Native American soldier turned horse in a circle (7)

I believe the answer is:

arapaho

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'native american' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'soldier turned horse in a circle' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'ra'.
'turned horse' becomes 'pah' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'circle' becomes 'o'.
'ra'+'pah'='rapah'
'a'+'o'='ao'
'rapah' put into 'ao' is 'ARAPAHO'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for arapaho that I've seen before include "Indians" , "tribesman" , "Brave" , "tribe member" , "North American Indian" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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