In 1877, around 750 members of the Nez Perce tribe in the northwest of the USA refused to give up their freedom and go to a reservation. Instead, they set out with 2,000 horses on an adventurous and costly escape over 2,000 kilometers across the Rocky Mountains. In 1877, around 750 members of the indigenous Nez Perce tribe in the northwest of the USA refused to give up their freedom and go to a reservation that only granted them a small amount of land. Instead, they set out with two thousand horses - mostly Appaloosas, a breed that the Nez Perce had bred themselves - on an adventurous escape over more than 2,000 kilometers across the Rocky Mountains. They have waited a long time for this moment: Jon, Rosa and Jack Yearout, Chief Emmit Taylor, Abigail and Davie Joe Whitman and around 20 other members of the Nez Perce tribe guide their horses into the waters of the Yellowstone River at the Nez Perce Crossing, exactly where their ancestors crossed the historic river almost 150 years ago. Back then, they crossed the area of ​​today's Yellowstone National Park - for them a magical world inhabited by ghosts - and defeated or cleverly escaped five units of the US Army. Only to be forced to surrender in the end, shortly before reaching the safe Canadian border. With the words "I will fight no more forever", their last chief, Joseph, laid down his arms. In his honour and in memory of the memorable escape and the "inventors" of the Appaloosa horse breed, the Appaloosa Horse Club has been organising the so-called Chief Joseph Trail Ride since 1965. Every year, a section of the escape route measuring over 100 miles is ridden, starting the following year where it ended the previous year. After 13 years, the trail ride is complete and begins again from the beginning. For decades, hundreds of riders of all skin colors took part in the ride. In recent years, this has no longer been possible; only recently did the number of participants rise above 100 again. At the same time, two dozen Nez Perce set off on their own ride through Yellowstone Park, following in the footsteps of their ancestors, to experience an exciting passage of the long escape route and their ancestors' desire for freedom, "freedom on horseback," for themselves. On this journey back in time to their roots, today's Nez Perce encounter bison and grizzly bears and come to places that still bear the names and traces of their ancestors. A team from "360° Reportage" accompanied the participants of both rides with a camera. Reportage by Michael Schumacher and Regina Gerhard (D/F 2022, 32 min) Media library: https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/106265-... #artefamily #travel #usa Video available until: Subscribe to the ARTE Junior YouTube channel: / @artefamilyde Follow us on social networks: Snapchat : artejunior Facebook : / infobyarte Twitter : / arteinfo