Source (https://www.destinationontario.com/)

Ojibwe Spirit Horses are said to have roamed the traditional lands of Turtle Island (North America) for thousands of years before other horse breeds were introduced by Europeans.

Indigenous Peoples have enjoyed a harmonious spiritual and working relationship with Ojibwe Spirit Horses throughout their long shared history.

In the early 1900s, thousands of Ojibwe Spirit Horses could be found in Indigenous communities across Ontario.

However, colonizers viewed the horses as a nuisance for eating their crops and ruining their fields. Ojibwe Spirit Horses were hunted almost to extinction, and by the 1970s, there were just four mares left. These last four horses were deemed a health risk and ordered to be euthanized by the government.

A courageous group of Indigenous men rescued the horses under the cover of darkness and smuggled them over frozen lakes and across the border to a safe reserve in Minnesota. Eventually, they were bred with a Spanish mustang stallion.

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