Home » Museum Minute: Beadwork on a Horse Mask Shows Bond Between Blackfeet Owner and Animal

Museum Minute: Beadwork on a Horse Mask Shows Bond Between Blackfeet Owner and Animal

Museum Minute: Beadwork on a Horse Mask Shows Bond Between Blackfeet Owner and Animal

A Museum Minute

By Olivia Weitz
Wyoming Public Media
June 12, 2025

A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a museum object from the collection of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Heather Bender is the native education outreach specialist in the education department at the Center of the West. She said a Blackfeet artist hand sewed thousands of seed beads on a buffalo hide to make a face covering for a horse. The beads are called that because of their small size.

“ It’s incredible attention to detail, incredible artistry, and every one of these beads needs to be affixed in a manner that allows for longevity,” Bender said. “There’s a lot of intentionality in creating a piece that will withstand the tests of time. And we can see that in this piece.” The horse mask she’s referencing in the Plains Indian Museum dates back to 1875.

“ It’s like any of us. We wanna bling ourselves out. And how many of us have a cat or a dog that we get a little coat for or a special collar for, right? It’s human nature. We love our pets,” she said. “And in an Indigenous community, this kind of regalia on a horse indicates the strong bond between the owner and that animal.” A label about the object says that horses that were trained for warfare or finding bison were often highly decorated in the Blackfeet culture.

Written By

Olivia Weitz avatar

Olivia Weitz

Olivia Weitz is a Multimedia Journalist for Wyoming Public Radio. She works out of a recording studio inside the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. She covers Yellowstone National Park, wildlife, and arts and culture throughout the region. She produces the “Museum Minute” series, which features objects from the Center of the West’s collections.

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