Teenager dies during horse ride

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Tuesday, May 02, 2006

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EAGLE BUTTE -- As part of his American Indian tradition, Morgan Yellow Head's family gave their second-oldest son the name Cante Waste Ica Wica Icun, or Does For The People With A Good Heart. It was a name that inspired the teenager to live to the best of his ability, his family said.

Yellow Head, 16, died Sunday morning after suffering injuries in a horse-riding accident Friday, according to family and the Cheyenne River Tribal Law Enforcement office.

The boy injured his head in a horse-related accident while taking part in a gang-prevention ride that was part of Red Road Gathering, a drug and alcohol prevention workshop, Sgt. Kory Annis of the law enforcement office said.

He said about 20 people were on the ride when the accident happened in a ditch along U.S. Highway 212 shortly before 11 a.m. Friday. Annis said Yellow Head was taken to the Eagle Butte Hospital and later flown to a Rapid City Regional Hospital, where he died.

Nancy West, Yellow Head's aunt, said her nephew was on the ride from Eagle Butte to Green Grass on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation when the accident happened. West said she did not think the horse was broke to be rode by children.

"He knew horses, but he wasn't a real bronc rider," she said.

Yellow Head's mother, Winona Pretty Weasel, said her son was involved in high school choir, played percussion in band, was on the school's football, track and basketball teams and reached out to make the world a better place.

"He did his best to stay way from bad influences," Pretty Weasel said.

West agreed that her nephew had avoided many of the pitfalls of reservation life.

"He didn't smoke. He didn't drink. He was a good boy," West said.

West said her nephew had started to learn the Lakota language as part of the Cheyenne River Drum Group.

"He had started to sing with a drum group. He was interested in the traditions and attended funerals, wakes and memorials to sing honor songs," West said.

On Monday afternoon, Pretty Weasel and West struggled to make sense of his death.

"This is so hard to do," his mother said.

Pretty Weasel said her son enjoyed his large extended family, playing basketball and football with the neighborhood kids and hanging out with his friends.

He had attended Eagle Butte Elementary School and Dupree School, where he had played on the football and basketball teams. He had returned last fall as a freshman to Cheyenne Eagle Butte High School. She said his favorite teachers were Earl Roberts, John Simms and Greg Norris.

Pretty Weasel said her son loved to laugh and to tease. He had a great personality and was a good-natured boy on the brink of becoming a man.

"His goal in life was to graduate, to go into the military to get scholarship money and then to go on to college to make a better life for himself," she said. "He was a great kid."

Services for Morgan Yellow Head begin at 4 p.m. Friday with the family procession from the 4-mile junction to the H.V. Johnson Culture Center. Wake service begins at 7 p.m. Funeral services begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at the center, with burial at Eagle Butte United Cemetery.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.