"She Had Some Horses" - reflections

While first reading this poem, I thought it was very interesting how the author used horses as symbols for the message she was trying to send. There was much evidence that represent a female experiencing reconciliation of contradictory feelings. One being that she says that these horses "thought they were the sun and their bodies shone and burned like stars", yet a few lines later she says "the horses were much too shy , and kept quite in their stalls of their own making". This is a contridictory thought: they think of themselves as the sun but they are too shy. What I like the most about this poem is how honest Joy Harjo is in her writing. Some of the images she gives us in this poem are very detailed and it is easy to see how it is one of her most famous works.
I feel like the spirits that are described in this poem have neither female nor male gender as a whole. i believe that she describes both males and females at different points in this poem, or at least the images she presents to us make us feel that way. For example: at one point in the poem there is a visual of beer and "spitting at male queens", which has a more masculine feel to it. And at one point in the poem Harjo talks about "raping her", and obviously we know what comes to mind here. So it is my belief that her horses really have no specific gender throughout this poem, only that there are differences in masculinity and femininity.
What makes this poem even more interesting is you think you understand the message the author is trying to send until we get her last 3 lines:

She had some horses she loved.

She had some horses she hated.

These were the same horses.

As I mentioned before, the authors points in this poem are very honest and I think they highlight some of the things that really does happen in society that she has experienced. And here it is as if she is summing that up by saying there are some good things, and there are some bad things, but really when you look at the grand scheme of things it is like they balance out. These are just my opinions on what this poem might mean and I am sure there are many different interpretations that could follow.