What is a
Curly Horse?

Curly horses were documented before the Damele's caught and tamed the Nevada Curlies. Art Owen, a Red Wing, Minnesota Sioux Indian, told me that his ancestors used Curly-haired horses to disguise themselves during buffalo hunts.Art participated in South Dakota buffalo roundups and managed the buffalo herd at Prairie Island, Minnesota. His father was a powerful Medicine Man, who relayed oral history to his son. One of these stories tells of a coy method of hunting buffalo. By covering himself with a Curly horse hide, a hunter could sneak into the buffalo herd without alarm. This was risky and Art told me of having been thrown yards by a buffalo head butt, but the hunter must bring meat back to his family. The easiest was was to mass hunt for meat and Curly horses, Art told me, were invaluable when drving buffalo over cliffs to their sudden death. As the Curlies galloped alongside, like Judas goat decoys, the buffalo were lined out for their break-neck fall.