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

Valete

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

Valete

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.'

.

.

  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. 

Valete 

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.

.

.

tbc

Valete

Buffalo vel bison hunting I - bison chase by the Eastmans

 Salvete omnes,

the grey horse chasing the bison has some splendid horse tack

a quick 'lope' to frontier America, when the Eastmans, Mary and Seth, 

lived and wrote and Seth painted and drew the aboriginal people of Minnesota country, where Seth was a commanding officer at Fort Snelling, Minnesota - 1841-49.

They knew the Dakota Indians, of the Eastern division of the greater Sioux Nation, Seth already spoke the language, serving at Fort Snelling during the 1830-32 there, and  in 1831-2 he was married to a prominent Dakota family's daughter  named Stands Sacred with whom he had had a daughter Winona and thus Seth would be the grandfather of the famous doctor, pastor and writer Charles Eastman.  Upon leaving the Minnesota frontier in 1832/3 for West Point post he 'divorced' his Dakota wife. 
Mary learned to speak Dakota language and learned of the Dakota Sioux lore and customs etc. 

In 1854, while living near Washington, D.C., Mary wrote and Seth, then already a veteran officer in the US Army,  illustrated  a book titled 'Chicora and other regions of the conquerors and the conquered.'

from that book come there pages on buffalo(bison) hunt on the plains - 

.

.

.

to be continued 

Valete

Ulrich von Liechtenstein and chivalry - Codex Manesse

 Salvete Omnes,

on the Valentine's Day perhaps it could be good and proper to see some chivalry, medieval romance &courtly love and who could be better that the XIII century German knight and poet Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Sir Ullrich, scion of the ministrialis * class family and himself a minnesinger or troubadour, authored the famous collection of poems titled Frauendienst ( Service of Ladies), which was translated into English by J.W. Thomas in 1969. You can borrow the 2004 edition from Archive Library. There are articles on sir Ulrich and his poetry on Academia.

there is humor in Ulrich's poetry - eg  the lady trick a suitor by suspending him in the air

.

.

and my most favorite plate of the Codex Manesse - our Piast prince Henryk Probus, where his horse's caparison bear letters that make a word - AMOR  which mean Love. 

ps * ministrialis class in Polish medieval society was represented by the włodyka   class (scartabellat). Below the wlodyka class there were the panosza (panozi or domicelli). They were absorbed into the naoblity (szlachta) or pushed into the peasantry etc during the closing up of the noble class in the XV century. 

Valete