The 400 horses that were retained from the captured herd — the smaller portion that was not shot — presumably went to army use.

But 1,400 horses presented a specific problem.

The army column could not manage a herd that large and simultaneously conduct military operations across the Panhandle.

Herding more than a thousand horses was a significant logistical burden that would slow movement, require personnel to manage, and create a supply problem of its own.

More importantly, horses that could not be kept by the army could not be allowed to scatter on the Plains, where the families who had fled the canyon might recover them.

The entire point of the operation was to deny the off-reservation peoples the means of resistance and survival.