It is an unusual horse Mr. Shebala is stroking. This cross between an appaloosa and a rare Central Asian breed called akhal-teke is the centerpiece of a campaign the Nez Percé Indians hope will resurrect their horse culture, a proud tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship that was destroyed by a 19th century war.
Tribal leaders also hope the breeding program will provide a "culturally appropriate" business on a reservation plagued with an unemployment rate as high as 70 percent.
Mr. Shebala, a Navajo Indian who is married to a Nez Percé, runs the breeding program. "We were once horsemen, we once raised cattle and worked our own land. These horses will help us get the old ways back."
The Nez Percé were famous among Western tribes for the quality of their horses and sophisticated breeding. In 1805, when Lewis and Clark stumbled out of the Bitterroot Mountains into present-day eastern Idaho after a torturous trip, the Nez Percé gave them food and shelter. In his journal, Meriwether Lewis wrote of the Nez Percé: "Their horses appear to be an excellent race. Many of them look like fine English coursers and would make a figure in any country."
In the summer of 1877, the Nez Percé were ordered by the United States Army to leave their homeland in the Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon for a smaller reservation in Idaho. But the Indians fled. Some 800 men, women and children and 2,000 horses traveled more than 1,00 miles in four months, battling the pursuing Army, trying desperately to reach Canada.
Most were caught in the final battle in north-central Montana 30 miles south of asylum, where their leader, Chief Joseph, made the famous statement that he would "fight no more forever." The Nez Percé war-horses, bred over generations, were scattered, and the breed disappeared.
Deprived of their horses and with their nomadic existence at an end, the Nez Percé people severed contact with this distinctive part of their past.
"The loss of horses was like the loss of a good friend, like losing a dog," said Angel McFarland, whose parents are taking part in the tribal breeding program. "It's similar to taking away our braids, our strength; and with the horses, we have that strength back."
Four akhal-teke stallions were donated to the tribe by a Minnesota breeder. The idea is to blend the appaloosa's blocky, muscular traits as well as the distinctive "blanket" - spots on the rump - to the slim and elegant akhal-teke horse of Turkmenistan. Akhal-tekes are believed to be similar to the original Spanish horses brought to North America, which were the progenitors of the Nez Percé war horse.
The offspring, Mr. Shebala says, will be similar to the type of horse that was lost. The first foal crop of 24 horses was born last spring, and are distinctive looking, with long legs, an erect neck and narrow chest and head. Along with their graceful look, they have been bred for their endurance and riding comfort.
This new breed, Mr. Shebala says, has been named the Nez Percé horse. "We want a horse that people will remember us for," Mr. Shebala said. A registry of the new breed is being created, and it is hoped that the demand for the horse will be enough to create employment for the tribe. The new breed has brought a renewed interest in the old ways on the reservation, where many stories handed down about Nez Percé horsemanship are still remembered. "My great-grandfather was called Man of the Horses," said Horace Axtell, a tribal elder. "He would walk a circle around his horses and they wouldn't leave it."
The breeding program dovetails with two others the tribe has developed to help young people. The Young Horseman's program aims to instill the horse tradition in 20 Nez Percé, ages 13 to 21, each year, teaching them to care for, raise and ride horses. Most of the participants had never been on a horse; now they are helping with cattle roundups and taking tourists on trail rides.
Another program, called Mounted Scholars, is for children from elementary to high school age who are doing poorly in school because of problems at home. Math, history and other subjects are taught, with the curriculum built around horses. Classes include riding instruction. "The outside of a horse," said Rosa Yearout, a board member of the program, "helps the inside of a kid."
The pride generated by the horses on a reservation beset with high unemployment and other social ills is almost palpable.
"His name is Skeeter, and he's my little horse, 'cause I always ride him," said one 12-year-old girl in the Mounted Scholars program, as she sat on an appaloosa. Children are taught about Jackson Sundown, the nephew of Chief Joseph, who was the saddle bronc champion at Pendleton, Ore., roundup in 1916. With his braids tied together under his chin, the 50-year-old Nez Percé rode a horse name Angel to victory.
The Nez Percé program is part of a trend to create "culturally appropriate" development on reservations throughout the country. The breeding program, which has cost more than $500,000 so far, was financed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Nez Percé tribe and a nonprofit group called the First Nations Development Institute, which promotes such businesses in Indian country.
