Plains Indian Horsemen
The alliance of the American Indians and the Spanish horse gave the Indians great mobility and changed their way of life. Tribes of horses were dominant over other tribes who relied on moving camp on foot. The plains Indians were great mounted buffalo hunters. They traded meat and buffalo hides for glass beads, metal tools, cloth and guns.

The Observations of Artist George Catlin
George Catlin (1796-1872) was an American painter and student of Indian life. Much of our present-day knowledge about the habits and customs of American Indians comes from Catlin's journals and paintings. He records much about wild horses and their alliance with the Indians:

Indians and Horses at War
In many tribes, horses were the measure of wealth. So, horses were often the cause, as well as the means of waging war between alien tribes. The Indians' own pictographs often featured their most prized possession and companion - the horse.

Wallace Coffey is a Comanche horseman. According to Wallace, when the Spanish introduced the Comanche to the horse, "our responsibility was to be stable hands. We were literally slaves to the Spaniards and were the ones that fed the horses and cared for them. When the horse became an ally to the Comanche," Wallace says, "it wasn't just as a beast of burden. The horse really became a companion and a friend."