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From Ballet To Horse History to Free Plants: Spring And The Weekend Are Here

From ballet to free plants to honoring the history of the horse--the weekend is packed with fun things to do. 

Most of us probably think the horse was brought here by the Europeans but originally, they were native. They didn't stick around, though. The WitteMuseum's Bruce Shackelford tells why.

"By ten-thousand years ago they were extinct. They were a prey animal. Other animals ate them and so did people."

Shackelford says once exposed, Native Americans took to horses quickly. 

"And they got incredibly good at it and incredibly good at riding."

The Witte's new exhibit Splendor on the Range is all about the native populations and the horse. Shackelford details the exhibit.

"You're going to see artifacts. You're going to see models and recreations. There's a full-size tepee that your children can get in, and you can, too, if you want to get down and get in it. We have these bison hides that date from the 1830s and 40s."

Presentations and stories by Native American actors round it out.

Also on Saturday, "We give away a thousand plants to the first thousand people who make it there."

That's Anne Hayden and the “we” is the San Antonio Water System.

"We're offering three kinds of plants this year that are Monarch friendly."

The plants they're giving away are food sources for the severely endangered Monarch butterfly. Also, they're native, which means they're easy to grow.

"We always try to provide information about low water use plants."

The event is at SAWS headquarters this Saturday from 9 a.m.-1p.m. Also, at that event, many programs on what you can plant to help the Monarch in their migration across Texas. Then on Saturday evening: Ballet in the Park! Here's Ballet San Antonio's Jenniann Colon.

"We head out to Travis Park, we set up a stage, we have food trucks, the whole nine yards, and our dancers go out and do a performance for the community at large. Everyone is welcome, and it's a great opportunity to expose everyone to ballet."

Ballet San Antonio performs Saturday night at Travis Park.

"This is an opportunity for us to bring arts to the community."

She says the free performance is a great first exposure to ballet.

"It's just families and people who love the arts."

Find more on Ballet San Antonio here

Find more on the Witte Museum's Splendor on the Range here.

Find more on SAWS' Spring Bloom program here

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii