Cayuse horse

For other uses, see Cayuse (disambiguation).

A 1873 engraving encaptioned "A bucking cayuse"

Cayuse is an archaic term used in the American West, originally referring to the small, high-spirited pony of the Cayuse people of the Pacific Northwest. Later a feral or to a low-quality horse or pony, and in time a person of similar base qualities.

In British Columbia, the variant word cayoosh refers to a particular breed of powerful small horse admired for its endurance.

Cayuse ponies were known for their unruly temperament:

"The little ponies, which take their name from the Cayuse Indians, posess as a native quality, this habit of bucking, or jumping high in the air as we have lambs do, sriking with every joint stiffened, all four feet forcibly upon the earth. The concussion is so violent that, unless the rider is experienced, one or two efforts will be enough to dash him to the ground. The very appearance of the animal is frightful. The ears are thrown back close to its head, the eyes put on a vicious expression, it froths at the mouth, seizes the bit with its teeth, tries to bite, and every possible manner evinces the utmost enmity for its rider. Bucking is deemed as incurable as balking — whip and spur and kind treatment being alike in vain."

The Ascent of Mt. Hayden, Scribner's Monthly, June 1873

Cayuse came to be used in cowboy jargon as a derogatory term for a person of low character or little value. In the 1925 silent film Tumbleweeds directed by King Baggot, the cowboy hero played by William S. Hart calls the villain a "cayuse" in the title cards.

Literature and music

Two cayuses that made history were Nimpo and Stuyve who were depicted in Richmond P. Hobson, Jr.'s book Grass Beyond The Mountains. Both horses had been captured by a local Native American named Thomas Squinas near Nimpo Lake in the Chilcotin District of British Columbia. Hobson described the two cayuses as the best horses that he owned, because of their unrelenting spirit and hardiness that helped them survive the extreme conditions in northern British Columbia. There is also an example of it in John Steinbeck's book, The Red Pony.

The horse is mentioned in "Don't Fence Me In", a popular American song written in 1934 by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher. There is a line "On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder...'. It was recorded by Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Bing Crosby, among many others.