page_title: Native Americans and horses
section_title: Negative Impacts
hierarchical_section_title: Native Americans and horses / Negative Impacts
context_page_description: Many advantages and benefits came to those who were able to obtain the horse. Native American tribes were always trying to expand their herd in order to obtain the largest herd. However, the Spaniards, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans were also in pursuit of horses. Many advantages such as mobility, hunting tactics, and warfare were increased with the acquisition of the horse. Native American tribes were very precise in which horses they raided from their enemies. Specifically, horses from the Spaniards and Mexicans had increased value. The preferred horses were normally laden with high priced saddles, blankets, bridles and saddlebags. These pieces of equipment increased trading opportunity and provided tribes with the necessary equipment each household needed. Horses were obtained through trading, raids, and war. Each time a tribe successfully raided another tribe and increased their herd, they became more powerful.
context_section_description: Horses helped Native Americans in a vast number of ways. Hunting techniques, moving, trading, and warfare were all ways that the acquisition of the horse helped Native Americans. However, equestrian life also brought many negative side effects. They disrupted grassland and bison ecology, created social inequalities within and outside of tribes, and increased resource competition.  Because the horse quickly became a useful tool, tribes sought to acquire as many horses as possible. The tribes that had horses very quickly became powerhouse tribes and this created inequalities among tribes that could not support horses. This also led to tribes stealing horses from rival tribes, otherwise known as raiding.
caption: Blackfoot Indians hunting bison on horseback
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