NATIVE AMERICANS AND THE HORSE

Native Americans and the Horse

Western Indians Begin to Acquire the "Big Dog"
In 1541, Viceroy Mendoza put allied Aztec chieftains on horses to better lead their tribesmen in the Mixton War of Central Mexico. This appears to have been the first time that horses were officially given to the Indians. Indians were seen to rub themselves with horse sweat, so that they might acquire the magic of the "big dog."

"In many tribes, horses were the measure of wealth."

But the early relationship between Native Americans and horses was not always mutually beneficial. Indians, especially the Apaches, acquired a taste for roasted horse meat. After 1680, the Pueblo Indians forced the Spanish out of New Mexico. Many horses were left behind. The Pueblo learned to ride well but didn't live by the horse. They mainly valued the horse as food and as an item to trade with the Plains Indians for jerked buffalo meat and robes. Horses and horsemanship gradually spread from tribe to tribe until the Plains Indians became the great mounted buffalo hunters of the American West.