Tom Norton

Buffalo Ponees Tom Norton

This historic fiction story takes place during a time when North America was as it had been for thousands of years with one exception, the introduction of the horse to North America from Europe. From what history is known of the Native American culture, habits, resources and the varying landscapes they lived in, one can as conjecture reverse engineer the association between horses and the American Indian. An integral part of this is also the habits and characteristics of horses. To Native Americans, the first sighting of a horse was dramatic and their first impression was that the horse was a giant dog. For this reason the name God Dog was commonly used. The resounding question is; how did horses get from Latin America to South Dakota? This story is a simple, but also complicated story that takes place in a few years and trying to condense what actually took place during the approximate period of 1620 to 1750. The story begins with a tragedy and two young Native American boys who had never heard of a horse or even imagined any animal a Native American could ride.