Runs With Wind
This is an image of a Medicine Hat mare that I made two weeks ago during our Wild Horses of the West photo adventure in South Dakota. It so happens that I was also there in 2005, a few weeks after she was foaled. She is, to me, one of the most beautiful horses that I have ever laid eyes upon and this year I had the honor of naming her. The name I chose – Runs With Wind. Since she was foaled and resides within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, is only fitting for her to also be known by the Lakota translation of that name, which according to a Lakota elder is . . . tate un iyanke. TRANSLITERATION: TAK-tay un e-YAN-a. (TAK is pronounced with a gutteral sound.
Runs With Wind and her first foal.
The term Medicine Hat is applied to horses exhibiting a rare color pattern featuring color on their ears and top of the head, which resembles a bonnet or hat, along with a mostly white body.
According to several Plains tribes, Medicine Hats were used as Ceremonial Horses, Buffalo Runners, and War Horses. They were considered to have supernatural powers capable of protecting their riders from harm. The Medicine Hat was so special that only tribal chiefs, medicine men, and great warriors were allowed to ride them.
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