his recollections of this journey - titled The Heart of the Continent - was published in New York in 1870, the year he died.

While his observation on the American Indian women and men, especially the Arapahoes in this chapter taking place near South Platter River, are far from flattering, his short description of the horses can be of interest.

This period, post 1868 on the Plains was the waning of the free roaming tribes and their pursuit of bison, as they have been ravaged by diseases and loss of good hunting and really the way of life.  Fitz pointed to one aspect of the Plains Indians' approach to horses, namely, that the horses and their riders seemed to communicate by touch and understanding. 

Photos by William S. Soule, circa 1870s

*Fitz will be back with his depiction of antelopes, bison and horses and horsetack in California

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Dutch Horses from the ealy 1800s - Pieter Gerardus van Os

 Salvete Omnes, 

when I was preparing  my  post about the Dutch horses in the XIX century art by Anton Mauve's brushwork  I looked up his teachers and teacher's father . One of teachers was Pieter Frederik van Os whose father was  Pieter Gerardus van Os.

Pieter van Os lived during the Napoleonic Wars and in 1813-14 he was a militia officer, a captain, and he participated in the warfare, like the siege of Naarden.

here are some of his horse and cow paintings and prints

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Buffalo vel bison hunting III - bison skinning or dressing - The Eastmans

 Salvete Omnes,

Seth Eastman's drawing engraved

the last chapter on hunting bison - the process of skinning of bison etc.
In this chapter Mary Eastman brings forth much more information from the colonial and frontier annals, 

Mary ends the chapter the the ominous saying stated to her by 'an aged Indian' -'When there are no more buffaloes, there will be no more Indians.'

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  the illustration drawn by Seth provides some more detailed information on the equestrian, two grazing buffalo runners,  in the background -

they seem to be outfitted with the native saddles with stirrups and one horse has a bison hide blanket, while the 'flea-beaten gray' has more elaborate harness with a crouper. In some of the Eastman's paintings these  fringed croupers appear as well. The can be seen in the perido art - from George Catlin, Paul Kane, Bodmer, A.J. Miller or Rindisbacher. 

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Buffalo vel bison hunting II - bison winter hunt by the Eastmans

 Salvete Omnes, 

continuing from the last post, Mary and Seth's chapter on the bison hunt (and deer)  in the winter, in the snows and frozen conditions.

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tbc

Valete