Equine Heroes: Circus Horse

THE DANCING CIRCUS HORSE,
friend of Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was a great holy man of the Lakota Sioux Tribe. During the wars over who would control this country, he helped his people to fight against the white invadors who would take all the land for their own. Being a man of strong character, when he and his people were finally defeated, he decided to go away from the land that no longer belonged to his tribe and explore the world.

He performed for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Circus all over the United States and in Europe as well. The Wild West show had a wagon race, wild horse riding, shooting matches, and a special show in which a stage coach was chased and surrounded by Indians, with much firing of guns and shooting of arrows. Sitting Bull didn't really have to do much himself but make an appearance dressed in his most colorful outfit and riding a white horse.

Eventually, he left the Wild West show, and Buffalo Bill, who had been his friend, gave him the beautiful white horse he had ridden in the show. It was trained in all the tricks of the circus, and Sitting Bull proudly accepted this gift.

He returned to his people on the reservation. He argued against the federal policy that tried to make his tribe forget their own culture and religion. Because he was a very respected holy man, the tribe listened to him and resisted the federal government. They continued to speak their own language, and to worship the Great Spirit.

The government official on the reservation sent soldiers to arrest Sitting Bull because he was telling his people not to listen to the government. When the soldiers arrived, Sitting Bull pulled back and would not let them take him away. He fought against them, and his people took his side and there was a terrible battle. At the end, Sitting Bull and 15 other people lay dead.

While this battle was going on, his white horse heard the shooting. This was a sound that he had heard all his life in the circus. He began to dance. He drew himself up and snorted. He arched his neck and pranced in a circle. He bowed and then stood up and shook his long mane and pawed the ground, and reared up and leaped into the air. He cantered around and around in a circle, and stopped and backed up, then cantered some more. And he did all of this while the battle was raging around him, and the bullets never touched him. When the noise stopped and the battle was over, he danced still until he was exhausted.

After that, the Lakota people always said that when Sitting Bull died, the white horse danced in his honor.

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