After leaving his native state of Wyoming, cowboy and country musician Ian Munsick was surprised to learn the version of the West made for the big screen was better known than the real West he calls home. The existence of Native American cowboys—his friends and community members—seemed to be unknown to the rest of the world.

Ian, along with his childhood best friend Stephen Yellowtail, a cowboy from the Crow Tribe, decided to capture the West as they know it for the world to see. In their documentary, White Buffalo: Voices of the West, the story of the Native American cowboy 
finally comes into the light.

As a son of Wyoming, Ian Munsick grew up immersed in Western culture, surrounded by cowboys and cowgirls of all walks of life. Stephen Yellowtail’s family taught him a lifelong lesson early on—Native American cowboys are real, and their contributions to the West are undeniable.

When he moved to Nashville, Ian found his fellow country music artists were getting the West wrong, if they were attempting to portray it at all. His experiences fueled a determination to bring his slice of the West—Wyoming, Montana, and the Native American reservations across the Northwest—into the spotlight.

The inspiration behind our documentary called Voices of the West is really where I grew up and the culture that I grew up in and around, which is cowboys and Native Americans, Ian explains. And a lot of people in Nashville, and in country music, and probably the world, don't really know that cowboys are Native Americans and Native Americans are cowboys.

Recognizing the potential of his platform, Ian invited his friend Stephen, along with Native American cowboy Dougie Hall and Native American cowgirl Sammy Jo Bird, to share their stories and set the record straight.

It's important for people to see the real indigenous culture of the West because it's actually real, he explains. 
I could drive 30 minutes from now, and I would be on a real deal reservation with working ranchers, working cowboys, working cowgirls. And that's not a story that you find in a book.

On the serene hills of the Crow reservation, an orange sunset is cast over purple mountains. Fertile grass grows wildly along endless slopes—a pristine place for grazing cattle. With over 3,600 square miles of breathtaking land in southern Montana, 
this is a cowboy’s paradise.

It’s a land steeped in history—a history that traces back to the very beginning. Across the Northwest, the Crow and other local tribes preserved a sacred way of life rooted in their special connection with the land. They chased buffalo for miles, living as their ancestors had for thousands of years.

Everything changed when horses arrived. Recognizing the horse’s potential to revolutionize the way they hunt, travel, and conduct warfare, the Crow took up a new role as master horse breeders and trainers in the 18th century. This legacy persists to this day, with herds of horses scattered across the Crow reservation—a symbol of their enduring culture and heritage.

Stephen Yellowtail was raised in this world.

Horses have been a vital part of not just my life, but my tribe's culture, he explains. And it's something that's been part of our lives for hundreds of years.

Over the years, the Crow and surrounding tribes absorbed the emerging identity of the American cowboy into their own. The two influenced one another, and now, they’re one in the same. For Stephen, bringing this little-known fact under the spotlight was a key motivation for participating in Voices of the West.

It was one of the first opportunities for Native Americans to get to tell their story, he explains. A lot of times, it's someone else doing it for us. So, it was cool to represent myself…and let everyone know that Native American cowboys do exist.

Stephen represents more than just a single tribe, and even more than the wider Native American community. In Voices of the West, he expands the traditional scope of the cowboy beyond the typical depiction in the movies, revealing the rich heritage of Mexican cowboys, Black cowboys, and Native American cowboys alike. As Stephen explains in the documentary, each was influential in the West but throughout history have never been recorded and never wrote about.

You just get to see a different type of cowboy that's rarely, if ever, portrayed. And that's us Natives, Stephen says. 
Natives have always been the savage and the bad guys in the movies, and we're everyday people.

With his passion for horses and deep respect for the land he calls home, Stephen Yellowtail reflects the 
shared ethos of both Native and cowboy cultures which continue to shape each other to this day.

I still keep in mind my roots—that we're here, and it's a gift to be on Earth, and we live in such a beautiful area—and I want to 
keep it that way, he says. I'm going to do that by just respecting it.

I’m just doing my best to live like my ancestors did. I live with the animals, 
I make my living from the animals, and every one of these horses has a purpose.

— Dougie Hall in Voices of the West

Hundreds of years ago, Dougie Hall’s Blackfeet ancestors lived alongside the buffalo, chasing them across the fertile slopes of the Great Plains. When buffalo populations dropped, horses took their place as the anchor of Blackfeet society. Dougie inherited his special connection to horses from his Uncle Truman Hall, a legendary Blackfeet bucking horse trainer.

The Hall name goes back into Southern Texas, Truman explains. Our grandfathers, 
Dougie's grandfathers and mine, they trailed the first cattle for the State of Montana.

The cowboys on that cattle drive established a legacy that has survived the test of time. No matter 
how much life on and off the reservation changes, Dougie is determined to keep that legacy alive.

Being an indigenous cowboy in today's world, it’s the closest I could get to my ancestors, Dougie explains. 
I think that's why I was really drawn towards horses—bucking horses, especially.

Dougie’s ancestors forged a resilient heritage—one he is eager to bring into the spotlight. 
Indian cowboys, in general, are some of the original Voices of the West, Dougie says.

Dougie’s world revolves around the bucking horse, a symbol of elegance, restraint, and raw power. These majestic animals are a currency on the Blackfeet reservation, but they’re so much more for Dougie. Bucking horses provide space to breathe and embrace positivity, no matter how dark the world feels.

When I got older and I lost my mother...I didn't know where to go or what to do, and horses saved my life, he says. I turned to them, and they gave me a place to be. A happy place to be. And they continue to do that today.

Just like his ancestors, Dougie relies on horses, and they rely on him. Their connection is unbreakable, echoing a dynamic time in Blackfeet history carried forward by the modern Blackfeet cowboy.

Bright lights shining on a dusty arena. Horses ready to bust out of the chute with explosive force. The watchful gaze beaming from the crowd. These are familiar sights for Sammy Jo Bird, a Blackfeet rodeo athlete with grit in her bones. She dominates in the arena, challenging the traditional perception of rodeo athletes at every competition.

Sammy Jo defies expectations with a fighting spirit that puts her in the same league as any other pro rodeo athlete.

The cowgirl lifestyle to me is a way of life, Sammy Jo says. 
It's being passionate. It’s being gritty. It's being true to who you are. It's being authentic.

The cowgirl lifestyle is the only lifestyle I've ever known.

— Sammy Jo Bird

Sammy Jo chose this lifestyle just as much as it chose her. Following in the footsteps of her father, 
she carved out a successful path as a cowgirl and rodeo athlete, overcoming countless obstacles along the way.

Rodeo has always been a way for me to push myself and strive to the next goal, Sammy Jo explains. It's always given me responsibility. It's taught me patience. It's taught me work ethic…So, to me, I owe everything to not only the sport of rodeo, 
but horses, livestock, just the life of ranching.

Sammy Jo provides another valuable perspective in Voices of the West, showcasing the diverse worlds of rodeo and ranching. 
But her motivations are unique. Through the documentary, Sammy Jo hopes to light a spark among viewers, especially those who might not otherwise see their potential.

I just hope that it inspires somebody to follow their dreams, she says. Even if it isn't in rodeo, if it's in music or art or whatever it might be, I hope that some little kid sitting on the couch sees it and feels even the slightest bit inspired. If it plants one seed in one person, that's what I hope somebody will take from it.

By bringing these stories into the spotlight, Ian, Stephen, Dougie, and Sammy Jo paint a portrait of the West shaped by its inhabitants—real, hardworking people of all walks of life who are determined to carry the torch of their families’ legacies.

It's the real deal West that I grew up in and that is still here now, Ian Munsick says. It's not how it was. It's not how it will be. I hope that it's a timestamp of how the West is right now.

This version of the West—the one that Ian, Stephen, Dougie, and Sammy Jo call home—will live on forever.