Exhibition Opening: Hoof Beats

New exhibition explores how the partnership between people and horses shaped societies around the world

By: Lauren Mahoney

Artist Lewis TallBull painted a buffalo robe that tells the painful story of the Battle of Summit Springs and the central role that horses have played in the story of Cheyenne people and his own family’s history.

For thousands of years, horses have influenced how people move, communicate, trade, wage war, and build communities. A new exhibition at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History explores the extraordinary partnership between people and horses, and how that relationship helped transform the world we live in today.

Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History, now open at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, brings together archaeological research, museum collections, artwork, photography, and community perspectives from horse cultures around the world.听

Curated by 麻豆免费版下载Boulder Anthropologist and Museum Curator Dr. William Taylor, the exhibition draws on years of research documenting the history of horses and their relationships with people. Taylor鈥檚 work has taken him from the Great Plains to the Eurasian steppes and beyond. Studying ancient objects, ancient horses, and living horse cultures has helped reveal how this relationship developed and changed over thousands of years.

鈥Hoof Beats assembles objects and stories that explore how this unique partnership came to be鈥攈ighlighting the people, animals, technology and culture that have left lasting impacts in the world around us,鈥 Taylor writes in the exhibition鈥檚 curator鈥檚 note.

First Gentleman Marlon Reis welcomes attendees to the exhibition.

The story begins long before horse domestication, when wild horses appeared prominently in Ice Age art and were part of human lifeways around the world. From there, visitors trace key innovations that transformed the human-horse relationship.听 Domestication and technologies like the wheel, bridle, saddle, and stirrup helped make new forms of transportation possible and contributed to profound political, economic and cultural changes across the world.

The exhibition highlights contemporary cultural collections, archaeological finds, and never-before-seen replicas illustrating key technologies used to ride and care for horses, alongside items that document human-horse interactions. Featured objects include an expert-made replica of the first bridle and spoked wheel, ancient Chinese bronzes and terracotta horse, Nigerian stirrups, an Arapaho saddle blanket, a Navajo weaving, a Mongolian horse-head fiddle, horse gear from commemorative rides along the route of the Pony Express, a Lakota buffalo horn horse mask, and a painted buffalo robe by artist Lewis TallBull.听

Throughout the exhibition, visitors can listen to recorded perspectives of researchers, cultural specialists, artists and community members whose experiences illuminate different dimensions of the horse-human relationship. Large-scale photography from award-winning photographer Scott Wilson and others place horses and the landscapes they inhabit at the center of the visitor experience.听

The event featured a performance of Mongolian horse-head fiddle music by Denver's Ajnai Ensemble.

The exhibition arrives at a particularly fitting moment: 2026 is the Year of the Horse in the Asian zodiac. The exhibition opened with a reception bringing together researchers, artists, Indigenous and community partners, university leaders and exhibition contributors. The evening included remarks from First Gentleman and wildlife advocate Marlon Reis, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder Provost Dr. Ann Stevens, Museum Director Dr. Nancy J. Stevens, followed by Taylor, a performance of Mongolian horse-head fiddle music by Denver's Ajnai Ensemble, and presentation of Lewis TallBull's painted buffalo robe.听

鈥淭he collaborative nature of this exhibition shows what university museums can do best: bring together people from different fields and communities to share exciting research, exchange knowledge and explore ideas that can shape our future,鈥 observes Museum Institute Director, Nancy J. Stevens.

Hoof Beats will serve as the foundation for continued museum programming throughout the year ahead, highlighting research, objects, contributors and perspectives represented in the exhibition through public programs, digital storytelling and community partnerships.

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Visit

Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History is on view at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History in Boulder, Colorado.

Museum hours:
Tuesday鈥揝unday, 10 a.m.鈥4 p.m.
Thursday, open until 7 p.m.
Admission is free!