Wild Horses: Throwing the Lasso

  • The picture that Miller painted for Alexander Brown of Liverpool about 1867 is quite similar to the one that he produced for the Walters commission. He noted in the caption for the Walters commission, but did not illustrate, another method of capturing wild horses that the Indians sometimes used—“creasing with the rifle.” “[T]he object is to lodge the ball at the junction of the mane with the neck,” he explained. “[I]f this is attained, the horse is knocked down, and only stunned, is secured and broken.

    “This requires of course, a good marksman, or in the Vernacular, one who shoots ‘Center.’”  (Ross, 1968, text accompanying plate 80) “If the aim is a little too high the ball is thrown away, if too low it kills the horse.” (Bell, 1973, p. 38)

    Ron Tyler

    Artist
    Alfred Jacob Miller
    Date
    1867
    Catalogue Number
    443B
    Medium
    Watercolor, gouache, and pen and ink over pencil on paper
    Inscriptions

    LR: AJMiller. LR on mat: No.7. / Shoshonie [sic] Woman, / Throwing the Lasso’

    Dimensions
    8 7/8 x 11 5/8 (22.8 x 29.4 cm)
    Accession Number
    1946-114-1
    Subjects
    Indians, Wild Horses

    The artist; Alexander Brown, Liverpool, England, 1867; by descent to Mrs. J.B. Jardine, Chesterknowes, Scotland; present owner