Two unidentified men identified by the known images as Chief Iron Tail and a second Lakota warrior are depicted mounted on horseback before a large canvas performance tent in this 6 X 8 inch albumen on 10 X 12 inch cabinet card, likely dating to the late 1880s or 1890s during the active touring years of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Both men wear full-length eagle feather war bonnets with long trailing trains, and each carries an upright feathered lance, one held vertical and one raised dramatically at an angle against the open sky.

The rider at left sits a pale gray horse and wears a fringed hide garment with a beaded or quilled breastplate of bone hairpipe construction. The rider at right, mounted on a dark bay horse, wears a similarly constructed breastplate and raises his lance toward the upper right of the frame, his headdress extending nearly the full height of his body.

Oglala Lakota leader Iron Tail, also known as Sinte Maza, traveled extensively with Buffalo Bill's Wild West and became one of the most recognized Native figures of the era, later serving as one of the models for the Indian Head or Buffalo nickel design introduced in 1913. The large canvas tent visible behind both riders is consistent with the show's touring encampment infrastructure. The reverse of the mount bears no photographer's imprint and carries only a handwritten numeral at the lower edge.