chapter 2. I wasn't there the day the first Indian horse came to our people but I heard the story so many times as a boy that it became real to me the Ojibwe were not people of the Horse Our Land existed as an untamed thing lakes rivers bogs and marshes surrounded by citadels of bush and rock and the labyrinthine weave of country we had no need of maps to understand it we were people of the manitus the beings that shared our time and place were Lynx wolf Wolverine bear crane Eagle sturgeon deer moose the horse was a spirit dog meant to run in open places there was no word for it in the old talk until my great-grandfather brought one back from Manitoba when the sun was warm and the song of the wind could be heard in the rustle of the trees our people said that that may goaceyuk the water Spirits had come out to dance that's the kind of day it was sparkling the eyes of the spirits winking off the water my great-grandfather had wandered off into the bite of the north wind one day near the end of winter headed west to the land of our cousins the Ojibwe of the Plains his name was shabagisik slanting Sky he was a shaman and a Trapper and because he spent so much time out in the land it told some things spoke to him of mysteries and teachings they say he had the sending thought the great gift of the original teachers it was a powerful medicine allowing vital teachings to be shared among people separated by tremendous distance was one of the last to claim its energy before history trampled it underfoot the land called to him one day and he walked off without a word to anyone no one worried it was something he did all the time but that late spring afternoon when he walked back out of the bush from the East he was leading a strange black Animal by a rope halter our people had never seen such a creature and they were afraid it was massive huge as a moose but without antlers and the sound of its hoofs on the ground was that of drums it was like a great win through a fissure and rock people shrank from the sight of it what manner of being is this they asked do you eat it how does it come to walk beside a man is it a dog is it a grandfather who lost his way the people had many questions none would approach the animal and when it lowered its head and began to graze under grass they gasped it is like a deer is it as gentle as weywash Kishi it is called a horse shabbagisik told them in the land of our cousins it is used to travel long distances to Bear loads too heavy for men to warn of jonagos before he can be seen horse the people said in unison the big animal lifted its head and winied and they were afraid does it Mark us they asked it announces itself shabbagisek said it comes bearing great teachings he brought the animal back on the train and walked it 30 miles from the station to our camp on the Winnipeg River it was a percherant a draft horse a working beast and shabagisik showed the people how to halter it to rig it with straps sewn from Cedar routes and trading post-rope so it could haul the carcasses of moose and bear many miles out of the bush children learn to ride on its broad back the horse pulled Elders onto Bargains across the Deep Snows of winter and allowed men to cut trees and haul the logs to the river where they would float them to the mill for money horse was indeed a gift and the people called him kichi animus great dog then one day shabagisi called everyone together in a circle on the teaching rocks where the old ones Drew stories on the stone the people were only ever called to those Sacred Stones when something vital needed to be shared no one knows where that place is today of all the things that would die in the change to come the way to that sacred place was perhaps the most Grievous loss shabbagisik had brought kitchenomoosh and horse nibbled at the succulent leaves of the Aspen while my great-grandfather spoke when the horse first called to me I did not understand the message Shabu gisik told them I had not heard that voice before but our cousins on the plane spoke to me of the goodness of this being and I fasted and prayed in the sacred sweat lodge for many days to learn to speak with it when I emerged from the sweat lodge this horse was there I walked with it upon the Plains and the horse offered me its teachings a great change will come it will come with the speed of lightning and it will Scorch all our lives this is what horse said to me under that great bowl of sky the people will see many things they have never seen before and I am but one of them this is what he said to me when the genregush came they brought the horse with them the people saw the horse as special They sought to learn its medicine it became a sign of honor to ride these Spirit beings to race the wind with them but the genre gush could only see this act as thievery as the behavior of lesser people so they called us horse thieves the change that comes our way will come in many forms in sights that are mysterious to our eyes and sounds that are grating on our ears in ways of thinking that will crash like thunder in our hearts and Minds but we must learn to ride each one of these horses of change it is what the future asks of us and our survival depends on it that is the spirit teaching of the horse the people did not know what to make of this talk Shabba G6 words scared them but they trusted him and they had come to love kichiana Moosh so they took good care of him fed him Choice grains and hay that they traded for at the rail line the children rode him to keep him fit when the treaty men found us in our isolated camp and made us sign our names to the register they were surprised to see the horse when they asked how he had come to be there the people pointed at chabagisik and it was a jonagosh who called him Indian horse it has been our family name ever since