An expansive view, unchanged for generations. Harsh winters, marked by grasslands, prairies, and small communities of isolated humanity. These lands of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation mark the southern boundary in South Dakota, where an estimated 18,000 members of the Ogalala Sioux live today.
This is a Horse Nation. For generations, the horses here have provided survival, a warrior’s steed, for counting coup, the ability to move quickly and over great distances, companionship. They are the essence of the Lakota’s outlook on life and Spirit. The two are entwined through history, tradition, lore, and identity. Almost an unspoken truth: that there cannot be one without the other.
The necessity of this relationship between the Lakota and horse – and its potential as a way to aid youth at Pine Ridge – came in a vision to Nate Bressler at the Og Nation Fair in August 2018, held at a place to the northwest of Pine Ridge, called “Wakpamni”. From this shared vision came a new program which Nate founded that same year with the aid of Lakota Elders, and a local rancher, Stan Brewer (who later became the program’s Riding Arena Coordinator). Called “Sage-to-Saddle” it provided new opportunities for youth tribal members ages 8 to 18 to become new riders of horses.
The horses are all raised and cared for at Pine Ridge, with instructors who are also Lakota and include members who finished the program into adulthood and have returned to teach new riders how to care for, ride, and train their own steeds. Today there are ten of these “wranglers” ranging in ages from 18-22, with a total of 200 riders (one of the largest groups so far). The program goes year-round, with new riders starting in the cold month of January, until the onset of the winter season once more in October.
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During the coldest months of January through March, Bressler’s team works and trains inside an arena, to protect both rider and animal. This offers a protection of another sort: as riders are able to bond at a young age with their horse, they develop a strong connection that works as a talisman against feelings of loneliness, depression, thoughts of self-harm. In this respect, the program serves as a beacon for the youngest of the Lakota, while the oldest benefit as well by imparting their knowledge, their wisdom, their experience at animal husbandry and natural riding.
Every youth starts in the saddle. Riders are taught to bareback ride, using only reins and a bridle; they also learn how to groom and feed and water a horse, how to guide a mount either solo riding or as part of a group ride on the trail. The windswept plains of their homelands provide ample room to roam, whether it be the youngest upon ponies, or full-sized horses that stand 15-hands tall for the older riders.
On a reservation the size of Rhode Island and Delaware live herds of horses ready to ride and large sections of tribal land. Combined with long, dark winters often averaging frigid temps and a youth population with a hereditary desire to bond with animals 10 times their size.
The Sage-to-Saddle Program has been a success in many ways. It reinforces the existing connection between the Lakota people and their lands, through a time-tested relationship with the horse as a constant guide. Over the past six years it has been in operation, the program has provided a steady means of employment to the instructors who lead and train each new generations of riders and become the largest private employer at Pine Ridge (the program is a non-profit organization, supported by charitable donations). Those who learn horsemanship skills, in turn have utilized these to gain employment outside of South Dakota as cowboys, ranchers, and competition riders.
Nate gives credit to each and every one of these men and women, who have dedicated their lives to helping the youth of their community celebrate their lives through the tradition of horse riding. This has not been an easy process, and one that has been marked by challenges of climate and isolation and funding, yet the fundamental purpose of Sage-to-Saddle has not changed:
Our goals are simple due to the factors at hand. On a reservation the size of Rhode Island and Delaware live herds of horses ready to ride and large sections of tribal land. Combined with long, dark winters often averaging frigid temps and a youth population with a hereditary desire to bond with animals 10 times their size.
The arena where the riders train and study in the winter months is currently a rented facility. That may change, as the program continues to grow and gain support among the community it serves. It is a process that takes time. But one of the primary goals has remained the same: “to get kids riding who have never ridden before, and get them back to their old ways.”
Words really don’t do a program like Sage-to-Saddle credit. You have to see the effects in person, to witness how the unspoken communication happens between a rider and horse. How the joy of leading the horse to water, or along a street, makes a simple act of transportation so much more. The respite that follows each ride endures for the lifetime of each rider.
“Wakpa” is translated from the Lakota as the word for a stream or a river. It also has a meaning that embodies the source of Life, or where Life begins. Concurrently the lands of the current Pine Ridge community are in an area known as the Badlands. The struggle to find one’s way through such a land requires a guide, even in the best of times. The Lakota know this, have known it for a long time: A horse can provide this service, this need, can find the trail in the dark or the stormiest of weather, and guide the rider to safety and Home.
My thanks to Nate Bressler for his assistance with this feature.
To learn more, please see the short video A Day In the Life on the SagetoSaddle website:
