By riding horses, Plains Indians could travel from place to place faster than ever before.
A mounted hunter or warrior had an enormous advantage over slow-moving prey or an unmounted enemy. He could even pursue stampeding buffalo and follow herds of these beasts wherever they roamed in any kind of weather.
By allowing them to hunt buffalo much of the year, the horse ensured that the Native Americans would have plenty of meat to eat and enough hides to make their clothing and tipis.
