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Why might this story be special to us in this area?  What do you think about this story?

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October 18 at 8:00 AM
Six foals fathered by a cream-colored stallion called DeSoto run across a grassland in southwest Mississippi - the first new blood in a century for a line of horses brought to America by Spanish conquistadors and bred by Choctaw Indians.

Choctaw horses were thought to be long gone from this region, disappearing when their Native American owners were expelled from the Southeast by the government. But the surprise discovery of DeSoto on a farm in Poplarville 13 years ago led to a plan to help the shrinking breed survive.

"That really gives us a shot in the arm," said Bryant Rickman, who has been working since 1980 near Antlers, Oklahoma, to restore the line. He estimates that he has bred more

than 300 of the horses from nine mares (female horses) and three stallions. But having so few stallions led to a shortage of Choctaw horses, because the gene pool was so small.

Choctaw Indians saw great power in horses. Ian Thompson, tribal historic preservation officer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said their word for horse, issoba, means "like a deer" - and the deer was the tribe's most important animal, both economically and spiritually.

"So naming the horse after the deer was really saying something," Thompson said.

Choctaw horses are descended from those brought to the United States in the 1500s and later by Spanish explorers and colonists, said D. Phillip Sponenberg of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

DeSoto was discovered in 2005 when Sponenberg visited Poplarville to check out small cattle descended from Spanish colonial stock. He was surprised to find Spanish colonial sheep, there, too. Then came the day's biggest surprise.

"Out of the woods came this horse, single-footing," he said. Single-footing is a way of moving that's between a walk and a gallop.

The Choctaw nation lived in much of what are now Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Choctaws owned tens of thousands of horses by 1830, when Congress gave President Andrew Jackson the power to force Indians out of lands east of the Mississippi, Thompson said.

The relocation of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee and Seminole Indians to Oklahoma, which has come to be known as the "Trail of Tears," took decades. Thompson said more than 12,000 Choctaw people made the journey but an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 died along the way. In Oklahoma, the Choctaw and their horses were part of the cattle ranching economy. The horses are small but tough and durable.

"They're very people-oriented. They're just as docile as your favorite dog," said Rickman.

Bill Frank Brown was 14 when he inherited the Poplarville farm that Sponenberg visited in 2005. The farm had been in Brown's family since 1881 and the livestock there, even longer. Brown had three stallions back then, including DeSoto. He called them pine tacky horses. The Texas A&M veterinary school tested samples of the stallions' DNA, and they matched those of Rickman's Choctaws.

Two of the stallions have since died, leaving only DeSoto. Sponenberg picked the mares that would be the best genetic matches for DeSoto, and they were brought to Mississippi last year. The Browns say some of the offspring will remain in Mississippi while others will go back to Oklahoma, along with pregnant mares.
Students shine a light on a turtle and get a lesson in politics Native American tribe that shared first Thanksgiving meal trying to revive its language Helping endangered lemurs hang on

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Choctaw horses make a comeback in Mississippi

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October 18 at 8:00 AM Six foals fathered by a cream-colored stallion called DeSoto run across a grassland in southwest Mississippi - the first new blood in a century for a line of horses brought to America by Spanish conquistadors and bred by Choctaw Indians.

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What are some similarities and differences between the tribes in this region and tribes in other regions we studied?

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How does where the Native Americans of the Southeastern Woodlands affect how the tribes live?

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How does where the Native Americans of the Southeastern Woodlands affect how the tribes live?

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What is the weather like in this region?  How does this affect the way tribes here live?

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What is the weather like in this region?  How does this affect the way tribes here live?