# @denverpost on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVKrHOMkpTA
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/57677765-denverpost-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e26db6181e.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-25T04:03:16.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Denver Post (@denverpost) — https://gondola.cc/denverpost

## Caption

After decades of criticism from Indigenous communities, the Golden-based Westernaires will end their program that teaches and portrays Native American dancing to Colorado youth, the horse-riding organization announced in an email over the weekend.⁠
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“This was not the boards (sic) preferred outcome, but it is necessary for the organization at this time,” the Westernaires said in an email to members on Saturday.⁠
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The Westernaires have been teaching horsemanship to kids in Colorado and performing equine entertainment with Wild West themes for more than 70 years, with a team of entirely volunteer staff dedicating time to the craft.⁠
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For decades, the organization’s romanticism of cowboys-and-Indians tropes — including a reenactment of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn and white children dressed in Native-inspired regalia performing sacred Indigenous dances — has garnered protest and pushback from Native American communities.⁠
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Read the full story at the link in our bio. ⁠
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📝: Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post // lizzy_hernandez⁠
📷: Kathryn Scott, Special to The Denver Post⁠
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#Colorado #NativeAmericans #Westernaires

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## Tags

colorado, westernaires, nativeamericans

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