Families carrying children and elderly members on foot were very slow.

A horse was wealth.

On the Southern Plains, horses were a form of currency, a store of value, and a measure of status.

Wealthy families had large horse herds; poorer families had fewer horses.

Horses were given as gifts, traded for other goods, used to cement alliances, and raided from enemies precisely because their value was so high.

A horse was food, as a last resort.

In extremity — when no other food was available — a horse could be killed and eaten.