Indian Land Tenure Foundation

On the Nez Perce Reservation, the Chief Joseph Foundation is implementing programs that seek to “meet the demands of the present through contact with the past.” The organization sponsors the Nez Perce Mounted Scholars program, which integrates the care and handling of Appaloosa horses into special in-school curriculum designed specifically for improving the academic performance of children who are not committed to their studies or not doing well in school.

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The strength of the program lies in the importance of the Appaloosa horse in Nez Perce culture and traditions. The Tribe was one of the very few to selectively breed horses in the Americas. The natural landscape of their traditional territory seemed to lend itself to this, with the canyons of the mountainous plateau providing natural enclosures in which to contain and selectively breed horses with traits needed in such an environment: sure-footedness, hard hoofs, easy temperament, intelligence, speed and stamina to travel over the 13 million acres of the Nez Perce aboriginal land base.

Well-adapted to the rugged terrain of what is now the intersection of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, the Appaloosa horse was integral to the Nez Perce way of life. The horses helped strengthen the Tribe’s ability to trade, provided security and advantages in warfare, and carried great cultural significance. The horses were also beautiful. As Lewis was to note when the Lewis and Clark expedition had been welcomed into Nez Perce territory in 1806, the horses were “an excellent race; they are lofty, elegantly formed, active and durable… and would make a figure in any country.” The horses were eventually named Appaloosas after a river near which they were bred.

Yet, as the Nez Perce were forcibly moved onto a piece of land fractured by the Dawes Act and 1/10th the size of what their original treaty had promised, there was no longer the space for the horses that once roamed by the thousands. Additionally, the horses were appropriated by the US Calvary, particularly as bands resisted the diminishment of the reservation. The horses used in Chief Joseph's 1,300 mile retreat from advancing US Calvary were taken and bred indiscriminately, resulting in the virtual extinction of the Appaloosa horse as a distinct breed.

Despite these traumatic events, members of the Nez Perce have begun to reintroduce the Appaloosa horse into their daily lives and that of their children in order to strengthen traditional tribal culture. The benefits of this increased cultural awareness have resulted in better academic performances, stronger self-esteem, and the acquisition of practical skills among the students involved in the Mounted Scholars program.

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