Before we continue with the story of the horse, one of the main protagonists in my American Old West life, I have to say that already by mid April 2012, during a regression, information about the place where I lived started coming to me. It is true we are very influenced by movies and many names of the American states are familiar to us and they would not be too hard to deduce, but even so we will see there were some «coincidences» quite surprising along the research, keeping in mind that my knowledge about the states of the United States is quite scarce, and I would be incapable of placing most of them on a map.
In particular, these words in English started coming to me: «white plains», «great plains», «springs», sometimes preceded by «palm», and also that we were in Colorado. It also stood out «the Grand Canyon» (as it is). When I say «they started coming to me» I mean it is as if they are floating in my mind while I am on the regression, I don’t make any kind of effort from my part to remember.
I had also begun to identify the members of my family. My mother died when I was small. My father was a veteran of the Civil War. I had an elder brother (Robert, who plays an essential role in the relationship with Johnson), a sister a bit younger than me (Alice) and a younger brother (Jamie). I will speak of them more deeply further on.
«I was trying to saddle the Indians’ horse (I see it very clearly, with his white spots, he is beautiful), but he won’t let me as he’s not used to it. He rears and it is hard to calm him down. My blonde friend might be near, it’s possible he says I was a fool robbing it, if ultimately I can’t use him. I think I have a younger brother (not older than ten), to whom I shout to help me. Later on, I don’t see where I am, but I think I’ve gone to the country on my own. Suddenly I bump into an Indian (and I think there are more in the surroundings), and I feel a lot of fear. The Indian has a very fierce face, with his head shaved and a crest in the middle of the skull, and I’d say he has half of his face painted blue (the eyes), and the other half red. I make the mistake of turning around and breaking into a run. I think it is then when they kill me, but I didn’t see it.
(Regression 21-3-2012).
«When Weiss told me to go and see my childhood, I used the old trick of seeing my childhood, but of a past life. First, I couldn’t see much around me, but I was trying to climb a wooden fence. I must be around nine or ten. I’m wearing comfortable clothes and a hat. At the beginning it seemed to me it was the ranch, but then I knew it wasn’t, the fence was in the town and it was the typical American rodeo. There were a lot of people, mainly youths crowding around, and those who were going to ride the bull, which was enclosed in a narrow place with wooden planks, with enough room for the lad sitting on it. There was a lot of expectation, and I also noticed Alice had come with us, though she didn’t like it too much. What I saw more clearly was how I climbed the fence, the touch of the wood, of a fair colour, with splinters.
Then I was having a walk around the town, probably barefoot, the same clothes, with my hands in the pockets. I have a small knife, and I pass beside a boy of my same age sitting on some stairs and looking at me in a defiant way. He’s dark-haired and has dark skin, thick hair. I say something to him, though I don’t remember what, in a somewhat thuggish way, but I know we become friends, and I show him the wooden small figures I make with my knife (it is curious but this reminded me of Roderic, who also liked working with wood). Apart from these small figures, that are like stick figures with arms and legs, I also have one of these poles with a horse head I run with, a quite ridiculous toy, but we have some fun with it.
Then I went forward in time, and I wanted to see how we stole the horse. I saw myself with Johnson and other youths in town, simply standing and talking. I wasn’t very sure if Robert was still alive, so I tried to see him more clearly, and yes, Robert was there. We saw two Indians arriving to the town, wearing Indians clothes with fringes, but they don’t have the fierce aspect of the others, they have long hair and plumes. They seem a bit disoriented, we look at them with curiosity, wondering what they are doing here… They bring a beatiful horse with white and brown spots. Johnson starts making contemptuous remarks. At a certain point the word Arapahoe comes to me, as if they belonged to that tribe, I have no idea if I have made it up. Clearly they are not the ones that cause us problems. Johnson gets annoyed because they roam freely in the town without apparently fearing anyone, it seems he thinks that shouldn’t be so. They go into a canteen or perhaps an inn, and leave the horse out. Someone thinks about giving them what they deserve, someone comes up with the idea of robbing them the horse, but we won’t do it now at the sight of all the town. Johnson says he will watch them and then we’ll plan something. But the thing stops here and at first it just seems a bad idea.
At night I see myself getting up in silence and furtively going out through a window. I know Robert decided not to come with us. The rest (I see at least one more apart from Johnson, but there could be more) go to the inn, it is night time, we get into the stables, and they decide I go in and cut the rope that ties the horse. I do it very cautiously, being very careful so that he doesn’t get nervous. And then they draw him with some food. It is a very easy task and we all three or four are soon running across the country, feeling the tension of the moment and wanting to laugh for what we’ve just done. We laugh at their faces when they discover it the next day, we laugh thinking they won’t dare saying anything (at this very moment comes to me they won’t dare because they might end up hanged, as a few I have seen). Even if they dared, Johnson is the judge’s son, so with his word it would be enough to sentence them for anything he came up with...
After the moschief each of us returns home and it seems Johnson has no intention to keep the horse. He's thinking about letting him loose. I ask him if he’s sure, and the other boy tells me it’s clear I like the horse very much and suggests I keep him myself. They tell me not to worry, we always can say he escaped and we found it wandering in the mountain, they lost it and now he’s mine. He doesn’t have to insist much. So I come back home with the horse, I call him Squish, and I love him, he’s precious.
[The name of the horse had already come to me in another regression, I didn’t know how to write it, Squeeze or Squish, but this latter word means «splash» and it fits better for me.]
At the following day I take my time getting up, but they have already discovered the horse (he’s alongside Robert’s chesnut). Robert asks, «So did you finally do it?», almost without believing it. Alice doesn’t like it a lot, but my dad comes and starts laughing and says to me «Good job», and I think about mounting Jamie on him (he must be around ten), and my dad says I first have to tame him and get him used to the saddle, otherwise it could be dangerous for Jamie, and I reply I will do that.
The truth is that deep inside I feel a bit of remorse, I think the Indians won’t like at all discovering about the horse, and I even consider the possibility of giving him back. I’m also a bit scared they could decide to take revenge, though I see it unlikely. So I repeat what my mates said, that in reality it’s as if I found him in the mountains, it’s mine by right. I think I had him for several years.
And certainly the adventure was so much fun...
(Regression 9-10-2023).
Arapaho Indians.
«There is no direct historical or archaeological evidence to suggest how and when Arapaho bands entered the Great Plains. The Arapaho Indian tribe most likely lived in Minnesota and North Dakota before entering the Plains. Before European expansion into the area, the Arapahos were living in South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas. They lived in tipis which the women made from bison hide. Before they were sent to reservations, they migrated often chasing herds, so they had to design their tipis so that they could be transported easily. It is said that a whole village could pack up their homes and belongings and be ready to leave in only an hour. In winter the tribe split up into camps sheltered in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in present-day Colorado. In late spring they moved out onto the Plains into large camps to hunt buffalo gathering for the birthing season. In mid-summer Arapahos traveled into the Parks region of Colorado to hunt mountain herds, returning onto the Plains in late summer to autumn for ceremonies and for collective hunts of herds gathering for the rutting season.
They originally used dogs to pull travois with their belongings on them. When the Europeans came to North America, the Arapaho saw the Europeans' horses and realized that they could travel quicker and further with horses instead of dogs. They raided other Indian tribes, primarily the Pawnee and Comanche, to get the horses they needed.
[It seems this thing of stealing horses was un usual custom in those times 😂.]
Later on, they became great traders and often sold furs to other tribes and non-Indians. The name "Arapaho" might have come from the Pawnee word for "traders".
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Arapaho