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SCMP Reporter

ONE animal revolutionised the history of America - the horse.

  Neither the conquistador nor the cowboy could have tamed the West without it and now a new exhibition in Los Angeles reveals the vital role it played in more than five centuries of the country's history.

  'Thundering Hooves', a dramatic tribute to the horse at the Gene Autry Museum, highlights the changes the horse - and its riders - brought to American culture.

  The exhibition features riding equipment, videos, models and ancient artifacts, many of which have not been on public display before.

  'Thundering Hooves examines the effect of the horse on the exploration and settlement of America,' said Mark Lane, the exhibition organiser.

    'For citizens of the south-western United States and northern Mexico, the exhibition explores a significant element of their cultural heritage.

  'The fascinating story of the four-horse cultures that developed following the European encounter with the Americas is a story that deserves re-telling from a new perspective.'   The true relationship between horse and man was, in fact, far from the romantic picture immortalised in westerns like The Lone Ranger and Shane. In truth, the horse not only pre-dated the cowboy but was a tool of war and often crippling labour.

  The Spaniards are generally credited with bringing the horse to America in the 16th century, using it to hasten their violent invasion of Latin America and what became the American southwest.

  Fronting the exhibition are four life-sized models of horses, complete with riders and equestrian equipment. The most dramatic is the conquistador, a towering figure of a light cavalryman in full chain-mail armour and helmet with gauntlets, a shield and a lance.

  The exhibition explains how the traditions of the Spanish caballeros (equestrians) were advanced through conquest and colonisation in New Spain between 1519 and 1650.

  Among the exhibits are three saddles, including one embroidered with silver and linen thread, made about 1600.

  Following the conquistadors, the Mexican vaqueros and Franciscan missionaries continued to use the horse to develop a ranching and trading economy in the southwest between 1650 and 1850.

  The exhibition interestingly notes that the Comanches and other plains Indians actually obtained horses and learned to ride from the vaqueros.

   Far from being simple savages, the Indians quickly developed an equestrian culture that enabled them to control the plains of North America from 1700 to around 1880.

  Reminders of the cowboy culture, at its peak between 1850 and 1900, are also included in the exhibition.

      There is a turn-of-the-century angora hat and a horse trader's cane - complete with concealed tape measure.

  A final section of the exhibition deals with myth and reality and commemorates the phenomenon of the cowboy culture with the elaborate stage costume from Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show, trick ropes and a rifle used for sharp-shooting.

  There is also a selection of toys dating to 1910 which feature Buffalo Bill, an Indian and a buckaroo.

  'Thundering Hooves', one of the more fascinating diversions to be found in Los Angeles, closes with a 12-minute film examining how the traditions of the horse culture are kept alive to this day.



Exhibition shows how West was won with help from the horse