Moving 1,400 horses with a cavalry column that also had to continue operations was logistically impractical.

The horses required forage and water that the column could not guarantee while also carrying out military operations.

Maintaining a herd of that size would have made the column less mobile and more vulnerable.

The decision Mackenzie made — burn everything, keep what the column could actually use, shoot the rest — was the decision that produced the most complete destruction of the material resistance capacity while leaving his column free to continue operations.

It was, within the strategic framework of the Red River War, the correct tactical decision.