Jackson Pearson
October 28, 2014
Horses have been used by people all over the world for
almost everything. They have been used to plow fields, transport goods, and
carry a warriors in combat. The Native Americans used horses greatly in all these
ways. Horses, almost instantly, had a huge impact on Native American Culture. The
greatest effect the introduction of the horse to Native Americans is that it transformed
the Native American culture almost completely. The Indians connected
spiritually and culturally to these new creatures.
The Indian culture did not have a currency so there was
an abundance of trading. The horse changed trade greatly because now the horse
could be traded for an American’s weapon or for another Indian’s food. The horse
was a sign of wealth. Oppose to today were each person’s wealth is determined
by how much money they have, Indian’s wealth was determined by how many things
they possessed which largely includes how many horses they have in their care.
As you can assume, each horse an Indian owns buts a financial burden on them,
making only the more successful Indians capable of owning many horses. This impact
may seem slim but the introduction of the horse to Indians also introduced many
new things. In a sense the horse was a catalyst for an evolutionary period in
the Indian culture.
Spiritually Indians connected with horses very easily. Often
an Indian would take great pride in their horse, decorating it and grooming it
often to look good. Many Indians names had horses from a young age because as
they grew older they grew closer to their horse making the spiritual bond that
they had even greater. An Indian uses their horse for everything; they used them
for hunting, fighting, farming, or just to ride into town. As an Indian spent more
and more time with their horse, they grew very close spiritually as well. Even
though horses impacted the Indian culture very greatly; horses had an impact in
other areas as well.
Horses helped an Indian get from their home to the river
in lightning fast speeds compared to the speed before. They completely changed
how Indians transverse. The horse was to the Indians as a car was to the 20th
century. They made things very easy to carry as well. They could carry over 200
pounds over a few miles in a quarter the time as before and not be nearly as
tired when they finished. Horses were used largely for travel, but also they were
used for war. Indians would ride on Horses with a bow or with a spear and become
very deadly. They could travel around a battle field very fast and be in control
of all their movements; the Europeans that brought the horses to the new world
had no idea later on that the Indians would use horses against them in war.
Horses had many effects on the Indians, some lasted forever
and some only briefly had an effect. The effects that the horse had on
transportation and warfare only showed for a brief time in history, but the
effects that it had on the Indian culture will endure forever. Horses will continue
to carry on bonds with today’s Indians and with people all over the world.
Horses are used largely in today’s era for recreation, farming purposes and
create bonds everywhere.
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| Indian Chief relaxing on his horse |
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| How the Plains Indians used horses to hunt buffalo |
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How the Indians used the horses in war Indians riding on their horses |
Works Cited
The national geographic article provided a great deal of
understanding in basically everything that I needed to know about the influence
of horses and Indians. This article really didn’t lack anything and I used this
source through the majority of my paper.
This article was extremely helpful. It helped me grasp a
better understanding of the spiritual role that horses had in the Indian
culture. I used this article in a large part of my paper.
All the facts I found in this article I found in the others,
it was a good source in the fact that it helped me know that the facts from the
other sources were correct.
The first thing I learned about the influence that the horse
had on the Indians was that horses did not exist to them until they were
brought from overseas. This article helped me know where they came from
exactly. I did not really use this source in my paper but it was very brief and
interesting.
This article was alright. It wasn’t very organized and it
took time to read. The majority of the facts found from this source were found
in all the other sources.
I didn’t find a need in using this source for anything but
backing my research up. It was an interesting article but I didn’t use it in my
paper for anything but knowing that my facts were correct
