‍ ‍The Lakota called the horse Šúŋkawakȟáŋ. It means "holy dog" or "mysterious dog". To the people, the horse was not property. It was a relative. It had a sharp mind and could feel love or hate or trauma.

The blue roan was the best. It had a mix of black and grey and white hairs that looked like the color of a storm. The people said these horses came from the West, which is the direction of the Wakíŋyaŋ, the thunder beings. They called the blue roan a "thunder horse". It carried the power of the thunder and the lightning.

A warrior wanted a blue roan for his war pony. The black color meant war, the grey meant the storm, and the white meant light. Together, these colors made a shield for the horse and the man. It was powerful medicine. Sitting Bull favored them.

When a horse fell in battle, the owner carved a stick to look like his head and hooves. He used the horse's own hair for the tail. They believed the spirit of the horse stayed with the warrior to give him strength. The horses are sacred relatives, and they are teachers of humility and bravery.

These mares, these wild coyote-smart spirit horses are what he brought back to meet the spotted strength of the appaloosa stallions.

This merging of bloodlines—the hardy, reservation-tough genetics of the north blending with the versatile lines of the south—to produce a working stock that bore the lineage of massacres and the endurance of the earth itself, animals destined for the dance of the cutting pen or the bright, glare of the show ring.