The People of the Horse

The Utes call themselves the people of the horse. As the first unconquered tribe to obtain horses and livestock, they became respected warriors of the Southwest.

Acquiring the horse around 1640 soon changed their lifestyle. Now that they could hunt more efficiently from horseback, the Utes could pursue their game in the summer and early fall, and return home in early winter. The Utes hunted elk, deer and buffalo, and they became famous for processing hides, which at first they traded to Mountain Men and the Spanish. These hides became one of their most important trading commodities. Hunting soon expanded to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains where buffalo became one of their main resources, providing the Utes with many useful products such as meat for food, hides for tipis, blankets, clothing, moccasins and bags of all kinds, sinew thread for sewing, bowstrings and other utilitarian objects.

The Utes quickly became known for their great horsemanship skills and were responsible for spreading horses among other tribes in the Plains, Plateau and the Great Basin. At one time every child growing up on the reservation knew how to ride a horse; it was a point of pride. Handling horses was both a tradition, a survival skill and a practical way of transportation.

Nestled between the La Plata and San Juan Mountains, the Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum in Ignacio, Colorado, transports visitors back to the early 17th century, when the Utes first acquired the horse from the Spanish, to the 1870s, when the U.S. government placed the Utes on the reservation where they reside today, and to present-day Ute horse culture, expressed in everything from rodeo riding to Utes on horseback in Western movies. Although the Utes’ way of life changed, their traditions and heritage have survived, all of which you can experience during a visit to the museum. Displays of rare artifacts, historical photographs and flat-screen interactive and video presentations tell the story of the Ute people from their own perspective.

The horse and its essential role in the history, culture and economy of the Ute people are revealed in these historical photos from the museum’s permanent exhibit. They tell the stories of how the horse transformed Ute peoples from hunter-gatherers living in small family groups to tribes that moved at will over hundreds of miles, trading, hunting, raiding and growing stronger.

Lynn Brittner has been executive director of the Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum since 2000. In 2011, a new $38 million museum opened in Ignacio, Colorado.

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The gift of Spanish horses meant the Utes could raise horses, cattle and sheep. Occupying a fraction of their former territory, the Ute Mountain Utes live on a reservation near Towaoc, Colorado. Shown here are some of their sheep herders in 1932.

John Wesley Powell first became acquainted with the Utes along the White River in northwestern Colorado in the fall of 1868. During his expedition five years later, his photographer, Jack Hillers, captured this great photograph of a young girl accompanied by a warrior, whose body, painted with yellow and black stripes, is marked for battle.

The Pikes Peak region is Ute Country. The Utes passed along the Garden of the Gods in the foothills of Pikes Peak, which they called Tava (Sun Mountain), as they traveled to and from their summer and fall hunting grounds to their winter campgrounds. Migration to summer and winter camps was essential for good irrigated pastures for horses and other animals.
*– Courtesy Special Collections Pikes Peak Library District, Tod Powell –*

The Ute Pass Trail originated just below the springs of Manitou, Colorado, through Ute Pass and into the White River country of Utah. With the Indians dragging their travois along this trail, the route became easier to follow and eventually became a safe route to the Colorado gold fields. Starting in 1860, the mineral rushes to Colorado resulted in large settler migrations that began the first major threat to the Ute way of life. These Ute men pose on horseback as part of the marking ceremony for the Ute Pass Trail on August 29,1912.

Before the horse, moving from camp to camp was distressing. These women must have counted themselves lucky to have their own horse travois to carry their belongings.
*– Courtesy Library of Congress –*

Before Utes acquired horses, the Ute bands spent much of the year traveling from place to place so they could hunt animals and gather berries and plants to feed their families. Camp life was likely much nicer for this Ute woman, shown in her tipi encampment with her horse and two dogs; she and her family probably obtained enough food to head home to Colorado for the winter.
*– All photos courtesy Southern Ute Cultural Center & Museum unless otherwise noted / By William J. Carpenter –*

At one point, every child growing up on the Ute reservation knew how to ride a horse; it was a point of pride. These mounted Ute youths are adorned in typical fashion, with a breastplate of long hair pipes, usually two, but in some cases three, in width and generally with more than 40 pipes per row. The Ute at left also has his hair styled in the common fur-covered braids.

The Utes found new identity and purpose from the back of the Spanish horse. The efficiency of hunting via horseback allowed scattered families to group together in larger bands. Surrounded by aspen trees, Ute Captain Jinks journeys on horseback with these women in Atchee, Colorado.

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The People of the Horse

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