Harjo and her Horses

In Harjo's poem "She Had Some Horses", the first thing I tried to understand is why she decided to use horses to represent people. Honestly, i still haven't figured that one out. As far as the other points of the poem, some other contradictory feelings ca be found in the following lines:

She had horses who thought they were the sun and their bodies shone and burned like stars.

She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.

These lines are definitely in conflict with each other because of the fact that the first line the "horse" seems confident and very outgoing. but in the second line, the "horse" is quiet and whispers, and is afraid to speak. The contrast between the dark and light elements int he two lines are, in my opinion, important also. When the horse is so confident that they think they are the sun and their bodies are very bright. on the other hand, why would the horses be afraid to speak let alone in dark where their bodies would not be seen.
I do not believe there is a specific gender in the poem but i do feel the poem is directed more towards women. Harjo's descriptions can be seen as being directed toward women but many men can have the same feelings and views that are being described, save a few that are just to obvious.
Some "clear truths" can be found in the fourth stanza. They describe a person who cries in their beer, and another horse that "spit at male queens who made them afraid of themselves". These lines definitely feel more masculine especially the line about the male queens. in today's society, male queens would most likely be gay men. straight men do not like being around gay men for fear of them getting hit on. So they try to demean these men to make themselves feel good and to reinforce their "straightness and this stanza clearly gives that impression.
if looked at in a political sense, the last 2 lines of stanza 6 and the first line of stanza 7 can be considered as such. they are clearly christian which is a very dominant religion and many people would be able to identify with these lines. The feminist view definitely comes at the end of stanza 7.

She had horses who tried to save her, who climbed in her bed at night and prayed as they raped her.

The sadness of this line is evident and from what it says the girl that was raped seemed to know her rapist since the first words are they tried to save her. In a feminist light, rape is one of the biggest fears for women everywhere so this line can strike a chord.
The last lines of the poem provide the ultimate resolution. They basically say that although people can be really messed up and some can be very good but all in all people will be people and there is nothing you can do to change them. There will always be those who you can love and hate at the same time.