The Horse Nation and Native People

By editor

Miles City, Custer County, Montana

The arrival of the horse on the northern plains reshaped the lives of the Indigenous peoples who first encountered it in the early eighteenth century. Brought originally by Spanish explorers and settlers into the lands of what is now New Mexico around 1680, horses soon escaped or were traded beyond Spanish control. Their movement northward was propelled not by colonial armies or explorers, but by Native hands through trade, raids, and the natural movement of peoples. By the time Lewis and Clark crossed these lands in 1805, the Lakota, Crow, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, and other nations had already embraced the horse and integrated it deeply into their ways of life for two or three generations.

The horse transformed the mobility, hunting practices, warfare, and social structure of the Plains tribes. The Crow, whose ancestral home lies along the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers, became renowned for their horsemanship. The Lakota, moving westward onto the plains of the Missouri River, adapted their buffalo hunting to rely heavily on mounted pursuit. The Cheyenne, or Tsehtsehstaheso in their own tongue, had migrated from their original lands in what is now Ontario, Canada, pressured by the Assiniboine and Ojibwa who had firearms before them. By the early 1700s, the Cheyenne had settled near the Red River in present-day North Dakota. It was there, at the Biesterfeldt Site, a village archeologists have located, that horses first came into their possession around 1730, bringing a profound shift in their culture.

In the Cheyenne language, the horse is called mo'ehnoh'ha, a term derived from Algonquian roots meaning something similar to "domesticated elk." This name reflects the way the horse was first understood -- an animal like the elk familiar to the people, but one that could be tamed and ridden. The Cheyenne oral tradition holds that the horse came as a gift, a companion in both life and battle. Horse herds became symbols of wealth and status, and their images appear on ceremonial objects, representing not only practical utility but also qualities of beauty, energy, and healing.

The horse allowed the Cheyenne to expand their hunting grounds and defend their people more effectively. Their mounted warriors could now engage enemies at greater distances, conduct raids, and protect their families with increased efficiency. The Blackfoot, who had migrated into Montana from the north, also became skilled horsemen after acquiring horses through trade and warfare. In 1819, a small band of Blackfeet warriors met the Cheyenne while returning from a successful raid against the Comanche horse herds in the south. Such encounters not only exchanged horses but also stories and strategies that spread and reinforced the horse culture on the Plains.

Christian Barthelmess, a German-born soldier and photographer stationed at Fort Keogh near Miles City in 1888, documented the Native peoples during this era of transition. His photographs, many taken with great care to place his subjects in their natural surroundings, preserve images of a way of life intimately tied to the horse. Barthelmess’s portraits of Crow and Cheyenne riders, their regalia, and their horses offer a rare glimpse into a time when the horse was not merely a tool but a central element of identity and survival. His work now resides in collections at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and the Range Riders Museum in Miles City.

One of the great Cheyenne leaders, Little Wolf (Mȧhéóve), who lived during the latter half of the nineteenth century, spoke often about the importance of the horse to his people. He said, "The horse is not just an animal to us. It carries our children, our warriors, and our spirits. It is part of our family and our future." Little Wolf’s leadership during the Northern Cheyenne’s struggle for survival following the Fort Robinson breakout in 1879 highlighted the continued reliance on horses even amid the devastating pressures from the U.S. government and settler expansion.

The consequences of the horse’s introduction were complex and far-reaching. On one hand, it allowed Indigenous nations to thrive economically and militarily on the Plains. On the other, it intensified intertribal warfare and competition over grazing lands and hunting territories. Tribes that acquired horses earlier gained advantages over their neighbors, leading to shifts in power dynamics across the region. The Crow, for example, used their mastery of horsemanship to defend their lands along the Yellowstone River against encroaching Sioux and Cheyenne groups as these tribes moved westward.

This transformation also altered relationships with the environment. The horse increased the efficiency of buffalo hunting but also contributed to the large-scale depletion of buffalo herds by the mid-nineteenth century, a factor that would have tragic consequences for all Plains nations. The arrival of the horse was followed by other waves of change -- the introduction of firearms, the spread of diseases, and ultimately the confinement of Native peoples to reservations. Yet, through these transformations, the horse remained central to Indigenous identity and resistance.

The spiritual dimension of the horse for Plains peoples is evident in both oral history and material culture. Horses appear in visions and songs, and their qualities are celebrated in rituals. The Cheyenne, for instance, view the horse as a being that embodies strength and endurance, a partner in the challenges of life on the plains. This respect is reflected in the care given to horses and the ceremonies surrounding their acquisition and use.

As someone who has witnessed the enduring presence of horses in Native life, I recognize that the horse is not a relic of the past but a living part of our communities. Today, horse riding continues to be an important cultural practice among the Lakota, Cheyenne, Crow, and other nations. It connects generations and keeps alive a tradition born from a moment when a creature from distant lands changed the course of history for the peoples of the Northern Plains.

See also

• The Horse Nation and Native People at Miles City, Custer County
• Early Horse History at Miles City, Custer County
• Thunder Horses at Three Forks, Gallatin County