The Horse Man

Local Legends

Hyn tried to remember the proper greeting used by the Absarokees. He thought it was an open palm raised, to show the peaceful nature of one's intentions, but he could not remember.
Fortunately he was not required to remember, for Daniel Pony Boy's father simply offered him a handshake like the Pale People did.
"Hi. You new around here?" He asked, his leathery face creasing in a grin.
"Dad, this is, uh, um..."
"I was called by your people "He Who Dances With The Horse" and sometimes called Horse Man. My loved ones call me Hyn. I do not remember if I ever had a human name."
The grin abruptly left Daniel's father's face. Hyn was used to this. People never believed things that they could not understand. People were stupid.
"Dad, he says he's the Horse God!" Daniel blurted.
"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU THAT I AM NOT A GOD, IDIOT?" Thundered Hyn.
Daniel flinched. "It's just what we call him, like, for a name to remember him by."
Daniel's father looked at Hyn for a long moment. "I am Jimmy Pony Boy." he said, at last. "Can you tell me why you claim to be The Horse Man?"
Hyn rolled his eyes. His simple yet wise Absarokee people had been tainted by the Whites. They used to believe things without needing proof after proof.
"I gave your founding stud, Shadow Chaser, to a boy named Horse Dancer. Your people used to leave me gifts in time of famine, so I took to leaving food for you in lean years. I taught your people how to make your horses dance with joy while carrying you, and how to apply their play to buffalo hunting and war. I also told you many times, never, never show the Pale People the offspring of Shadow Chaser. Why have you disregarded my instructions?"
Jimmy looked a little ill. "We only share the name of our founding stud among the Elders and the current Rider. And even Daniel didn't know about Grandfather Horse Dancer. And yes, legend says we were told not to show the horses to the Whites. I honestly thought it was just bogus, like the Old Religion and stuff like that that we use to impress tourists. But our Chief has some things that legend says the Horse Man gave us. Can you tell me what they are?"
"Dad! You can't think he's for real!!" inserted Daniel, in a squeak.
"They are a leather bridle with a silver rose on the headstall, a pale green Ming bowl, and a red satin sash with the edges embroidered in gold thread." replied Hyn, ignoring Daniel's outburst.
Jimmy looked a little green. "There's no way you could have known that. But who are you? The Horse Man had no woman, and he never accepted one of ours, so the story goes. How do you happen to be, if the Horse Man never had an heir?"
Hyn rolled his black eyes. "I am the Horse Man. I have always been, and I will be until God wants me with Him. I told your people this many, many years ago. I do not know what I am, I know only that I am."
Jimmy smiled a little sickly. "That's what our legends say. But they always say stuff like that to make it a better story. When our tribe told the story to Pére de Smet, he said that only angels live like that, and that it didn't seem like an angel thing to do to come down to teach horsemanship. He was also the one who helped us save the horses. He and the other Blackrobes. They helped us show other people, white people with some influence, how we could dance with the best of our stallions. They were so impressed that when the Army came to kill all of our ponies, these people helped us by telling the Government that they wouldn't stand for it. They helped us organize shows to show the rest of the Whites what we could do. When the Blue Coats couldn't be held back any longer, some of these good people hid our horses for us. It was best that we showed the Whites. That's how we saved the horses. There's good and bad people in every race, and the good Whites helped us when the bad ones hurt us. If you're worried about your own horses, you should think about publicizing them to the point where nobody would dare steal one, cause everyone knows who they are."
Hyn was silent for a moment. He reached out and gently stroked the sweaty seal brown neck of Earthbound Flight, who was anxiously pricking up his ears and staring at them with wide, worried eyes. "Calm you, child," he soothed. "It is nothing that will bring you harm, dear one."
He thought for a while before he answered Jimmy.
"I am unwilling to risk my herd. I am certain that you have had trouble with thieves. Powerful thieves who own the rulers, and once your horse is in their hands, there is no power in the law to remove him from the grasp of that thief."
Jimmy Pony Boy looked into Hyn's eyes. "The Spanish Riding School in Vienna wouldn't lose one of their horses to thieves. They're the pride of their country. Be the pride of our country like we are the pride of horsemen in Montana. If you are what our legends say, you would make the Spanish Riding School look like child's play. Then nobody would dare touch you. The world is shrinking, Hyn Horseman. You can't hide forever."

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Author's Note:
I just put in Jimmy Pony Boy's story about the white people saving some of their ponies because I wish they would have. I have never heard of it actually happening. And yes, the US cavalry would regularly go in and slaughter the native people's horses. Jerks. No wonder Stand Waite was the last Confederate General to surrender.