Today I'll be sharing something a little different. This is a story I stumbled across while going down a rabbit hole in the American History class I took this semester. The info in this post was obtained from the Lewis Art Cafe, Wikipedia, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
Anyway, while reading my American History textbook a few weeks ago, I noticed this picture:
It was provided as a shining example of the art produced by the Plains Indians, and the textbook said that it depicted a war horse, wounded in battle, making the final leap from life into death. Intrigued, I did some independent research.
As it turns out, this statue is actually an effigy of a real horse that belonged to a Hunkpapa Lakota warrior named Joseph No Two Horns (He Nupa Wanica). He was born in 1852 and soon became one of the most celebrated Plains Indians artists. Besides creating the magnificent effigy above, he was also talented at drawing and engraving. This is a piece he created, depicting himself stealing horses from another village!
Horses are a significant part of Lakota culture, and Lakota warriors used effigies or "dance sticks" depicting horses in their ceremonies. However, the effigy at the top of this post is one of just a few known dance sticks that shows the entire body of the horse! Most dance sticks only show the horse's head and maybe a hoof (like the one below, also created by Joseph No Two Horns).
No Two Horns was a warrior as well as an artist, and fought in over 40 battles, including the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. This was the battle that resulted in the defeat and complete destruction of General George Custer and the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment by a combined force of Lakota and other Plains Indians.
While No Two Horns survived this battle, his horse did not. The blue roan stallion was literally shot out from under his rider, sadly passing away on the the battlefield from multiple bullet wounds. By all accounts, the horse was a favorite of No Two Horns, and its death haunted him for the rest of his life. He depicted the roan's death in several drawings like this one:
...and the effigy at the beginning of the post is also believed to be a depiction of this horse at the moment of death. It bears traces of blue paint (the remnants of the blue roan coat) and has carved bullet wounds surrounded by red paint, as well as red horsehair dangling from the mouth to represent blood. The eyes are brass tacks and the ears are pieces of leather.
The blue roan effigy is now one of the most famous pieces of Plains Indian art, and it's the symbol of the South Dakota State Historical Society. It's currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, but unfortunately not on display (and I couldn't find many good photos!)
I thought the whole story was really interesting, and definitely worth sharing. But, the reason that this on my Stablemates blog is that I decided to paint a Stablemate inspired by No Two Horns' beloved blue roan.
The model I chose to repaint was rescued off of Ebay and already had some paint on him:
I scraped off as much of the crusty primer and paint drips as I could, to get back the mold's detail:
....And repainted him with acrylics. True to the original effigy and the drawing, the horse is a dark blue roan with four stockings and a white face marking. I couldn't find a name for the original horse, so I named this model after the effigy's creator instead.
Meet No Two Horns.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully, you enjoyed this little mashup of history and model horses. It's pretty different from usual, but I figured it was a story worth sharing.
As always, feel free to comment below or email me at modelhorsemagic@gmail.com.
And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel, Miniature_Magic, for unboxings, collection tours, DIY tutorials, and more.
Bye Magicians!
~Miniature_Magic
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