How The West Was Won
Equi-Ads South Central, July 2000

Horses, dogs and livestock played a large part of everyday life in ‘winning the West': it was not just guns and arrows, writes Kuchina Johnson. Indians were the first to teach their horses to lay down on command as it meant they could halve their size in an instant, thus hiding from the Cavalry behind rocks, cacti and even snow drifts in winter. Soon, these same Indian scouts were on the Cavalry's payroll to teach their horses to lie down, but not in order to hide. Instead, they used their horse as a shield to shoot from behind, the horse taking the bullet in the name of duty.

These Indians were also able to train wild dogs to guide horses through vast deserts unaided. The squaws had dogs as helpers for fetching firewood, which they dropped at the entrance of the tepee; a task they had picked up from the children of the tribe.

Homesteaders were soon to settle and cattle by the thousands roamed the plains. Cowboys and Indians needed to get along and their horses and dogs were the only thing they had in common. Horses and dogs rarely changed hands and only in death were animal and human parted..