RV: What’s the difference between riding a horse and riding a hog?

Stan: Well it’s about the same. The horse takes me away from things and so does the Harley. I had a Harley back in New Mexico and so I decided to get another one. I got a lot of friends that I ride with. We do runs. I’m with a group called the Blue and Gold which is a motorcycle club.  We’ve attended a lot of charitable events. In our last ride we raised money to help the Special Olympics here in Cody. We’re doing a raffle right now and that’s also going to be a benefit to Special Olympics.

Raven: I bet that was pretty amazing to hold the actual gun held by Ned Christie since you are related to him. That had to be giving off some vibes for you?

Stan: It was pretty neat.  Last summer after one of our shows, this girl came up and introduced herself. She said that she was from Fort Smith. When she heard the name Ned Christie she came over and told me that Ned Christie’s rifle is now on display and no longer locked away. It’s now behind bullet proof glass.

 

RV: You used to be head over the humane society?

Stan: I used to be about 5 years ago.

 

RV: I was reading some things and I’m not sure if it was directly with you but didn’t you used to do some horse rescues?

Stan: I took in one horse that was abused and tried to turn him around. He was very malnourished but started making progress but then, I don’t know, the damage must have been done to him inside and he just couldn’t gain anymore weight. I did everything that I could, different feeds along with trying to boost his strength. I even did some homeopathic stuff but we ended up having to put him down.

 

RV: That’s too bad. Do you think people are getting more proactive with regards to animal abuses these days or you think it’s still getting worst?

Stan: Well with the economy, as bad as it is, owners can’t feed their horses.  Some of the people are just giving them away but there are still cases of animal abuse and cruelty whether it’s cat’s dogs or horses. I have six horses myself.

 

RV: Is it hard to care for all of them?

Stan: Not really, I’m enjoying them because they can take you up in the mountains where people can’t normally go or see. And my mare, she’s pretty much retired.  I have a 7 year old, a mare that I’m starting to ride, my mustang and my son’s horse and two younger horses.

 

RV: Is there anything that you are involved in right now?

Stan: I was training horses but then doing the gunfights and stuff like that takes up a lot of my time and so I don’t train horses anymore for people.  I would take a horse and put 30 days on them from the corral to the mountains which were gratifying because I like challenges. I do the pow-wow dancing and this year I got a Harley.

RV: When did you first become involved in the gunfight shows?

Stan: I’ve been doing this for about five years now.  It’s a reenactment of the old Wild West shootouts we have; good guys and bad guy’s and a couple of saloon girls. It‘s just street theater.  They block off one block of the street in front of Irma and it’s a free show. It starts at 6 and last maybe 45 minutes. At the end we have big shootout finale.

 

RV: That’s pretty cool. I heard that you had a famous ancestor?  Can you please tell me a little more about him? Is this how you became involved in performing Wild West shootouts?

Stan: Kind of, the theater has chairs at these shows that they setup for the tourist and they rent them out at a dollar a piece. Five years ago it was our job at the Humane Society to setup the chairs and then take them down.  We got a portion of rental by doing that. That’s when I was president of the Humane Society here at Cody. I saw what was going on and talked to some of the guys and decided to outfit myself.  I chose my great, great, great uncle Ned Christie as my character. If you go look on the internet you’ll find a couple of pictures of him.  He was an outlaw in Indian Territory which was Oklahoma before it became a state.  Ned Christie was accused of killing a U.S. Deputy Marshall. He knew that if he was captured he would be taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas where hanging Judge Isaac Parker presided. He hung quite a few outlaws back in those days. The gallows are still there and his court house has been turned into a museum. I went there once and was able to hold Ned Christie’s Winchester. Ned Christie was somewhat of a gunsmith. He converted black powder pistols to fire cartridges which were chambered with the same type of round as his Winchester so he had to only carry one type of bullet. He was quite a marksman. Twelve lawmen were sent out of Fort Smith to track him down and there were confrontations, but he always got away. He wounded a couple of them. The last confrontation was at Rabbit Trap Creek in Eastern Oklahoma where he setup a fortress. He had relatives around that helped him. The lawmen laid siege to his cabin and at one point I guess they were able to get close enough to throw some dynamite and it blew up a corner of his cabin and set fire to it. He had a tunnel, and as he climbed through the tunnel to make his escape and began running down the trail. He continued running for his horse and as he jumped over a log in the middle of the trail he caught a stray bullet in the back of the head. The lawmen hauled him 60 miles by buckboard to Fort Smith and put him on display.  There’s a photo of him cradling his Winchester, surrounded by lawmen. They would do that a lot back then. They would prop up the dead outlaws and take pictures of them. They used to make picture post cards.

RV: Thank you Stan for finding time to talk with me about your work. I understand that you posed for a painting composed by Denny Karcher?  Could you please explain how your working relationship with Denny began?

Stan: Denny came to the gunfights that we have at Turban. It’s a nightly show from Mon-Sat from June until the end of September. Denny was taking pictures of all the different characters and he asked me if I wanted to do a sit-down for him? So we did and it turned out great.

RV: That’s great, is that part of what you do with your pow-wow events too? I mean I know that you’re raising awareness and celebrating Indian culture and heritage but do you also use it for charitable events?

Stan: It’s just a cultural gathering for the different tribes. There’s contest with various categories from tiny tots to seniors. I don’t dance for the contest. I will compete but a lot of times I won’t register.  The reason I started dancing was to dance for the people who can’t.

 

RV: How long have you been dancing?

Stan: Since I was 35.

 

RV: Who taught you? Or was it something that you just picked up?

Stan: I learned by watching. I had to go through a medicine man for a certificate to apply for an eagle feather. I taught myself to make my own regalia.  It took me four years in all to complete my regalia. I lived in southern Arizona back then and there were no people who did bead work. Bead work is more northern plains so it took me four years to teach myself how to make my outfit. I try to be as traditional as possible. I don’t wear silk shirts like they do now days. I get comments from tourist that they really like my outfit because it does look traditional. I use the old style broadcloth and cotton and I just try to be as traditional as possible.  I remember when I did my first pow-wow. When I was coming out, a song by Sky Hawk Drum was playing. I told the announcer that I did not know any of the steps.  The announcer looked at me and pointed to my chest and said when you hear the drum you will know the steps.

 

RV: The man made synthetics takes some of the authenticity out of a lot of it doesn’t it?

Stan: I’m not out there to be shiny.  There are still a few dancers that hold on to the old ways.

RV: Can you please tell me a bit about the photo of you on the horse?

Stan:  I always wanted to see myself on a horse. I also do it for 4th of July. Some artists want to see me on horseback.

 

RV: Do you have any photos that you can share?

Stan: I have photo shoots from where I was in the Western Horse Magazine last year in the September issue.  They did a segment on ranch wear and I was invited down to Jackson to model clothes I guess? I think that there are three pictures in that magazine?

RV: What other interest or hobbies do you have?

Stan: I do arts and crafts and like to sketch a lot.  I like to sketch human forms from dancers to stick ball. I did one called “Embrace”. It’s a sketch of an Indian woman tip toeing to put her arms around her mate.   I also make spirit mountain ponies made from leather and filled with sage.

RV:Can you tell me more about the horses you own?

Stan: Five of them are Arabians and one is a mustang.

 

RV: What’s the mustang like compared to the Arabians? Is there much of a difference in training them?

Stan: A little bit. Arabians are smart and the problem with Quabie is that he’s pretty much maintained his wild streak. I can’t just trust anyone to ride him. He’s rideable but you have to know what you’re doing.  You have to be an experienced rider I guess?  The reason that I got into Arabs was because I rescued one that was destined for the slaughter house in Mexico.  That’s my mare. They resemble the plains horse just before the coming of the white man. If you look at any of the paintings by like Karl Bodmer a lot of his horses resemble the Arab.

 

RV: That’s interesting because I’ve always thought that it was the mustang that was the wild horse?

Stan:  Well there’s a difference.  You have the mustang, and then you have the wild horses.  The wild horses are Spanish bred and the mustangs are just horses that escaped from ranches and just started breeding on their own. Spanish type barb horses are wild horses. They have dorsal stripes and stripes on their hind legs which tell you that they are almost like prehistoric.

RV: What does it feel like to wear the Native American attire when posing?

Stan: I feel very proud!

I’d like to express my appreciation to Stan for taking time to provide this interview. Thank you Stan for sharing your work along with some history of Ned Christie with us. I wish you much success and would like to suggest to anyone that is traveling through Cody to stop by and see Stan perform in one of the gunfight shows. Special thanks to Darrell Dodds with Western Horse Magazine for contributing the magazine photos of Stan from their Sept 2009 issue.