Just Yesterday?

We've got the buffalo, but could we ever train the ponies to do that again?

The buffalo ponies were among the most highly trained and most valuable horse owned by the Plains Indians or anybody else for that matter. They were bred for one thing, they only had one job, one reason to be, and that was to run the buffalo. The following excerpt is from the autobiography of Buffalo Bill Cody, describing how he ran a small herd of buffalo and shot them at Hayes, Kansas in 1867. The pony he was riding was an indian trained buffalo pony that he had acquired and named Brigham.

"I took the harness from Brigham, mounted him bareback and started … The herd came rushing up past me, not a hundred yards distant… I pulled the blind bridle from Brigham, who knew as well as I did what was expected of him … The moment he was free of the bridle he set out at top speed… (Both of my hands were free to use my rifle) In a few jumps he brought me along side the rear buffalo. I killed the animal with one shot. Brigham (took me on) to the next buffalo, ten feet farther along, and another was disposed of. As fast as one animal would fall, Brigham would pass to the next, getting so close that I could almost touch it with my gun. In this fashion I killed eleven buffalo with twelve shots. As the last one dropped my horse stopped(on his own) and I jumped to the ground."