Self-portrait of the artist dressed for war, wearing a headdress of eagle feathers, and armed
with a dragoon saber hung with a feathered banner. The horse, a bay roan gelding with natural stripes on its legs, is bridled with a Mexican ring-bit, from the chin bar of which hang iron chains and coscojo tinklers. Note the horse's “coup feathers” pierced through its ears, an indication of prior victories.