Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 49 



bled the English Shepherd. It was fattened for the pot by being fed 

 camp garbage. 



Occasionally coyote pups were raised as pets. Crows were also 

 tamed according to PLC. JLiR told a story in which a Heyoka bird, 

 identified as a "kind of hawk," the pet of a Ponca family, saved their 

 lives when they were attacked by enemies. This type of bird was 

 named after the Dakota-inspired clown cult of the Ponca, as the bird's 

 appearance was similar to that of the clowns. 



By the early 19th century the Ponca had acquired horses, mules, 

 and donkeys from the "V'\^ites but not, apparently, cows, sheep, goats, 

 or swine. James (1909, vol. 15, pp. 78-79) writes that "horses, mules, 

 asses, and dogs" were the only domesticated animals possessed by the 

 Missouri tribes at the time he was writing (1819-20). Fletcher and 

 La Flesche (1911, pp. 77-80) cite Ponca traditions that horses were 

 originally obtained from the Padouca, whom they identify as Co- 

 manche. Several of my informants confirmed this, though LMD 

 stated that the Pddnka or Padouca were Shoshone rather than Co- 

 manche. PLC insisted, however, that the Ponca had obtained their 

 first horses from the Teton Dakota when the tribes met at a spot east 

 of the Black Hills in what is now South Dakota. 



Horses were higlily valued by the Ponca. They were herded near 

 the village by boys of the tribe. At night a man sometimes picketed 

 his best stock, his war and hunting ponies, near his lodge. In summer 

 they grazed daily on the rich prairie grass and in winter they were 

 kept in the river-bottom timber where they could browse on willow 

 and Cottonwood boughs and rushes. The Ponca horseherds were main- 

 tained through natural increase, by stealing or buying stock from 

 neighboring tribes, and, rarely, by introducing horses captured from 

 wild herds. Usually wild horses were avoided, as they were generally 

 "jugheads" or deformed or stunted in some fashion. Horses were 

 broken to riding by having a small boy mount them in about 3 feet of 

 water. The muddy footing and the water made bucking more dif- 

 ficult and even if the boy was bucked off he would not be hurt. Some- 

 times, if a horse was unusually wild, it was weakened beforehand 

 by being starved (PLC). 



Mules were valued equally with horses for use in the bison hunt 

 and as "parade" anunals. One Ponca story tells of a man whose 

 horses were shot with arrows by jealous neighbors just before a bison 

 hunt, but who managed to kill his quota of bison though he was 

 mounted on a mule. 



Ponca saddles were of the high "Spanish" type. The frame was 

 of cut and steamed elk antler sewn in rawhide. Occasionally elm- 

 wood frames were used (Gilmore, 1919, p. 75) . Stirrups were of bent 

 wood sewn in rawhide, and saddles were padded with a piece of 



