How the Pinto Got Her Colour

Kelly L. Green is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual’s
Children’s Literature edition.

In the beginning, the Great Spirit who created the animals made all the
horses white. When her grandfather (the Chief who guarded the Great
Spirit’s favorite mare) dies, Breeze’s sorrow is so great that she
releases her own beloved horse (a filly of the Chief’s mare) into the
wild. In the spring, Breeze is sent to find a new camp for her people,
and takes her grandfather’s buffalo robe along for protection. During
an unexpected blizzard, the Great Spirit brings Breeze and her horse
Tiana back together, and Breeze shields both of them from the storm with
the buffalo robe. Touched by their devotion to one another, the Great
Spirit causes the buffalo robe to become part of Tiana’s hide,
painting part of her white coat brown. From that point on, horses were
no longer pure white but were “pintos”—painted.

Buchholz tells this lovely tale well. The subplots of Breeze’s close
relationship to her grandfather and of her commitment to her people add
depth to the story. Some confusion as to the role of the Great Spirit in
bringing Breeze and Tiana together again could have been avoided with
tighter editing, but this is a minor criticism. Hanley’s brown, blue,
and white paintings are understated and powerful. Recommended.