In One Thrilling Minute

 

Hot, dim young earth, a million years on the grasses
evolving on the North American continent
an integral part of the ecosystem
his first ancestors becoming extinct
with the first human settlements
eight to ten thousand years ago...
Spirits frozen in the deep permafrost
as wild ancestors migrate to Asia
and spread to Africa and Europe, still roaming free...

 

Hernando Cortes sailing back
bringing with him a variety of unselected breeds.
Breeding in the Caribbean to supply demand
one, a sorrel with a white-spotted belly,
from which, through 1519 to the 1800’s
eventually populated the plains,
others let loose in the 1680 Pueblo revolt, 
others escaping from missions in Apache raids
or sold to Comanche Indians bred and ridden
to hunt buffalo and carry warriors to warfare,
Indian Ponies on the untamed edges of the Wild West.

 

Horse herds spread West, Northwest
Pinto, Appaloosa color breeds
cultivated by Nez Perce Indians.
Steel Dust, a running horse,
those desiring his progeny
bringing in wild mares to breed
to create a strong, durable mount
with good cow-sense
in the American Quarter Horse.

 

Mustangs, of the open range,
quick, athletic, hardy, feral,
willing to accept human leadership
appreciated by the US military and open ranchers
bred for sale and unfenced work,
or early 1800’s pastime of harness racing
as gaited trotters and pacers.

 

American Thoroughbred racing
a breed bred for 300 years
origins traced to British Aristocracy
organized into racing after the Civil War
gambling, criminal elements through the 1890’s
cleaned up by the American Jockey Club.
Thoroughbreds, speed and endurance
maintained in the pedigree registry
of the American Stud Book.

 

The gates open, fleeted hooves 
kicking up the dust of time
kicking up permafrost and open plains
migrations to Asia, extinction, back again
Conquistadors, Spanish Missions
the Wild West, Indian tribes
ranchers, cowhands, aristocracy
all running now, running, a mile and a quarter
galloping along the wind of time
and the electric loudspeaker calling their names,
“Coinsilver gaining along the backstretch!”
Evolving, surviving, struggling, million years
converging in one thrilling minute at the Kentucky Derby.