Horse Capture for Glory; Horse Thievery for Profit
Horse Capture for Glory; Horse Thievery for Profit
Or, A Short History of Fleet Equines in the American West
by Michael Bugenstein
8½” x 11”, 96 pages, softcover perfect bound
ISBN: 978-1-59152-319-2
$22.95
The underground history of horse thievery and cowboys in the Wild West
Ever since their reintroduction in the 1500s, horses have had a profound influence on the cultures of the American West. Brought by the Spaniards, they slowly penetrated the frontier as a part of periodic explorations and conquests. After the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, Natives acquired horses for their own people, and over the course of nearly a century equines were dispersed among the tribes by fair means or foul.
American pioneers altered this dynamic. Horses were valuable to them as well, and relations between them and the tribes grew strained. Soon after, outlaw horse thievery emerged as a trade in its own right. Later this grew into lore and legend as part of Western novels and films.
This book examines the sequence as it plays out to the present day. The final chapter looks into the complexities of the current wild horse controversy affecting the American consciousness as part of its national identity. Also included is a short history of a fairly typical early Western ranch, and the book concludes with the use of a very valuable tool for research.
About the Author
Michael Bugenstein has produced a series of Montana county historical maps, maps of the Historical Crow Nation and Astorian Expeditions, the Upper Missouri River Corridor, northern Montana tribal movements and migrations sourced from 1877-1882 newspaper reports, a pre-1900 replica brand book of the North Dakota Badlands, BNSF Railway station maps, and an Operations Map of the Kalfell Ranch, among many other projects. He recently retired as a conductor for BNSF Railway and lives in Glendive, Montana. He is also the author of the new classic Since the Days of the Buffalo: A History of Eastern Montana and the Kalfell Ranch.
