Audre Etsitty

How One Luce Fellow is Bringing Unbridled Tradition to the Navajo Horse Community

Audre Etsitty loves horses. These beautifully muscular, four-legged teachers, companions, and helpers have always been a part of her life. “I grew up in a deeply rooted agricultural family. We dry-land farmed, rodeoed, and raised livestock,” she shares with First Nations. Her grandfather and uncles roped calves, and she started performing in rodeos when she was only 9 years old.

Etsitty poses with her horse, Big, at the 2023 Horses Connecting Communities Event, where she led a presentation on saddle fit.

Etsitty, who was raised on the Navajo Reservation, says that horses were important to her family as a source of income, a catharsis after a long day at work, and an enjoyable sport.

When it came time for her to decide what path to take in life at the age of 16, she received a lot of advice from many trusted sources. “But the one piece of advice that stuck with me, that I really took to heart, was to pursue a career that I truly enjoyed because that way, I would never work a day in my life.”

Her lifelong passion for horses led her to Colorado State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in equine science. It was in a colt training and sale preparation class―one she enrolled in reluctantly―where she found her calling and realized she wanted to launch a horse-related business someday. “I learned about equine behavior, horse training, the human/horse relationship, and horse sales, all in one class, which is what I initially intended to go to school for.”

She received a boost of confidence―and affirmation that she was on the right path―when the yearling colt that she worked so hard to train was sold in the Legends of Ranching Sale, a prestigious honor for any equine student.

Now at 34, with years of training, riding, roping, conditioning, and management of horses under her saddle, Etsitty has become an independent horsemanship consultant. She is in the business of equine education, conducting workshops, camps, and presentations to share her vast knowledge and experience mostly in the Western discipline of horsemanship.

She covers topics such as how to use grooming tools and riding aids, horse conformation, equine nutrition and behavior, photography for horse sales, vaccinations, deworming, and tack fitting.

However, Etsitty believes that what is missing in equine education today is the Indigenous perspective. While horses are sacred to the Navajo people, that deep, cultural connection needs to be reflected in equine facilitated learning and horsemanship.

“Understanding cultural teachings allows one to make relational connections, giving one a pragmatic understanding of cultural meanings and purposes. Within Native American culture, teachings are interdisciplinary. To learn about the horse from a Diné perspective means to learn about the environment, the medicines, songs, and prayers,” she shares.

As a member on the Navajo reservation with both an academic background in equine science and a traditional Diné upbringing, the 2024 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow will answer the call to bring culturally relevant equine education to the Navajo community.

Her plans for the Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship

Etsitty’s long-term professional goal is to establish an equine facilitated-learning nonprofit on the reservation to offer the Navajo horse community comprehensive knowledge and training in both traditional and Western perspectives of horsemanship.

“I want to merge both ways of knowing to give my audience a wholesome understanding of horsemanship,” just as she has already done as a riding instructor at Song of the Horse Camp, which teaches participants about the cultural significance of the horse from the Diné viewpoint. “When children are provided traditional teachings of living in balance with Mother Earth, plant relatives, and all non-human relatives, they understand their role and responsibilities to maintain the symbiotic relationship,” she says.

A riding instructor at Song of the Horse Camp, Etsitty teaches kids about the cultural significance of horses from the Diné perspective.

During her Luce Fellowship, the Diné horsewoman aims to enhance her own knowledge of Navajo emergence stories, songs, and prayers pertaining to horses. “It’s important to learn the stories first. I believe this fellowship will allow me the opportunity to learn the teachings of my clan and elders in the way that is culturally appropriate.”

Kelsey Dayle John (Navajo), an assistant professor and equine researcher at the University of Arizona, worked with Etsitty at several horse education events, including the youth horse camp. She writes in her Luce Fellowship recommendation letter for Etsitty, “Audre’s dream is to learn more from the Diné-specific perspective and to keep that knowledge moving through generations. At present, there are very few individuals who are doing this work on the Navajo Nation.”

Toward the end of her Luce Fellowship, Etsitty will host a series of workshops to share with the Navajo community her newfound knowledge of horsemanship from an Indigenous perspective. Topics will include grazing management, training methods, creation stories of horses, safety, and handling.

To illustrate the differences between traditional and Western perspectives of horsemanship, Etsitty uses the example of conformation. From a Western perspective, conformation refers to how a horse is built, including its muscular and skeletal systems. “From the traditional side, our deities put together certain elements, like water, to bring the horses to life. Diné belief is that horses are rain callers, and if we do not care for horses in a good way, it will affect rainfall on our homeland,” the Luce fellow explains.

When she was in college, Etsitty recalls a humorous moment when she realized that there was a real need to bridge the gap between Western and traditional equine education. In class one day, the professor threw out a fun fact: “Did you know that horses have night vision and can see at night?”

While other students seemed surprised by this revelation, Etsitty was not. “I already knew this from the stories my grandparents told me in the wintertime, that the eyes of horses were made from stars so they could see at night.”

Laughing to herself, she thought, “I had to pay $4,000 in tuition for this class to be told something my grandparents, who were astute, traditional knowledge holders, had already taught me so long ago.”

Continuing the family legacy with horses

Raising and riding horses is a family affair for the 2024 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow. She and her husband and their three children own three horses―Dakota, Lola, and Big―and they often travel out of state to compete in rodeos on other Native reservations.

“I am a barrel racer and a breakaway roper, and compete in the Indian Rodeo circuit. My husband rodeos, too,” says Etsitty, who was the 2022 Art of the Cowgirl Fellowship Recipient. This fellowship allowed her to travel to Abilene, Texas, to be mentored by world champion roper Lari D. Guy.

The Luce Fellow has enjoyed a lifelong passion for horses. She started performing in rodeos when she was only 9 years old.

She says that her oldest children enjoy riding horses, but it’s her 4-year-old daughter who shares her passion for horses and rodeo. “She always wants to be around them, brush them, love on them. My husband and I are crossing our fingers and hoping that maybe we have a rodeo kid after all!”

Etsitty shares that her connection to horses helped her in a time of need. After graduating from college, her grandmother, who helped raise her, passed away. “I was at the deepest end of the grieving process,” she recalls of that difficult time in her life.

When she was thinking about how to pull herself out of it, she remembered that the last time she was truly happy and felt at peace was when she was training a horse. So, she began her search and purchased the horse she calls “Big.”

“He is a small horse with a BIG personality. The solace that he provided me helped me come out of that dark place. Big rescued me.”