Eyininiw mistatimwak: The role of the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony for First Nations youth mental wellness

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Published by Te Rau Matatini, 2016

Eyininiw mistatimwak: The role of the
Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony for First
    Nations youth mental wellness
                               Volume 1 | Issue 2     a potential key player in First Nations youths’
                                                      healing journeys. A culturally-responsive
                          Article 6, December 2016    framework is offered that highlights the ways in
Angela Snowshoe                                       which a mutual helping relationship can be built
University of Regina                                  between First Nations youth and this critically
                                                      endangered Indigenous horse.
Noel V. Starblanket
University of Regina                                  Keywords: Equine-assisted learning, equine-
                                                      assisted therapy, Indigenous horses, First
                                                      Nations, youth, decolonising, culture, mental
                       Abstract                       health, Lac La Croix, land-based.
First Nations youth across Canada face                Dedication. This article is dedicated to the four
considerably higher risk to develop mental health     original mares and all their descendants, in the
issues compared to their non-First Nations
                                                      physical or spirit world: May your legacy live on
counterparts. These disproportionate risks have       forever.
arisen within the context of an extensive history
of harmful treatment of First Nations peoples
borne of political policies aimed at the                            Introduction
destruction of First Nations cultures. Research       Equine-assisted learning (EAL) is a relatively new
has demonstrated the importance of culture for        approach to knowledge acquisition that draws
positive mental health outcomes among First           primarily on the tenets of experiential learning,
Nations youth. Like other land-based initiatives,     that is, learning through hands-on experience
there has been growing interest regarding the         with the horse (Dell, Chalmers, Dell, Sauve, &
importance of equine-assisted learning and            MacKinnon, 2008). In many EAL programs,
therapy for First Nations youth mental wellness.      participants engage in structured, facilitator-led
However,      there     is    limited    scientific   sessions that provide opportunities to become
understanding of the mechanisms by which First        involved in situations that require interactions
Nations youth can heal with horses, and even less     with the horse, and to reflect on these
is known about how equine-assisted programs           experiences. The overall intent is “to create
can be adapted for cultural relevance. The current    opportunities whereby participants, through
paper addresses this gap in the literature by         direct experience with the horse, learn about self,
introducing the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony as       internalize this awareness within the sessions, and

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generalize it to other life situations” (Dell et al.,         Seven Directions Equine-Assisted Therapy Program
2008, p. 91). Although the core elements of EAL               with Lakota youth; Whitbeck & Parsells, 2015).
are quite similar, equine-assisted therapy (EAT) is           While these attempts have shed some light on the
considered a distinct approach in which the horse             usefulness of these programs for First Nations
is viewed as “an integral part of the therapeutic             youth, there is still little understanding about
process” (Masini, 2010, p. 30) and “central to the            what components are essential for positive
model in large part due to its ability to read and            outcomes, and even less is known about how to
sense humans’ feelings and emotions” (Gergely,                modify these components for cultural relevance
2012, p. 89). In EAT programs, the sessions often             (Whitbeck & Parsells, 2015).
focus solely on groundwork with horses (Lee,
Dakin, & McLure, 2016). Regardless of the                     Although the horse is an undisputedly
specific modality, EAT incorporates horses                    fundamental element in EAL and EAT, there has
experientially for emotional growth by facilitating           been little to no attention paid to questioning
a collaborative effort between a mental health                whether the horse is indeed a neutral, objective
professional and a horse specialist to address                party in the healing process. The current
clients’ specific treatment goals (EAGALA,                    manuscript utilises a social justice and
2009). Despite the growing interest in both EAL               decolonising lens to challenge (and dismantle)
and EAT programs, there remains “a serious                    this dominant proposition by introducing the Lac
absence of theoretical models and frameworks                  La Croix Indigenous Pony and its role for First
within both the broad area of animal-assisted and             Nations youth mental wellness through a
more specifically equine-assisted interventions”              comprehensive review of the literature (i.e.,
(Dell et al., 2008, p. 99). Kruger and Serpell                research studies, academic publications, books,
(2006) acknowledge this significant gap in the                news reports, and radio interviews, as well as the
literature by specifying that “[t]he field of animal-         authors’ personal communications through
assisted interventions currently lacks a unified,             traditional Elder consultations and horse dance
widely accepted, or empirically supported                     ceremony), with special consideration given to
theoretical framework for explaining how and                  the voices of the Indigenous peoples from Bois
why relationships between humans and animals                  Forte Band of Chippewa and Lac La Croix First
are potentially therapeutic” (p. 27).                         Nation. Based on the review of the literature, we
                                                              offer the Four Blankets of Indigenous Horse-Based
Despite the unequivocal links to other land-based             Healing and discuss how each component of the
programs (Wildcat, McDonald, Irlabacher-Fox,                  framework must be integrated into equine-
Coulthard, 2014), EAL and EAT have only                       assisted programs to promote optimal wellness
recently been identified as a culturally-relevant             outcomes for First Nations youth, where the Lac
strategy to facilitate learning and promote healing           La Croix Indigenous Pony is positioned as the
among First Nations1 youth (Dell et al., 2011).               most pertinent and central agent of the healing
Both types of programs are a particularly                     process due to its long-standing relationship with
promising for use with First Nations youth                    First Nations peoples and shared history of
because they utilise an experiential approach to              colonisation. Our findings support the much-
learning that fits with Indigenous ways of knowing            needed paradigm shift away from a Western
and being which regards a relationship with the               viewpoint of “horses as mere objects” in therapy
land and all its cohabitants as a priority                    and towards an Indigenous perspective that
(Greenwood, de Leeuw, Lindsay, & Reading,                     considers the ethical implications for the care and
2015). There are, however, only a few known                   agency of these horses (Matamonasa-Bennett,
programs that have been specifically created for              2015, p. 35).
and used with First Nations youth (e.g., Shonga
Ska: Sacred Horse Society with Omaha youth and

1 The term First Nations refers to the descendants of the
original inhabitants of Canada who lived here for many
thousands of years prior to European contact. The term
Ojibwe refers to a specific group of First Nations peoples.
The term Indigenous refers to First Nations, Métis, and
Inuit peoples of Canada collectively.

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    Decolonising the History of                                commodity        (Canadian             Broadcasting
                                                               Corporation, 2012).
            the Horse
                                                               As archaeological technology becomes more
     [H]orses were not introduced, necessarily, by the         sophisticated, however, the colonial history of
     Spaniards; these are Indigenous horses that
                                                               the horse is being increasingly challenged.
     originated here. And, I know the Spaniards
                                                               Contrary to what the dominant society continues
     introduced horses to the Plains Indians and so
     forth, but we had Indigenous ponies here, and the         to believe today, the oldest known fossil remains
     Lac La Croix Ponies, that are Indigenous to his           of the horse have been reportedly located not in
     land – Larry Aiken. (Kleffman, 2013)                      Europe or Asia, but in North America (Collin,
                                                               2014). Furthermore, Henderson (1991) contends
Despite numerous claims from traditional Elders                that there is no reason why the horse could not
and knowledge keepers that horses were vital to                have survived the Pleistocene era (commonly
First Nations ways of life prior to European                   known as the Ice Age) along with the deer, bison,
contact (Black Elk & Neihardt, 1932; Collin,                   and elk, while larger species such as the woolly
2014; Lawrence, 1998), First Nations peoples’                  mammoth perished. Henderson (1991) presents
oral history of the horse is not treated as                    evidence related to ancient artifacts, petroglyphs,
“historical fact” from the views of dominant                   and oral history to support these claims.
society (Collin, 2013). As such, the Indigenous                According to an article in Canadian Geographic
horse2 remains scientifically invalidated and thus             Magazine (Singer, 2005), “there is clear evidence
non-existent. The basis for presumption appears                of horses until 12,000 years ago, with isolated
to be rooted in the context of an extensive history            finds indicating there may have been horses
of aversive treatment of First Nations peoples;                closer to 3000-1000 years ago.” That means there
along with the arrival of the Europeans came                   could have been horses in Canada as late as AD
their belief that anything that was civilised or               1000, about 500 years before the arrival of
advanced originated from their homeland. In the                Europeans and well after the presumed
1500-1700s, one of the marks of civilisation was               extinction, and those horses would have
one’s possession of the horse and mastery of                   numbered in the millions.
horsemanship skills. Because the horse was used
for travel, buying, selling, and trading, the                  Scientific evidence is building that supports the
number of horses an individual owned was                       alternative (i.e., decolonised) story that horses were
viewed as a large measure of one’s wealth.                     re-introduced with European contact, a counter-
Despite numerous recorded sightings of wild                    narrative that was likely strategically oppressed by
horses in the Americas, these accounts were                    those holding power and privilege to justify and
either ignored or twisted. Any herds of horses                 reinforce aggressive assimilative policies aimed at
that were discovered shortly after European                    the destruction of First Nations cultures. The
contact were denied as being Indigenous and,                   process of decolonising the history of the horse
therefore, property to be claimed by newcomers                 may be viewed by many First Nations peoples as
(see Collin, 2014 for examples of these                        an overt act of resistance by reframing, renaming,
circumstances). Taken together, these European                 and reclaiming the horse as their own. Such
assertions     conveniently      supported      the            counter-narratives serve to validate and support
predominant view that the Americans and its                    Indigenous histories and land rights, which
inhabitants were not human and thus justified “the             reflect the larger movement towards Indigenous
theft” of Indigenous land and its contents, which              self-determination. While there are different
included the horse and any other valuable                      types of Indigenous horses with their own
                                                               historical and social origins, there is one
                                                               particular breed that retains an intrinsic

2 There are reportedly a number of horse breeds that are
considered Indigenous based on their historical significance
to Native American peoples of the United States (see Collin,
2014 for more details). For the purposes of this article, we
will focus specifically on the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony
and its Indigenous origins to Canada.

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foundation with the Ojibwe Nation in Canada:                    (Chosa, 2013; Kleffman, 2013; Lynghaug, 2009;
the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony.                               see Figure 1).

On the Brink of Extinction                                      In an interview with community members from
The Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony breed was                      Lac La Croix First Nation (Doyle, 1987), it was
originally located at Nett Lake and Lake                        evident that the Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies
Vermilion in Northern Minnesota, and the Lac                    were an integral part of reserve life prior to 1927,
La Croix First Nations reserve in Northwestern                  as they were reportedly used to transport food
Ontario. The ponies had been reportedly living                  into Lac La Croix First Nation from Flanders,
with the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa since                      Ontario, which is an estimated 150km round trip
before the 1800’s. The Bois Forte traditional                   that would take at least two days to complete if
Elders and knowledge keepers recall a time there                travelling by horse.
were thousands of ponies (Chosa, 2013;
Lynghaug, 2009). These narratives are supported
by Larry Aiken, historian for the Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe, as he explains how birchbark
scrolls (typically used for sacred lodge teachings3)
document the initial contact between the
Northern Ojibwe peoples (and later the Cree
peoples) and the Lac La Croix Indigenous ponies
(Kleffman, 2013). He affirms that the ponies’
history,
     goes back to the Algonquian migration, back in
     the late 1400s and early 1500s, [when] we [Ojibwe
     peoples] migrated from the Atlantic seacoast. As           Figure 1. Tom Ottertail of Lac La Croix First Nation (1934) using
                                                                a Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony to haul large blocks of ice (Chosa,
     we neared the tip of Lake Superior, some of the            20135).
     Ojibwe tribes split-off and went into Canada, and
     they are the ones that came into contact with              The ponies themselves were also sold as
     some of the Lac La Croix [Indigenous] Ponies.              commodity. One community member asserted
     (Kleffman, 2013)
                                                                that, “they were the only Indian ponies that they
Aiken continues to explain that the Lac La Croix                could get so they bought them from here to take
Indigenous Ponies were included in the lodge                    them down to the [United] States” (Doyle, 1987,
teachings when the Northern and Southern                        p. 48). Furthermore, the Lac La Croix Indigenous
Ojibwe would gather together for ceremony.                      Ponies played an important social role in First
Thus, at the time of Western contact, he states                 Nations community and were involved in
that “horses [were] not new to us... They are                   community gatherings and conversations (see
Canadian, Indigenous” (Kleffman, 2013). While                   Figure 2). Another community member
the Dakota peoples, for example, encountered                    reminisced on a time when the ponies were
horses after European contact on the plains                     considered members of the community:
(during a spiritual journey) and subsequently used                   We always had stories and our Elders always
them to hunt buffalo4, the Lac La Croix                              talked about the horses that they had. And, if fact,
Indigenous Ponies stayed in the Minnesota-                           my mother-in-law, her family was the one that
Ontario region. Unlike the Dakota peoples’                           kept that last herd of [Lac La Croix Indigenous]
horses, the ponies were not rode but rather used                     ponies that they had. Her grandmother would tell
by the Ojibwe peoples for work-related activities                    her stories. And she could remember one time,
                                                                     her grandmother walked about of the house late
                                                                     at night and one of the ponies was laying down in

3 The referenced birch bark scrolls are considered sacred and   4 The Dakota peoples are known for their specialised horse-
thus are not available to the public, but rather are held in    riding skills, as a result of their reliance on the horse for
trust by the Midewiwin peoples and can only be accessed by      hunting buffalo and thus their survival.
members of the Grand Medicine Lodge.                            5 Photo compliments of Debbie Atatise and the community
                                                                members of Lac La Croix First Nation.

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       front of the doorway and she fell over the pony.                  particularly the isolation and refuge of Pony
       And everyone thought it was hilarious! And there                  Island, appears to have acted as a significant
       were other stories, like, my wife’s father (my                    protective factor during a time when the pony
       father-in-law) said when they were younger, they                  numbers were rapidly decreasing.
       would dare each other to jump on the ponies’
       backs and go for a ride. So they would ride them                  By the 1960’s, the ponies had been allowed to
       bareback. And there are other stories too.                        wander free, living and foraging in the woods
       (LeGarde & Woods, 2014)                                           (Doyle, 1987). However, the future of the breed
                                                                         became further threatened when a researcher and
                                                                         writer named Lester Bower accidently shot a
                                                                         young male pony, apparently mistaking it for a
                                                                         moose. This left a population of only seven
                                                                         ponies, including an old stallion that could no
                                                                         longer breed. In 1977, there were only four mares
                                                                         left on Lac La Croix First Nation (Chosa, 2013;
                                                                         Lynghaug, 2009; see Figure 3).

Figure 2. Wally Olson, Fred Isham, Randy Olson (1977) at Lac La
Croix First Nation in front of John and Marie Ottertail’s residence 6.

One community member highlighted the ponies’
sense of belonging to the First Nations peoples
by emphasising that “they were a special breed...
they were original breed Indian ponies” (Doyle,
1987, p. 48).
According to Donald Chosa Jr., Cultural                                  Figure 3. The four remaining Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony mares
Coordinator at Bois Forte Indian Reservation,                            (1976) in a field by the east side of Lac La Croix First Nation the
the breed became endangered when the                                     summer before leaving for Minnesota, United States (Chosa, 20137).
missionaries came to the reservation in the 1940s
                                                                         Furthermore, Canada's Health Department
and saw no use for the ponies. Furthermore, they
                                                                         officials reportedly viewed the ponies as
felt that it was inappropriate for First Nations                         unwanted pets and deemed the ponies a health
children to witness the ponies breeding. As a                            threat and plans were underway to have the
result, the majority of the breed was destroyed
                                                                         remainder of the ponies destroyed (Chosa, 2013;
(LeGarde & Woods, 2014) regardless of the
                                                                         Lynghaug, 2009). Aware of the ponies imminent
discernible social and historical importance of the                      demise, five men – namely, Fred Isham (originally
ponies to their original caretakers. Despite the                         from Lac La Croix First Nation but lived on Bois
devastating losses the breed suffered, a small herd
                                                                         Forte Indian Reservation), Wally Olson, Walter
managed to survive and was kept on the Lac La
                                                                         Saatela, Bob Walker, and Omar Hilde – decided
Croix First Nation reserve (LeGarde & Woods,                             to rescue the ponies in February of that year. The
2014). Before spring, the ponies were herded
                                                                         men were able to capture and load the four mares
over the ice by Lac La Croix peoples onto an
                                                                         on a trailer to travel across the frozen lake to
island called Pony Island. The ponies lived on the                       Minnesota. The ponies were all in good health,
island during the summer, foaling and breeding                           but none of them were bred. At that time, the Lac
and foraging for food. When winter returned,
                                                                         La Croix Indigenous Ponies were believed to be
they were herded back to be used for hauling,                            descendants of the Spanish Mustang and
logging, running trap lines, and other work until                        Canadian Horse, a hypothesis that would
spring, and the cycle began again (Chosa, 2013;
                                                                         (unbeknownst to these men) be later contested.
Lynghaug, 2009). This migration cycle,

6   Ibid.                                                                7   Ibid.

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But it was not until the ponies settled into their        empirical support it requires to justify its
new home in Minnesota that they were bred to a            Indigenous origins and obtain funding for a
Spanish Mustang stallion, named Smokey, since             sustainable conservation plan in Canada and
no Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony stallions                 beyond. Meanwhile, the inclusion of the Lac La
remained. With the introduction of a male line,           Croix Indigenous Pony in the critically
the breed survived.                                       endangered list by Rare Breeds Canada (2015)
                                                          and the breed’s appearance in a number of horse
Return of the Lac La Croix Indigenous                     breed encyclopedias has proved to be beneficial
Pony                                                      in raising public awareness of the breed and its
Once thought to be a cross between the Canadian           lingering threat of extinction.
Horse and Spanish Mustang, the Lac La Croix
Indigenous Pony ancestry hypothesis has not               Today, the Lac la Croix Indigenous Pony still
been fully supported by empirical studies. Based          displays its characteristic physical features, some
on a mitochondrial DNA data (Prystupa, Hind,              of which have undoubtedly contributed to the
Cothran & Plante, 2012) with a sample of Lac La           breed’s survival. Though somewhat smaller than
Croix Indigenous Ponies, the breed was found to           other horse breeds (typically ranging from 12.2 to
share a maternal lineage with the Canadian Horse          14.2 hands), the ponies are nevertheless
which supports the historical records suggesting          described as “strong, versatile, athletic” with
that these breeds could have both been                    “extremely durable feet and legs with amazing
influenced by Spanish equine populations.                 stamina” and are known to be “disease resistance
Interestingly, no counter-hypothesis that the             and hardier than any current domestic breed”
Canadian Horse may actually be a descendent of            (Lynghaug, 2009, p. 94). While being slower to
the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony was offered              mature, they tend to produce more off-spring
(which is quite reasonable given the reported             with a more extended lifespan compared to most
Canadian origins of the latter). However, when            breeds. These ponies are extremely tolerant of
Prystupa, Juras, Cothran, Buchanan, and Plante            Canadian terrain and environment, as they “can
(2012) conducted analyses using microsatellite            get into and out of dense bush more easily than a
DNA data, there was a lack of evidence for a              draft horse and do not balk being asked to push
relationship between the Canadian Horse and the           their way through trees, breaking off branches as
Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony. As the literature           they go and make their own paths” (Lynghaug,
suggests, these inconsistent findings may be due          2009, p. 94). The ponies also possess nose flaps
to the genetic bottleneck of the Lac La Croix             and thick, lion-like forelock and mane, and
Indigenous Pony and fairly recent (i.e., 1977)            profusely-haired ears needed to sustain harsh
introgression of Spanish Mustang lineage to               winter climates and repel insects during the hot
preserve the breed when the Lac La Croix                  summer months. The Lac La Croix Indigenous
Indigenous Pony was reduced to only four                  Pony is also distinguishable by its primitive
breeding mares (Prystupa, Hind, Cothran &                 markings such as the dorsal stripe (that runs from
Plante, 2012). The authors concluded that it may          their thick neck, across their low withers and
be difficult to get a fully comprehensive picture         straight back, to their sloping croup and low-set
of all the breeds that influenced the Lac La Croix        tail; Lynghaug, 2009), leg-striping (i.e., dark
Indigenous Pony (if any), but there is definite           horizontal bars on the legs, also called zebra-bars)
evidence to support a Spanish origin, a finding           and lighter guard hairs along the edges of a dark
which was already affirmed by the                         mane and tail. The Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony
aforementioned oral narratives by First Nations           is astoundingly similar to First Nations peoples’
traditional Elders and knowledge keepers who              depiction of pre-columbian horses in
also contend that the ponies are Indigenous to            Henderson’s (1991) paper entitled, The Aboriginal
Canada. In addition, Prystupa, Hind, Cothran,             North American Horse: “According to Elders, the
and Plante (2012) indicated that the Lac La Croix         aboriginal pony had the following characteristics:
Indigenous Pony was “among the top breeds                 it was small, about 13 hands, it had a 'strait' [sic]
recommended for a conservation strategy” (p.              back necessitating a different saddle from that
387). With more research studies, the Lac La              used on European horses, wider nostrils, larger
Croix Indigenous Pony breed may receive the               lungs so that its endurance was proverbial” (p. 3).

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Aside from their desirable physical traits that                       The Four Blankets of
make them the “perfect all-around horse,” Lac La
Croix Indigenous Ponies are extremely intelligent                   Indigenous Horse-Based
thinkers and tolerant of human ineptitude,                                 Healing
making them particularly suitable for beginner
handlers (Lynghaug, 2009, p. 94). In fact, they               The key to developing a much-needed culturally-
have been described as being stable and                       adapted EAL and EAT framework for First
trustworthy enough for EAL programs with                      Nations youth may lie not in decolonising the
disabled individuals (Lynghaug, 2009). According              therapeutic approach per se, but rather in the
to Lynghaug (2009) they,                                      therapeutic tool itself (i.e., the horse). By placing
                                                              the horse at the centre of the therapeutic process
     possess a common sense that is unequalled in the         (rather than at the periphery as an assistant called
     modern horse world. This characteristic is               upon only when needed), we create the space
     perhaps the most difficult one to show people or
                                                              necessary     to     decolonise       equine-assisted
     describe, but for anybody who has worked with a
     Lac La Croix [Indigenous] Pony, this will be the         approaches for First Nations youth. Termed
     first trait he or she will mention about the ponies.     Indigenous Horse-Based Healing (eyininiw
     These personality traits alone make them                 mistatimwak in Cree), the horse becomes the
     invaluable and worthy of saving regardless of            teacher and healer rather than an assistant or
     their historical significant or abilities. (p. 94)       helper (Matamonasa-Bennett, 2015); in this way,
                                                              the reciprocal and equitable horse-human
With some individual breeding programs in place
                                                              relationship is formed that provides a basis for
across Canada8, the Lac La Croix Indigenous
                                                              healing process that is grounded in a shared
Pony population is slowly growing. According to
                                                              Indigenous view of the world (see Figure 4).
the 1994 World Watch List (Patterson, 2000;
Scherf, 1995), the breed consisted of
approximately 350 ponies, but in 2013, there
were only about 110 known ponies owned by
individuals in scattered areas, with only 27 males
and 49 females that could be used for breeding
(Chosa, 2013). Today, there is still only an
estimated 175 to 200 ponies in North America, a
number that will retain them in the critically
endangered category of the Rare Breeds Canada
conservation list for many years. With an
incomplete breed registry, the denial of their
Indigenous origins, and the lack of a nation-wide
conservation strategy, the future of the Lac La
Croix Indigenous Pony breed is still at risk of
extinction due to the low numbers and small gene
pool (Prystupa, Hind, Cothran, & Plante, 2012).               Figure 4. A depiction of horse-human relationships (both physical and
                                                              metaphysical) from an Indigenous epistemology (adapted from Farrell,
                                                              2008).

                                                              Using Gray Smith’s (2012) blanket metaphor for
                                                              Indigenous youth resiliency9, the following four
                                                              blankets will be offered as new principles of our
                                                              Indigenous Horse-Based Healing framework,
                                                              though they are equally effective when applied as

8  The Red Pony Stands Ojibwe Horse Sanctuary is a            9 Gray Smith’s (2012) four blankets of youth resiliency are
Canadian-based       not-for-profit   corporation    aimed    (1) self, (2) family, (3) community, and (4) culture. Sandra de
specifically at the protection, promotion, and preservation   Blois has applied Gray Smith’s (2012) four blankets of youth
of the critically endangered Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony     resiliency framework to equine-assisted therapy (see
(visit www.theredponystands.com for more information).        http://equine-ati.com/aboriginal.html           for       more
                                                              information).

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foundational principles for other decolonised             missionaries, removal from their home land,
psychotherapies with First Nations clients as well        denial of existence, and (for those that managed
as Indigenous research methodologies: (1)                 to survive) assimilation into modern society. Such
trauma-informed, (2) strengths-based, (3)                 colonial practices were never questioned nor
community-specific, and (4) spiritually-grounded.         challenged by those in decision-making positions
The blanket metaphor is a particularly suitable           who lacked an understanding of First Nations
one to use for this framework because it (a) fits         ways of knowing and being and thus have nearly
with the four levels of an Indigenous worldview           extinguished an entire breed of horse that belong
(i.e., the horse-human relationship and its shared        to the Ojibwe Nation. While the survival of the
connection to community, the land and natural             Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony is undoubtedly a
world, and the spirit world, as shown in Figure 4),       testament of their strength and resilience as a
and (b) it is equally relevant to horses as to            breed, it comes as no surprise that these ponies
humans. The blanket is a culturally-relevant              have suffered spiritual injury through the process.
concept. Blankets are used for healing purposes.          Remarkably, then, the Lac La Croix Indigenous
Blankets are also considered gifts in many First          Pony might need their peoples as much as First
Nations cultures. In both instances, they                 Nations peoples need their ponies.
symbolise that an important relationship exists
between giver and receiver. A blanket serves the          Today, traditional horse culture, that is, a way of
same purpose for a horse as it does for a human;          life that involved, integrated, and revolved
no dichotomy exists in its value.                         around horses as equal beings to humans, is all but
                                                          lost for many First Nations peoples. Many people
The Storytelling Blanket: Taking a                        who work with horses tend to adopt the
Trauma-Informed Perspective                               colonialist cowboy mentality of breaking (i.e.,
First Nations youth in many communities                   training) a horse using behaviour modification
throughout Canada experience a number of                  techniques, that is, punishment for challenges
systemic barriers to mental wellness (Goodman             towards human dominance and rewards for
& Gorski, 2015). These inequities have arisen             horse submission. The premise behind this
within the context of an extensive history of             method is that the horse in its natural (wild) state
aversive treatment of First Nations peoples               displays undesirable and uncivilised behaviours
borne of political policies specifically aimed at the     that require immediate human correction. From
destruction of First Nations cultures (Kirmayer,          a traditional horse culture perspective, however,
Tait, & Simpson, 2009). As such, a trauma-                this method is inherently colonial; human
informed perspective in any programming                   superiority is prioritised and instinctual horse
tailored for First Nations youth is required to take      behaviours are trivialised (despite their
into account the intergenerational impact of              contribution to survival) and thus repressed using
colonisation and its associated negative mental           power and control mechanisms. Such training
health impacts, and must be integrated into all           techniques are counter-intuitive to the
aspects of programming. Before First Nations              development of an equitable and reciprocal
youth can work towards reclaiming their wellness          horse-human relationship. Instead, traditional
with horses, they must become informed about              horse practices utilise kindness, gentle voice
what aspects of their culture has been taken from         commands and behaviours, and traditional song
them (e.g., loss of land, language, and spiritual         in order to nurture the horse’s spirit (as opposed
ways; loss of family and family ties; loss of people      to breaking it). Those who continue to practice
through early death; loss of self-respect; loss of        traditional horse culture understand that horse
trust; loss of respect for traditional Elders and         behaviours are functionally patterned in the same
traditional ways; Whitbeck, Chen, Hoyt, &                 way as human intellect and spirituality; some
Adams, 2004).                                             horses are kind and affectionate, some are
                                                          mischievous, while others are obstinate and
The Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies have                   indifferent. The latter are most often those who
sustained an aggressive process of colonisation           have not been treated well by the human being.
that is eerily reminiscent to that of their Ojibwe        Mistreated horses will behave very much like an
relatives that includes decimation at the hands of        abused or traumatised human and require

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ingenuous psychological care in order to recover               annihilation, relocation, negation) due to colonial
the spirit from damaging human relationships.                  processes that may resonate with many First
There are also many anecdotes of the horse                     Nations youth, their families, and their
grieving the loss through death of their human                 communities. However, educating First Nations
companion or fellow family members and                         youth about the cultural losses they have and
acknowledge death behaviourally in various ways                continue to suffer often comes at a cost; negative
such as running along a fence line when a funeral              emotional responses such as feelings of sadness
procession passes the pasture in which they are                and depression, anger, anxiety, shame, loss of
fenced and neighing excitedly. Given the parallels             concentration have all been shown to be
between human and horse cognition, it is likely                associated with thoughts of cultural loss among
that that these post-traumatic effects would be, in            First Nations youth (i.e., Whitbeck, McMorris,
some cases, transmitted from generation to                     Hoyt, Stubben, & LaFromboise, 2002). Because
generation. Fortunately, traditional horse culture             the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony and First
suggests that the horse spirit is so kind that it will         Nations youth have a shared colonial history,
over compensate the human’s ineptitude with                    horse-based healing programs with Lac La Croix
loyalty irrespective of the technique.                         Indigenous Ponies provide a culturally safe
                                                               context for First Nations youth to explore these
Traditional horse culture needs to be revitalised              losses alongside of a culturally-specific protective
to help both the Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies                factor (i.e., the ponies)10. When First Nations
and their traditional caretakers heal from                     youth learn about the ponies’ plight and situate
generations of oppressive and aversive human                   themselves in the larger context of colonialism,
treatment. Lester Drift, traditional Elder from                these understandings will serve to unite human
Bois Forte Indian Reservation, remembers the                   and horse in a culturally-specific way that is
removal of the ponies from the community as a                  unparalleled to any other EAL or EAT program
youth by explaining the following:                             (see the innermost layer of Figure 4).
     When I grew up around Bois Forte in 1940s and
     middle 1950s until 1963 (I got married in 1963), I
                                                               The Nurturing Blanket:                 Using      a
     can remember back then, that there were nine to           Strengths-Based Approach
     about 12 horses running around. The house that            While education on the impact of colonisation
     I lived in, we rarely had to mow the lawn because         has made some inroads on the healing journey for
     they would be around eating that grass in that big        First Nations youth, these pedagogical
     field we had, and around the house, around the            approaches used to do so are overwhelmingly
     back of the house. And after about 1969-70, I             driven by a deficit-based model (e.g., substance
     never saw them anymore. (LeGarde & Woods,                 use or suicide prevention). A strengths-based
     2014)
                                                               approach to mental wellness programs for First
Donald Chosa Jr. shared his feelings about when                Nations youth is both welcomed and needed
he first learned about the ponies’ plight when he              because it shifts the perceived deficits away from
added the following:                                           the individual and places mental health issues into
                                                               the appropriate context (i.e., systemic
     At first I felt sad or regret, that no one knew. It       colonisation). This process allows First Nations
     was part of our culture that had been completely
                                                               youth to understand the strength and resilience
     lost. None of our band members even knew they
     were their own breed of horse. And so, that was
                                                               they have demonstrated in the face of adversity
     something that I felt was completely robbed from          while challenging ongoing forms of colonisation.
     us. (LeGarde & Woods, 2014)                               In this way, problem behaviours are reframed as
                                                               attempts to cope with abusive experiences, and
Not only is the near extinction of the Lac La                  mental health symptoms become adaptations.
Croix Indigenous Pony one example of cultural                  Such an approach does not mean ignoring the
loss for Ojibwe peoples, the ponies themselves                 historical and social realities facing the current
have experienced a great deal of loss (i.e.,                   generation of First Nations youth and the

10 Connection to culture has been shown to directly compete

with the negative forces of cultural loss (Whitbeck, et al.,
2004).

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Volume 1 | Issue 2 | Article 6 – Snowshoe & Starblanket

associated negative outcomes to focus only on             Indigenous ways of knowing and being (see third
the positives; rather, strengths-based health             layer from the centre of Figure 4).
promotion programs facilitate wellness by
capitalising on the pathways to resilience (e.g.,         The  Teaching Blanket:                     Meeting
cultural connectedness) among First Nations               Community-Specific Needs
youth (Snowshoe, Crooks, Tremblay, Craig, &               For First Nations peoples, healing at the
Hinson, 2015; Snowshoe, Crooks, Tremblay, &               community level from the effects of colonialism
Hinson, 2016).                                            is essential in order for individual healing to take
                                                          place. Chandler and Lalonde (1998) emphasise
The Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies’                       the importance not only self-continuity (i.e., the
demonstration of resilience in their fight against        ability for an individual to situate his or her self in
extinction is a prime and powerful example for            both the present and future) for the mental
First Nations youth. Through these narratives,            wellness of First Nations youth, but continuity at
First Nations youth can learn about the ponies’           a community level as well (i.e., the ability for the
unique characteristics and how they contributed           community as a whole to understand who they
to the ponies’ survival thus far. For example, the        are as a peoples and to resist the forfeiture their
ponies’ refuge on Pony Island and instinctual             collective identity and self-governance through
migration across the frozen lake of the Canadian-         contemporary colonisation processes). For
United States border appears to have served as a          horse-based healing to occur, a reclaiming of
significant protective factor at a time when the          Indigenous horses (such as the Lac La Croix
ponies were the targets of extermination policies.        Indigenous Pony) must come from the larger
One community member from Lac La Croix                    community to which First Nations youth belong.
First Nation recalls the time when:                       Support at a community level is not only critical
     A young pony – she was only about three months       for logistical reasons (i.e., adequate physical
     old – that little pony was born on that island and   spaces, horse care, and funding) to support the
     they stayed there for about three months that        sustainability of horse-based healing programs,
     summer on that island, and the mother died on        but required for a reintegration of horses into
     that island. And that pony [swam] across [to Lac     Indigenous ways of knowing and being. No one
     La Croix First Nation] and that’s about 15 miles.    person can initiate large-scale changes on their
     (Doyle, 1987, p. 48)                                 own; it requires community level ratification.
Another community member added, “That little              Donald Chosa Jr. shares a story told to him by his
pony was never here before but she was able to            father that reifies the need for community-level
find her way without ever being here” (Doyle,             engagement in traditional horse culture during
1987, p. 48). These stories not only can be used          times of change:
as precursors for First Nations youth to learn                A long time ago, they had a chief in Vermillion.
about the resilience and aptness demonstrated by              And his name was Chief John Goodday. He also
residential school survivors, but they reiterate the          had an Indian name, an Anishinaabe name. In the
inherent sense of connection to community for                 past, in 1936, they adopted this new constitution
First Nations youth (see the second layer from                with the new government that the U.S.
the centre of Figure 4). Furthermore, stories of              government put in place at Bois Forte. At that
                                                              time then, my dad said, the people would stop
the ponies also tend to emphasise the importance
                                                              listening to Chief John Goodday. Chief John
of connection to the land for First Nations
                                                              Goodday would walk around the village there
peoples. One community member indicated that                  leading his horse, a Lac La Croix [Indigenous]
she remembers the “trails off in the bush where               Pony. And my dad said that horse was all black
they used to go. I remember going on trails out               with a diamond on its forehead. And he said, he
on the bush where they used to walk” (Doyle,                  always had that picture in his head of Chief John
1987, p. 48). For horse-based healing to take                 Goodday after 1936 after they adopted the new
place, there must be opportunities for First                  constitution and how sad it seemed that he would
Nations youth to strengthen their connection to               just wander around and no one would listen to
the land with and through the ponies in their                 him anymore. (LeGarde & Woods, 2014)
natural surroundings, as this is integral to

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Published by Te Rau Matatini, 2016

There is a strong commitment by many First                 construct these traditional understandings of the
Nations communities across Canada to reclaim               world with First Nations youth due to their
their connections to their cultural ways of knowing        culturally-infused experiences and long-
and being. Some communities have lost much of              established relationships with First Nations
their tradition, and feel, with a sense of urgency,        peoples (Wolfe, 2008; Wright et al., 2012).
that they must reclaim all they can from the past
as they confront the problems of the present.              Whitbeck and Parsells (2015) provide some
Each community is unique and has different                 examples of structured activities from the Shonga
strategies that they use to combat colonialism and         Ska: Sacred Horse Society and Seven Directions Equine-
the cultural losses it brings. Community members           Assisted Therapy curriculums to demonstrate the
must be consulted on its approaches to                     ability of horses to facilitate community-based
reclaiming mental wellness for their youth and             teachings, such as Courage:
how it is implemented in their communities. For                 Three adolescents are put in the pen with their
communities that recognise the value in horse-                  three horses and told to halter their horse and lead
based healing for their First Nations youth                     it to the gate. No further instructions are given.
mental wellness, members from all ages                          The horses are likely to be playful, uncooperative,
(traditional Elder to youth) and levels of                      and to bunch and run all around the corral. Such
government (Band Council to students) must be                   large animals running about may be intimidating
                                                                for the adolescents. The group discussion after
integrated into horse-based healing programs
                                                                the activity focuses on thoughts and feelings
with Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies for                         about the experience, other situations in which
meaningful changes to take place.                               the adolescents may have been afraid, their
                                                                definitions of courage, and how courage is
Many First Nations communities are also
                                                                important in their lives. (Whitbeck & Parsells,
attempting to restore wellness among their
                                                                2015, p. 12)
members through the re-establishment of their
traditional value systems and languages. For               While these activities may be initially viewed as
Ojibwe communities specifically, there are a               culturally-appropriate, the healing process of the
number of health promotion programs that apply             human is clearly prioritised over that of the horse.
the Seven Sacred Teachings (niizhwaaswi                    In order for a reciprocal healing process to take
aanike’iniwendiwin; Bouchard & Martin, 2009),              place, teachings must be equally relevant and
namely, Humility (dibaadendizowin), Honesty                beneficial to human and horse. In addition, the
(gwayakowaadiziwin), Respect (manaaji’iwewin),             horse is often removed from its natural
Courage (zoongide’ewin), Wisdom (nibwaakaawin),            environment during these constructed activities.
Trust (debwewin), and Love (zaagi’idiwin). These           On the contrary, healing may increase
community-based teachings must be learned                  exponentially among First Nations youth when
through a subjective, experiential process during          the objective of these interactions is exclusively
the life course, often with the guidance of a              the human-horse relationship; traditional
traditional Elder. Because the Lac La Croix                teachings (e.g., Respect and Trust) will naturally
Indigenous Ponies are Ojibwe horses11, they are            flow from the relationship building process since
inherently equipped to facilitate these culturally-        First Nations worldviews are inherently
specific      understandings      through       their      relational. Since interactions between Lac La
interactions with First Nations youth. From an             Croix Indigenous Ponies and humans have
Indigenous perspective, the Lac La Croix                   tended to be negative following colonisation,
Indigenous Ponies, as a non-human relative,                First Nations youth must learn to listen to the
would have acquired these traditional teachings            horse and earn the right to be invited into the
as a result of living with the peoples of Bois Forte       horse’s world through genuine acts of kindness.
Band of Chippewa and Lac La Croix First Nation             Like traditional storytelling (Archibald, 2008), the
for thousands of years. Consequently, the ponies           teachings derived from the interaction will be co-
are in a particularly competent position to co-            constructed by the individual youth and horse,

11All Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies have Ojibwe or Cree   language revitalisation through their interactions with First
names (e.g., Maanomin [Wild Rice], Wanuskewin [Being at    Nations youth.
Peace with Oneself]), which serves to further support

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Volume 1 | Issue 2 | Article 6 – Snowshoe & Starblanket

rather than dictated a priori and generalised                  horse and the foundation of First Nations
across circumstances. Specifically, First Nations              spirituality, more generally. Today, there are only
youth should be provided with the opportunity                  a handful of Nations (comprising of mostly Cree
to learn about their community’s traditional value             and some Nakota communities) who conduct
system and subsequently decide which teaching                  horse dance ceremony in the Great Plains of
the horse offered to them and what they gave                   Canada (Lawrence, 1998). There are a number of
back to the horse during their relationship-                   sacred rituals and songs that speak to the spirit of
building process.                                              the horse surrounding the horse dance
                                                               ceremony12. The horse is said to carry medicine
The Seeing Blanket: Being Spiritually-                         (i.e., more-than-human person healing properties)
Grounded                                                       on its four legs and the trail on which the horse
Perhaps the most missing element of any                        ridden around the constructed lodge during the
culturally-adapted equine-assisted program for                 horse dance ceremony is referred to the medicine
First Nations youth (and any health promotion                  trail. People attending the ceremony bring
program for that matter) is the most fundamental               ribbons as offerings requesting prayer for loved
one of all, that is, a connection to the spirit world          ones who are ill or require spiritual assistance,
(see the outermost layer from the centre of Figure             which are hung on a tree (a sacred symbol of life
4). Historically, the horse was understood by                  for human beings) in front of the lodge. During
many First Nations peoples to be “a gift from the              the ceremonial proceedings, each horse receives
Creator that served as a spiritual companion and               a song on a traditional drum. During the honour
an amplifier for powerful healing energy” (Collin,             beat of the song (a particular point in the song
2014, p. 5; Lawrence, 1998). According to                      when a spiritual entity is being honoured), the
Hallowell’s (2002) work with the Northern                      horses are stopped and their riders dismount to
Ojibwe, horses would fall into the category of                 dance and tell out to the Creator. Often, the
more-than-human “persons” which is “not only                   horses who are most spiritual attuned will dance
applie[s] to human persons but to spiritual beings             to the beat. Once every horse has received a song,
who are persons of a category other than                       the ceremony helpers hand out the ribbons to the
human... without any distinction between human                 people who then walk on the medicine trail with
persons and those of an other-than-human class”                their ribbons while engaging in prayer to the
and thus are “functionally and terminologically                Creator.
equivalent in certain respects” (Hallowell, 2002,
p. 21). Hallowell (2002) exemplified the                       Ceremonies involving horses are ways in which
importance of more-than-human “persons” by                     understandings of the self and our relation to the
explaining that they “are sources of power to                  world (especially the spirit world) can occur. In
humans through the ‘blessings’ they bestow, i.e.,              addition, the horse spirit may be invited into non-
a sharing of their power which enhances the                    horse-based ceremonies in situations where this
‘power’ of human beings” (p. 21).                              is required and appropriate for healing, as
                                                               indicated by a traditional Elder. For example, the
The potential for horses to assume healing                     sweat lodge ceremony, the naming ceremony,
properties    exists    only     under      special            fasting and vision quests, and dreams involving
circumstances. Traditional Elders and knowledge                the horse are ways in which an Indigenous person
keepers who understand the sacredness of the                   can closely connect with the spirit world and
horse-human relationship, and have been given                  learn from what they experience and discover.
the proper protocols, have the ability to abet such            For example, Ojibwe peoples are dream-
circumstances using a variety of ceremonial                    conscious people; there is no discrimination
methods that including horse song and horse                    between the experiences of the self when awake
medicine. For example, the horse dance                         and when dreaming because both experiences are
ceremony embodies the spiritual capacities of the              equally self-related (Hallowell, 2002). This self-

12 Only information regarding the horse dance ceremony
deemed culturally-appropriate by a traditional Elder will be
discussed here in order to protect the sacredness of this
information.

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Published by Te Rau Matatini, 2016

related experience of the most personal kind                  My nephew was one of the youth who came here,
includes what is seen, heard, and felt in dreams.             one of the teens, who came to meet the horses.
Such experiences are often considered of more                 He said his name was Misko-gaabo. And he said, in
vital importance than events in daily waking life             the dream when he was given his name by one of
                                                              our Elders, that they dreamt something about a
because it is in dreams that the individual comes
                                                              red pony. While he was telling us this... just at that
into direct communication with the powerful                   moment, a red [Lac La Croix Indigenous] pony
persons of the other-than-human kind (Hallowell,              ran out of the barn. And that was the pony that
2002). These dream visitors interact with the                 they couldn’t think of a name for, and it was a red
dreamer much as human persons do. It is in the                pony just like my nephew’s name. (LeGarde &
context of these face-to-face interactions of the self        Woods, 2014)
and more-than-human persons that one receives
important revelations that are a source of                Such horse-based spiritual experiences and
guidance and healing in daily life and gifts that         ceremonies need to be accessible to First Nations
enable the individual to exercise exceptional             youth as a cultural revitalising healing
abilities of various kinds (Hallowell, 2002). With        opportunity. Though all horses are considered
the knowledge, protocol and preparation, and              sacred beings, the Lac La Croix Indigenous
guidance from a traditional Elder, a direct               Ponies are particularly suitable to engage in
channel of social interaction (often referred to as       ceremony with First Nations youth due to their
doorways) can occur between humans and horses.            untamed spiritual connection that has resulted in
These experiences are considered to be more vital         their relative isolation from colonialist society.
than any other personal experience encountered
in one’s life because it is through ceremonies and          Summary and Implications
encounters with the spirit world (that parallels the      Utilising the Four Blankets of Indigenous Horse-
physical world) that one is able to connect not           Based Healing framework, a culturally-
only with the spiritual self, but all aspects of the      responsive, mutual healing relationship can be re-
self and its relations to all else (refer to Figure 4).   established between First Nation youth and the
First Nations youth are in a particularly important       critically endangered Lac La Croix Indigenous
position to help the Lac La Croix Indigenous              Pony. For the peoples of Bois Forte Band of
Pony in their reconnection to the spirit world. In        Chippewa and Lac La Croix First Nation
turn, the ponies will do the same for First Nations       specifically, the protection, promotion, and
youth. The Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies are             preservation of the Lac La Croix Indigenous
particularly adept for healing work because they          Pony “marks a reclaiming of what was once the
have a long-standing historical relationship with         way of their grandparents and great-
(a) Ojibwe peoples, and (b) other other-than-human        grandparents” (LeGarde & Woods, 2014).
persons (e.g., the Creator). As such, these ponies        Though the future of the Lac La Croix
are in a unique position to act as messengers             Indigenous Pony breed is still in danger, their
between the physical and spirit worlds. Larry             original caretakers have made it clear that they
Aiken acknowledged this spiritual relationship            will continue to fight for this important piece of
with the Lac La Croix Indigenous Ponies when              their culture. Speaking on behalf of his
he regressed from his interview to explain, “I put        community, Donald Chosa Jr. reiterated,
tobacco down for all conversations and all our            “Hopefully, at some point, we can find some
spiritual connections with these ponies”                  funding and repatriate our horses, our ponies,
(Kleffman, 2013). Furthermore, like all First             because they belong with us. And I think there is
Nations peoples, each Lac La Croix Indigenous             a spiritual connection there” (LeGarde & Woods,
Pony has its own gift or special ability to connect       2014).
the physical world with the spirit world. Donald          Without the survival of the Lac La Croix
Chosa Jr. shared a spiritual experience that he           Indigenous Pony, the Indigenous Horse-Based
witnessed between one of the Lac La Croix                 Healing framework will also cease to exist. As
Indigenous Ponies and a First Nations youth               such, there is urgency for the development and
during a social interaction between physical and          prioritisation of sustainable conservation strategy
spirit worlds:                                            for the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony to prevent

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Volume 1 | Issue 2 | Article 6 – Snowshoe & Starblanket

the further erosion of the genetic pool and               healing can take place. Each blanket should serve
extinction of the breed. Environmental                    as a guide and must be tailored to align with the
sustainability and natural resource management            unique histories, strengths, needs, and
programs must identify the diversity and                  worldviews of the communities of interest from
productivity of the Lac La Croix Indigenous               the perspective of the communities themselves.
Pony as a priority. Special attention must be given       By positioning the Lac La Croix Indigenous Pony
to the impact to Indigenous peoples and their             as a foundational component of the Indigenous
land-based relationships, a perspective that              Horse-Based Healing process, existing and new
requires a paradigm shift that moves from power-          equine-assisted programs can be decolonised and
based hierarchies with “humans on top”                    adapted for cultural relevance. We hope that this
(Castricano, 2008, p. 17) towards an “authentic           framework will be viewed as the first step in
shared space” built upon a reciprocal, relational         helping reconnect the relationship between First
ontology and ethical stewardship between                  Nations youth their Lac La Croix Indigenous
humans and the natural world (Fox & McLean,               Ponies so that they may join forces and work
2008, p. 158; Matamonasa-Bennett, 2015).                  together as equal partners in reframing,
                                                          reclaiming, and renaming their shared First
In addition to species conservation, the Lac La           Nations culture for generations to come.
Croix Indigenous Pony and the Four Blankets of
Indigenous Horse-Based Healing framework
aligns with need for cultural preservation                                 References
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Croix Indigenous Pony can be developed and                In Bois Forte News (p.10). Retrieved from
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