Chief Moses horse mask

This card is a bit of a curiosity...it was sent by a friend in Australia; is titled A group of Washington Indians in ceremonial dress and was printed in Idaho. Most likely the photo was taken in the 1950s. Sadly the card text provides no more information but the image itself is revealing: two of the horses are decorated in distinctive ways!
The front horse wears a red wool face mask with neck drape, while a rear one wears a blue bead breastcollar. Horse masks were used by many plains people and were originally crafted from buffalo hide; in the late 1800s wool and cotton were used, decorated with seed beads, ribbons, metal bells, small mirrors etc. These were also crafted by tribes of the Plateau including Salish, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Cayuse; red wool seems to have been favored by the Cayuse & Umatilla. Breastcollars appear towards the late 1800s and were used for parades by Crow, Nez Perce and Cayuse among others.

This face mask belonged to Chief Moses (1829-1899), a member of the Sinkayuse who reside on the Colville Reservation in eastern Washington. The mask is blue & green painted buffalo hide (suggesting the power of storm clouds) decorated with brass bells, silk ribbons and feathers. The horse mask is topped with blue beaded "horns" made from dried buffalo tails. The hand prints on the red wool neck drape recalled hand to hand combat with a Blackfeet warrior that occurred sometime in the mid 1800s.
 The rider of this horse, possibly Chief Moses' nephew who inherited the horse mask, also wears Chief Moses ' eagle feather and ermine tail headdress with blue beaded "horns" that mirror the horse mask.

For more information on this interesting, but little known, aspect of native material culture please read Native American Horse Gear by E. Helene Sage (2012) and American Indian Horse Masks by Mike Cowdrey (2006) which contains an excellent discussion of Chief Moses' regalia.