ht.: 88.3 cm (including fringes of end beaded strips);
w.: 74.3 cm (including beaded strips)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Zeisler, 1959.631
Spanish explorers introduced horses to North America in the seventeenth century. The horse quickly became an important part of the culture of Great Plains Indians, who honored the animal with decorations, such as this saddle blanket. The painting in the center shows a rider wearing a long headdress which indicates that he may have been a chief or some other person very important to his people.
