So how I want to begin this blog post is through something that happened to me over the weekend. I rode a horse to a ceremony that we filmed. Now I don't mean one of those "dude ranch" horses that I rode when I was 13 years old that I could kick countless times and it would still walk...This is a horse raised on the land of the Canupawakpa Dakota Nation reserve (Canadian term for reservation)...and let me tell you, these horses are ready to run...All started out fine when Gus who we went to visit asked me if I wanted to ride over to the ceremony. I felt honored, here I am an outsider being asked to ride with three "first nationers" (Canadian term for Native Americans) to a very important horse ceremony for their people on their reserve. I was excited, I had ridden horses before, not many but I felt confident I would be able to ride up to the ceremony and look like I knew what I was doing...So Gus hands me my horse a beautiful brown horse named "Spirit"...I was given the instructions that "Spirit" was a good horse and without hesitation I jumped on. I mean, I'd done this before, I just rode a horse this summer in the Hamptons and felt extremely comfortable why would this be any different. Foreshadowing much? So we take off literally across the plains with myself on Spirit, and Gus, Tyrone, and Kevin taking the lead. Now let me continue to say we're taking off across the plains, this is Canada in the dead of winter, snow is on the ground, a stray dog from the reserve is following us and the whole time I'm thinking this is pretty awesome. Our horses mainly walked for the beginning of the trip and an occasional trot was a a welcome change. But not too fast I thought, there's no trail, keep pulling back I thought, don't let this horse get away from you. The best example I can give of the difference between the "dude ranch" horse and one raised on a reserve is akin to going from driving a 4 door safe sedan to jumping
behind the wheel of a really nice 6 cyl sports car. Once you get behind that engine you can really feel the power of the vehicle. It was the same with this horse. Ok, so the ride continues, and all is well. The air is cold, I can see my breath and it really is an amazing scene one I'll always remember. Over the horizon I can hear the sound of a truck, I look to my left and it's a few of our friends with Silas riding in the back of an open pickup getting ready to film us as we're riding to the ceremony. This promises to be a pretty great shot as the light is perfect and the new camera we're working with does amazing things with slo motion...Riding past the truck are Gus, Tyrone, and Kevin with me in the rear. There's laughing and all is well, now here's where it gets interesting...Gus, Tyrone, Kevin, split the truck which leaves me behind the truck and to the left. I guide "Spirit" to the right directly behind the truck to get a good shot and then eventually reunite with the other riders, what ends up happening next was a complete shock...no sooner than Silas said "Mastrelli!!!" in a very this is awesome type way, did the truck hit the gas and to my surprise spooked my horse "Spirit". Now in case you're wondering, we do have that footage and let's just say it's hilarious. So, the horse gets spooked and basically takes off!!! Now the best analogy I can come up with for the distortion my face went in to takes us back to Chevy Chase in European vacation as him and his family are running away from the German hordes who are planning to kill them...My face was a cross between that and Jerry Lewis screaming "LADY,ahhh!!!, "Spirit" was kicking, bucking, twisting, trying to get me off...All I could hear through my panic was everyone screaming "Pull back, pull back", so in my best cowboy voice which I'm sure sounded more like Santa saying "Ho,Ho,Ho", I started pulling back and shouting "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!!!" and after a good 10 seconds (that's right I lasted more than 8 seconds) I was able to control the horse and bring him to a stand still. Kevin grabbed my horse and we quickly switched horses. I rode a different seemingly calmer horse up to the community center and although I was still excited to be a part of the ceremony, my confidence was shaken. We arrived to the center and tied the horses off. We then went on to bless the horses and the riders for a safe ride, sing songs, share stories of the Dakota Nation, (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota) and listened to Gus and the eldest tribe member Albert express their desires for their people moving forward. A really moving moment for me came when Gus' daughter Jesse got up toward the end of the afternoon and sang an amazing rendition of Mariah Carey's HERO. Her voice is beautiful and the lyrics took on completely new meaning for me. I felt tears welling up in my eyes and began if only for a second to be a part of the tribe. After a full day of singing, speeches, food, community and conversation, it was time to ride the horses back to the house. I was less than thrilled to get back on a horse. I didn't feel confident and thought it best if I took the car. It's funny though what happens when simply asked, did I want to ride?...My response, yes, so I literally got back on the horse. The ride back was fairly uneventful, I was now on Rudy, a much calmer horse and although I wasn't confident I did have moments where I really appreciated the beauty of the ride. We returned safely and it got me thinking. I've heard people tell me that phrase "When you get knocked off of the horse, get back on"...for my whole life. People say it so matter of fact that it's actually lost it's meaning. I wondered how many of those people who've told me and I include myself telling others, have ever ACTUALLY gotten kicked off of a horse. It's a completely different feeling. That was the closest I ever got to getting kicked off a horse and let me tell you it's a completely different feeling than anything I've ever felt. I wasn't sure I was going to be safe when I got back on. Everyone one of us has our own horses to fall off and I'm pretty sure they all feel intense when getting back on, we're not sure if we're going to be safe or not. For everyone who's ever felt that way, (which I hope is everyone at one point) I'll share what everyone at the dinner table that night shared with me. They said..."We'll it's not whether or not you're going to fall or get kicked off, when you're training wild horses that's bound to happen. You know you're going to get back on but the important part is HOW YOU FALL..." I thought about that really hard. It's about HOW YOU FALL, knowing that I'm going to fall and then just protecting myself the best way I could so that I could continue. I loved that, I felt it really empowering to hear after a day when the last thing I wanted to do was get back on a horse. We all had a good laugh about it, and although I didn't feel completely comfortable I wasn't hurt. I'll always remember it.
After the day we took a drive to Saskatchewan that night to participate in a round dance which is a community even with singing, dancing and amazingly enough Santa Claus. I never realized how much of a part Christianity played in the Native American community. It makes sense as missionaries continued to move west brought their religion into the native communities. Gus had given Silas and I white cowboy hats so we were really playing the part when we arrived at the dance...Gifts were given out, and we were honored as the film crew from New York. There's still to this day an amazing sense of ceremony that remains. The footage will show this more clearly. The highlight of the night came when Sarah and Silas participated in a "Potato" dance the winner getting $100. (which we found out later) The point of the dance is to do a step type dance while keeping a potato pressed between two people's foreheads or third eye shakra's for the Yogi's who may be reading this. Easy you say? Money in the bank? Think again, these potatoes were misshapen and the pressure was on for Sarah and Silas to perform well. A few minutes of warm up S&S tried different strategies, talked through hand signals and made me laugh so hard I didn't know what to do with myself. After the practice round the whistle was blown and it was time for the event...There was 10 or so couples dancing and the formidable team of Sarah and Silas really started off strong thanks to a combination of arm lock started by Sarah and Thighmaster inspiring deep knee bends by Mr. Hagerty. After a strong start I knew they wouldn't last long, they were dancing too fast. The other more experienced couples were barely moving and it seemed like there was a little inside knowledge of the judges. I'm not calling for a fix, I'm just saying...The last final flourish to stay in the game resulted in the potato being pressed directly into Sarah's left eye by Silas' forehead while they maintained a slow turn to the left. They both knew it was over but watching them try to keep it together was priceless. I have footage oh yes, I have footage. Eventually the potato dropped to the floor. The result. 5th place, a respectable showing for their first dance together. I have high hopes for this team in the future.
We said our goodbye's to the people at the dance and basically slept on the hour and a half car ride back to Gus' house. We had a full day of traveling (12 hours back to Flandreau, SD) the next day so sleep was needed. The next day we woke up, quick breakfast, added a passenger, Gus' daughter Jesse and headed back home. After an entertaining stop at the border in which we saw some deer and Silas was questioned about traveling to Denver, we made it back last night safely and feeling inspired about the upcoming trip. Silas and I had great conversation in the car about his vision for the film, and what's inspiring him these days. It's very needed to check in like that to keep people going as the road can become exhausting.
We pick up Silas' friend Pancho from the airport today, show some clips from previous Smooth Feather productions tonight at a school and then take off for the ride tomorrow morning. In honor of yesterday Dec 7, I would like to give special recognition to all the lives lost on that date in 1941 at Pearl Harbor. Also a birthday wish to a very special girl Kristin who's birthday also falls on Dec 7. That's all for now from snowy SD. See you on the road!
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