The Incomcompatible Element: The Horse Among The Plains Indians

Warfare was the most predominant threat that faced the Plains Indians which occured from the expanding American economy and the scarcity of horses. Knowing they would die, some Indians released their horses in the winter season and would collect survivors in the spring. The Crees and Assiniboines saw their horse population diminishing so they started to rely on the raids of neighboring villages to provide them with horses. Warfare also led to the overall decline of bison. Because bison were scarce, formerly allied tribes fought for resources. This led to the virtually effortless Euro-American acquisition of reservations. When first acquiring horses, many tribes, like the Crows, abandoned their farms because they had such high expectations of equestrianism. The Crows’ population began to decrease so they desperately allied with the Americans, who soon adopted them into their armies.
The Incompatible Element: The Horse among the Eastern Plains Villagers

Not only were horses unable to survive in colder climate conditions, but they started to destroy timber resources, crops, and farmland of stationary tribes. Because the villages were stationary, they acquired more horses through raiding. This resulted in even greater demolition of the environment. The Mandans, Arikaras, and Hidatsas decided to continue their agricultural lifestyle and suppress nomadism. These neutral tribes didn’t own many horses. The fewer horses in your possession meant less successful hunting. Many less mobile tribes relied on the river to bring them food. They would claim dead, drowned buffalo that had floated down the river. One villager describes, “the stench is absolutely intolerable, yet the soup made from it which is bottle green is reckoned delicious” (Hӓmӓlӓinen 20). Most geographically stabilized tribes had to receive protein without hunting, even if it meant recycling buffalo