SADDLE DECORATION

ca. 1880

Wiley Glenn Mountjoy and Opal Matlock Mountjoy

X1975.18.06 a-b

The acquisition of horses in the early eighteenth century transformed the lives of Montana's Plains and Plateau Indians. With horses, they could travel farther and faster in search of buffalo, and bison hunting itself became much easier. Ponies became an essential component of personal wealth as well as a motive for intertribal raiding and warfare. Because they valued their horses so highly, both men and women festooned their mounts for special occasions, much as they adorned themselves. This saddle ornament, made circa 1880, is one of a matched pair that were suspended from the saddle on either side of the horse. Made of an otter pelt backed by red wool trade cloth, it is decorated with both traditional and European trade items including cowrie and dentalia shells, silk ribbons, glass seed beads, and brass hawk bells.

Plains