A Horse Nation Revival with Nate Bressler and Stan Brewer
Strengthening identity and empowering Native youth through the spirit of the horse.
Nate Bressler and Stan Brewer are the co-founders of Sage to Saddle, a pioneering non-profit based in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Committed to restoring a cultural legacy that has endured against all odds, they are focused on healing, connection, and resilience in one of the most challenging places to live in America. Through the sacred bond with animals that sustained the Lakota people for generations, Sage to Saddle is dedicated to creating a safe and empowering environment where Native youth can reconnect with their cultural roots and strengthen their sense of identity.
To truly engage with this conversation with Nate and Stan from Sage to Saddle, it’s important to pause and reflect on the journey of Native communities and their enduring resilience. For generations, across what is now called the United States, Indigenous peoples have navigated the complexities of a world that often sought to erase their histories and connections to the land. The Lakota have faced significant challenges, particularly regarding treaties that have been broken by the U.S. government. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 initially guaranteed them ownership of the Black Hills—a land they regard as sacred. However, following the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the mid-1870s, the U.S. government violated the treaty, leading to the forced removal of the Lakota from their ancestral lands. This breach of trust marked the beginning of ongoing struggles for land, cultural preservation, and sovereignty that continue to impact the Lakota people today.
The origins of Native American reservations in the late 1800s reveal another layer of this history. Initially established as prison camps for Indigenous communities, reservations were isolated, heavily controlled spaces where Indigenous people endured harsh restrictions and a loss of freedom. For decades, residential schools also played a key role in enforcing assimilation policies, erasing cultural identities by forbidding traditional names, attire, and languages. Notably, these efforts to suppress Indigenous traditions continued well into the 20th century; traditional ceremonies like the Lakota Sundance were prohibited until the late 1970s, resulting in the near loss of certain cultural practices and languages, which today face ongoing challenges in preservation and revitalization.
The Pine Ridge Reservation, established in 1889 as the home of the Oglala Lakota Nation, reflects the complex challenges stemming from this legacy, with high rates of poverty, health disparities, and limited infrastructure. Access to basic needs, like clean water and reliable power, remains difficult, underscoring the socioeconomic impact of colonization. These scars of history—marked by forced removal, assimilation policies, and cultural genocide—continue to reverberate through Native communities, influencing everything from mental health to access to resources. Despite these struggles, the Lakota and other Indigenous peoples continue to demonstrate profound resilience, driven by their unwavering warrior spirit—a commitment to preserving their heritage, reclaiming traditions, and strengthening their communities.
Amid these struggles, there is a powerful movement toward healing and cultural revitalization. Organizations like Sage to Saddle embody this spirit, creating safe spaces for youth to explore their heritage through the deep bond between horses and their cultural practices. The arrival of horses in North America in the 1500s, introduced by Spanish explorers, transformed the lives of many Indigenous tribes, especially the Lakota. By the 18th century, the Lakota incorporated horses into their daily lives, enhancing mobility across the Great Plains, improving bison hunting, and strengthening their societal structures and cultural prestige.
Horses quickly became a symbol of freedom and spiritual connection to the land, deeply intertwined with Lakota ceremonies and rituals. They were viewed as sacred beings that could carry prayers to the Creator, embodying the relationship between the Lakota and the natural world. Through the efforts of Sage to Saddle, the bond between the Oglala people and their horses is being honored, helping youth reclaim their cultural heritage and embrace pride in their traditions.
This interview has been transcribed from audio, with some revised sections.
INL: How did your paths cross, and how did that lead to creating a space for Native youth to reconnect with their cultural roots?
Nate: Stan and I met in March of 2018 when I was put on assignment for Outside Magazine, focusing on Stan and his race teams. He's been featured in quite a few articles and documentaries about what it's like running an Indian relay1 team in Pine Ridge, being a world champion, and the successes that come with that—all while being there for a lot of kids that are in tough spots on the reservation. We connected on a phone call, knowing that we were going to be working on the assignment in June, July, and August of the summer of 2018. We started talking then, and I realized right away how big of a mentor and positive influence Stan was on the reservation. He was the focus of this article.
When we finally got to meet, we talked a lot. I've been working with Native communities for 25 years now, since my early 20s, and Stan has been very involved with the horse community. So, we both come from similar backgrounds in sports and community involvement—all that stuff. It was pretty natural for us to have that connection right away.
Obviously, the arena has been around for a long time, and of course, equine therapy—if that’s what you want to call it; Equine assisted learning is probably a better term—has been around for quite a while. It’s just difficult to attain an indoor arena. Stan and I talked about this a lot—that the one thing these kids really needed was a place to ride in the wintertime, because that’s suicide season, a tough time for teenage kids who are stuck in overcrowded trailers (with high addiction rates). In the wintertime, it can get pretty rough for them, and we knew that a good place and a great outlet for kids is not only getting away from tough home environments, but also being around good friends—and, more importantly, being around horses that have such a truth-seeking way about them and the ability to get to the core of who the kid really is. We knew that was something that could be a huge benefit for a place like Pine Ridge, which suffers in a lot of ways—even as amazing as the place is, there are still hardships to overcome.
Stan and I kept talking every night about ways to do this. It was on my last night working that I stayed up all night and realized I had enough friends and connections to bring in outside help alongside Stan's inside help. It was a perfect force coming together, two different people from different worlds who could benefit from each other to make this whole thing come together. These ideas have been taking root on Pine Ridge and many reservations for years, but it was just a matter of either raising money or having the motivated people—and between us, we had both.
INL: Sage to Saddle creates a safe and welcoming environment for youth to ride and finish the day’s studies. How does this approach empower Pine Ridge youth to cultivate a sense of belonging?
Stan: We originally wanted to (and it's still in the works) do after-school programs. So, when the kids get out of school, they come here. We want to eventually get a classroom where we can have some mentors or tutors sit down with them, help them with their homework, get that done, and then go to the horse activities. That way, it's like a reward. They’ll want to do better at home, they’ll want to do better in school, and then they can get to the horses. The horses are so good for all the kids, offering them therapeutic benefits that last a lifetime. Even as adults, seeing those kids grow every day and get better and better, and more confident. It’s really awesome seeing the kids, and the adults grow too. Some of our teenage helpers (we call them wranglers) help us with all the horses and the kids, and they get excited when the kids are coming too. We see the effects full circle—from the horses to the kids to the adults—and know the impact it's making.
We want to eventually get the classroom up so we can do that after school part, because sometimes you don't know what kind of home kids go home to. Sometimes they can't do their homework because there's fighting or whatever going on. There's all these different distractions. So, they just start falling behind in school because of stuff they can't control. We're trying to make it a safe haven where they come out, knowing they're gonna have fun, be safe, and ride a horse. But they're gonna have to do their homework, do good in school, and do good at home. That way, we can use it to our advantage to help them become better people overall.
INL: The relationship between horses and Lakota culture is legendary—a timeless connection, a spiritual kinship. How does Sage to Saddle bring this connection to life?
Stan: Horses have been with our people for hundreds of years; we wouldn’t be here today, still alive, or where we’re at if it wasn’t for horses—with the hunting, the battles, the travel—everything—the connection. It’s been here forever, and we’re trying to bring it back in a way, for kids that don’t have the opportunity to ride horses or be around horses. They have that opportunity to feel that powerful connection that you make with the horse—with the animal.
There's a lot of horses and horse families around the res (on the reservation here) but not every family has horses or are horse people. We know that there are plenty of people—both adults and kids—who want to have that connection with horses and build that bond they know is in the roots of their people. We're trying to give them the opportunity to experience what we experience. And it's not just Native Americans; it's any race, any culture. Horses are a special animal. They're so sacred that anybody can build that bond with them, and get that sense of safety. It's like a safety net for a lot of people. If they're having a bad day or going through hard times, they just go hang out with horses. Even though you can't literally talk to them, you can still talk to each other and hear each other. It's a comfort that people get to experience. Horse people know what I'm talking about. We try to expand that so people that don't know have the outlet too. For example, with suicides being so bad around here, I know personally a lot of the kids won’t go and talk to a counselor, especially somebody who didn't grow up around here. They don't know what they're going through. They don't know what they're saying. I mean, they might have heard the stories over and over in their work experience, but they just don't know. I know kids around here aren’t comfortable talking to people like that. So, we just try to get them out here, into a more comfortable environment (instead of sitting in a classroom or office talking to someone) where you just get to forget about everything, and just live for the moment, and have a good time. And over time, all that good stuff outweighs the bad stuff. Then you don't even think about the times that are tough. We just try to push that and keep that in mind as we're doing things.
Nate: A lot of the group rides started in the early 90s, or when did the Bigfoot start Stan? Was that early 90s as well?
Stan: Yeah, it was somewhere around there.
Nate: So when all these started, there were a lot bigger numbers, and there was horsemanship. Now this is not necessarily due to access, of course. There are a million distractions for kids—other things they can be doing now. But these group rides used to be a lot bigger. Stan started joining these group rides as a young man, about ten years after they first started, back when over 300 riders would join. Now, over twenty years since he started, we are lucky to have 80 to 100 kids... with horsemanship suffering as well.
Getting back to Sage to Saddle, out on the group rides, every year Stan and I are able to get 35 to 40 new kids that have never really gotten a chance to ride, or maybe kids that have ridden once or twice, but still have no access. Sage to Saddle is all about providing the horses, the opportunity, the tutoring, and everything else that comes along with that. That's a big part, for us (on top of the winter riding)—getting more of these kids to be able to be part of these opportunities in the summer, and trying to provide the horses. Stan and I usually roll in with 25 horses that we can collect from different friends (a lot from Stan's ranch) and whatnot else. So, that's a big part of this whole thing as well for the group rides—trying to restore, not even restore, but trying to keep that alive and add to it. A lot of elders out there are saying that to us—that they were much bigger before, and Sage of Saddle's program is hopefully going to bring a lot more back.
INL: With National Native American Heritage Month upon us, how does this moment resonate within your community?
Stan: Yeah, I don't know. From my perspective, we’ve got so many different things going on within our res and our homes that I don't think nationally it affects our people, because we’ve got our own problems right here that we're trying to get through. I don't know if the national month really has much effect on us here, because we're such a big reservation and so many people. With so many people and so much land brings a lot of problems too, so we're just battling our own battle here at home and trying to make things better at home. I don't know, nationally, that this month really has much effect on us.2
INL: Do you weave traditional Lakota teachings into your programs, and what role do elders play within Sage to Saddle?
Stan: For us, as far as the traditional stuff—we don't have the language or anything like that incorporated, but the elder horsemen—as we could say—they really support it, and like it, and agree with what we're doing. But it's just like anything else, you know, there's going to be people out there—the naysayers or crabs in a bucket—however you want to call it—there’s always going to be that, so we just try to keep doing what we're doing because we know the effect that it has on the kids. We just try to keep our head down, and keep grinding, and trying to be there for the kids. I think last year we had 76 kids come through our arena on our program. We're just trying to focus on that and do the best we can for the kids, because it's so hard in this community. I'm sure it's like that on any reservation. It's like when people try to do something good there's all these naysayers, always the negative people no matter what's going on. We're just trying to do what we can for the kids and for the people here, and if people support it, then we thank them and we're glad they choose to support us. But if they don't, then I guess that's just too bad, because we're just gonna keep doing what we're trying to do for the kids, and try to be there for the people that want our to help and everything we're trying to provide.
Nate: There is a lot of elder involvement from people who support what we're doing, but what benefits Stan and me is the fact that we can ride with these kids, have fun, and build camaraderie, connections, and bonds. Riding 35 miles throughout the day— when you come back after 35 miles, day after day—there are stories and inside jokes. Something happens there that is special, I believe. Stan and I have talked about this, so I know he feels it too—it's a special bond that we're able to create because we're not just leading this from the outside; we're with the pack on the inside.
it's a special bond that we're able to create because we're not just leading this from the outside; we're with the pack on the inside.
INL: Does Sage to Saddle serve as a model for other Indigenous communities seeking to revitalize their cultural practices and support their youth?
Stan: We do have other tribes reaching out, wanting to get [Sage to Saddle] at their reservation also, but it's a lot of work, and in progress—getting a building and everything else in place. Luckily, the place that we purchased a few years back already had an arena, which jump-started us, saving like five years of fundraising to be able to do it. We would have been about five years out if my wife and I hadn’t purchased this place through our cattle operation. Luckily we got this, and now we get to use it for Sage to Saddle, so it's worked out perfectly. Nate can talk more about people reaching out, wanting it on other reservations.
Nate: Definitely. We ride with other flags—other nations and other tribes. We ride with the Northern Cheyenne and the Arapaho when we do the Little Big Horn ride in June.
Also, because of Stan's race team, we’re at the track almost every weekend throughout the summer, and we're getting to be around other nations and folks from other tribes that aren't necessarily under the three flags from the Little Big Horn. They all know what we're doing, so we actually get kids from other Lakota reservations, and even some from outside the Lakota reservations that come and ride with us.
But yeah, a lot of people would love to have this program where they are. As Stan was saying, the universe was shining on us when that property became available, and Stan was in the right place with his operation to be able to pick up that property in a beautiful ranch with the pre-existing arena. That arena today would cost three times more than when it was built, probably less than 10 years ago. So the prices on this, even since we started in 2018, the prices of arenas probably doubled if not almost tripled. Even at the beginning, this arena that Stan has—it's huge, it's beautiful—when it was built, it would have been somewhat obtainable for Sage to Saddle. Not necessarily right away, but we might be close where we could make a down payment. With the prices of everything now, there's a lot of things we're out of reach. So we're having to rethink how we want to work with other communities, because we can't necessarily try to do a huge fundraiser for three quarters of a million dollars, because that's what they cost now.
That's more than we've raised in six years. So unfortunately, the prices of things kind of make it a little bit difficult, but there's other ways to work with these communities. Even just doing summer rides and programs, and maybe building something much smaller for smaller reservations. That's the goal.
Getting back to donations and support, we're really looking for that big supporter, that big donor who could probably help us expand somewhere else as well. We’d also like to expand on our own reservation. Stan could tell you that it's almost the size of Connecticut—bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. It's a giant reservation. There's kids that live two hours away from Stan's arena, if not more.
We make a big impact with our area, but like Stan says, it's a lot of work to keep expanding, and we're only two people, and we want to see it done right. We want to make sure the money is put in the right places too. So, you know, these are the growing pains. Something hopefully we can really expand into. It might be another five or ten years before we can really make big expansions, but that’s the goal. That way, these kids can ride together, meet each other, and develop friendships that last the rest of their lives.
Stan: Where we're at right now, we're just on one little corner of the reservation—the quarter of it that we service—so it would be nice to be able to expand out further to the kids and the families on the other side. But like we said, that's two hours away, and it wouldn't be possible to travel two hours, do two hours in the arena, and travel two hours back during the week. Eventually, we’d like to get a smaller arena somewhere on the other side of the reservation, and try to get some people behind it to run it because we know the benefit it would have.
INL: When you first launched Sage to Saddle, you each had different visions of what a ‘positive outcome’ for the youth in your program would look like. What were those initial thoughts, and how have they evolved over the past eight years?
Stan: For me, when we first met Nate, when he was just visiting, in the evening time, during down time, we were talking about reservation life and things that go on here and how hard it is. Back then, the suicide rate—I think it went down little bit—the suicide rate3 was just off the charts here and we was talking about that—how, in winter, it gets dark at 4.30pm. When the kids get home from school, it's dark, and they can't go outside to play until eight or nine o'clock. They go inside and maybe have to deal with whatever's going on inside. They have to go in at four o'clock and are stuck with it until they go to school the next day, when they can get away from it, or whatever the situation may be.
For me, I knew how it was growing up here. Nate was asking if it (Sage to Saddle) was even possible or what we thought. And I was like, “No”. I said, “There's no way we're gonna get support for it. There's no way we're gonna get a building for it. It's just that won't happen here.” And Nate changed us. He's said, “I know people, and I think we can do it.” I was honestly doubting him. I said, “I don't think so. I don't know how we could pull it off.” But he just stuck with it, and pretty soon, my wife Ella and I were starting to believe too—maybe we can do this, maybe it is possible. Nate kept grinding at it, working on it, and now we're here. It's come full circle because I just doubted it. Growing up here, I just know how it is around here. I thought “It's not gonna happen. There's too many people that won't agree. Nobody’s gonna help us.” But Nate was being hard-headed as he is. It worked out good because now we're here, and we're going now.
Nate: Yeah, I was just gonna talk about the things that have changed. You know, we obviously had really big ideas, some not even as big as where we are now. But we didn't expect to go through a pandemic and a slight recession. The world shifted quite a bit, some for the positive. I think some people have become more aware of other people's problems and struggles. Things have changed for us. Even the kids have changed. COVID really messed kids up on reservations. A lot of kids, especially the age that we're dealing with, have really been affected by the learning loss they suffered after being out of school for two years.
That's changed things. For us, we're having kids come in during six and seventh period from the middle school because they've lost their drive before lunch. The principals and teachers are saying, “By the time lunch hits, these kids have mentally checked out.” Understandably, these are kids who went through major educational changes due to COVID. That's changed things. So, now, Stan and I both, everybody wants to help as many people as they can. We still do, but the scope becomes clearer as we go into our seventh year. You start to get a better sense of what’s possible, who’s behind us, and all the hurdles we face.
Stan, Ella (Stan’s wife), and I jump through a lot of hurdles. She’s a big part of Sage to Saddle—she’s an educator, has taught on the reservation, and knows a lot of people in the educational world. But we're dealing with short-staffed schools, shortages of buses, and bus drivers. There are just a lot of hurdles for us to jump over. That definitely has sculpted some of where we're at. Now, it's about just getting them in here or introducing kids who have never ridden to riding.
Yeah, we would love to be able to expand their education and help with their homework—that’s something down the road. But, as we realize through our friends in the education department, there's not much left in the tank for these kids by 3.30pm in the afternoon. So the best thing we could offer right now is a break from all of that for them. Hopefully also—Stan and I both are stern men in a lot of ways where I'm a big pushover and Stan's got three kids so he's slightly less of a pushover—we still stay on these kids and still expect a certain level of respect and performance and attitude from them.
Things have changed a bit, but that's more where we're shifting things. Focusing attention individually on kids who really need it.
INL: What inspires you daily? What beauty do you encounter on the Pine Ridge reservation?
Nate: The beauty that I see, and that Stan and I appreciate daily, is that we're surrounded by national parks and we're in a state with 800,000 people, and it's a giant state. You have lots of vast expanses, you've got really neat traditions. Stan is part of a very traditional Sundance family. Ceremonial families are coming back and having some momentum. And, of course, the attitudes and everything else—connections to nature, connections to animals, appreciation for all that. There's still plenty of teenage kids that just can go sit out and watch a sunset. There's not many teenage kids across the country that are just fine with watching a sunset.
So there's still a lot of beauty to be appreciated, and it is. A lot of these kids can see it, and fortunately, once you get out of town, you really get to see it.
Stan: For me, it’s the beauty within the reservations. Personally, the stuff that we see—this generation of kids—they want to help bring the language back, the cultures back, the ceremonies back, and all the things that almost got forced out. We couldn't do all these things because they wanted us to live a different tradition or a different way of life, and the government has been trying to kill our people off for 200 years with everything that went on—the massacres, the smallpox, being forced into reservations, and the bounties—just different things that they tried to do to kill us off and take our land. But yet, we're still here, we're still a proud people, we're only getting stronger and better as the years go on.
this generation of kids—they want to help bring the language back, the cultures back, the ceremonies back, and all the things that almost got forced out.
All that stuff, I know the outside people can't see, but that's what I want them to know—that we're still here, and we're still battling every day within ourselves, our communities, and our nation. We're trying to make things better for future generations, and trying to keep things on the uphill for them, so we can get back to being a strong nation that we once were, and the strong people that we once were.
But for outside people to know, the country that we have here on the reservation, there's nothing else—there's so many different things—there are badlands4, there are pine buttes5, and so many different things. There are so many different animals here, many different hunting opportunities, and fishing. A lot of reservations only have this or that, but we have every big game animal here on a reservation that you can hunt in North America, almost.
We’ve got so many opportunities. We live in such a beautiful place that I want them to know that all the negative things they see on the internet and things that they hear—that there's a lot more to it than that. You can look that kind of stuff up. We're trying to focus on the positive and the good things here that are going on for our reservation and for our people. We're tired of seeing and hearing all the negative things, and how poor we are, and this and that, unemployment etc. We're trying to be the people that change that mindset of, “We're just going to be like this forever,” or, “This is just how it is now because of this, this, this—this happened”.
We can only control what we can control. So, if we could start doing better and trying to be better people for each other, then things will get better here on reservation.
You can learn more about Nate Bressler & Stan Brewer here, and explore Sage to Saddle’s initiatives here.
Indian relay racing is an exhilarating sport developed by Plains nations like the Lakota, Crow, and Blackfeet. The race features a rider and three horses, with the rider leaping from one horse to the next at full speed across multiple laps. Each quick change requires remarkable skill and timing.
National Native American Heritage Month: While some communities may not actively engage with the national observance, National Native American Heritage Month (November) is an important time for recognizing the contributions, history, and struggles of Native American people. The disconnect Stan mentions reflects the broader challenges that some reservations face in dealing with immediate local concerns versus national recognition.
The suicide rate among Native American youth is significantly higher than the national average, with Pine Ridge being one of the most affected areas. Programs like Sage to Saddle offer hope and intervention, helping young people develop stronger emotional health and resilience through equine therapy and peer support systems. *If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or emotional distress, help is available. Please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 (in the U.S.) or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor.*
Badlands National Park, located in southwestern South Dakota, is renowned for its dramatic landscapes of sharply eroded peaks, deep gorges, and layered rock formations. With a history spanning millions of years, it holds significant cultural value for Indigenous peoples, including the Oglala.
Pine Buttes are geological formations, isolated hills or plateaus, found in the Great Plains. Covered in pine trees and surrounded by prairie, they rise above the surrounding grasslands, creating distinct, scenic vistas. These buttes, scattered across Pine Ridge, contribute to the area’s unique ecosystem, supporting a mix of forested areas and grasslands. Pine Ridge itself takes its name from these pine-covered ridges and buttes, which help define the reservation’s landscape.
So many things I love about the story and I believe the underlying conditions which led to this project is similar to the entire population of kids. Americans don't have the connection with the earth to way our true natives do/did. Maybe that's why we've messed up like we have. But the answer to most problems is get back to nature. This is such a happy story, and I hope that their project expands through all of the nations. And also that somehow Americans can find a connection with earth again or respect for her and put that first.