Comanche Tribe Culture

The Comanche Indians were more talented equestrians and quickly adapted once introduced to the horse. Children learned how to ride at a young age and grew up learning how to achieve tasks such as hunting, gathering, and warfare on the back of a horse. The Sioux Indians adapted the horse lifestyle but were not as intermingled with them as the Comanche Indians. The Comanche Indians originated in the Northern Shoshones but were attracted to the abundance of buffalo and warm weather in the southern plains. When these Plains Indians acquired the horse, their migration to the south was much easier and quicker process than it would have been on foot. The horse was a dominant part in the lives of these Indians.4 With the movement into the new territory,
Among the wealth, power, and security that this old world export brought to the colonies, confusion and some negative qualities also were apparent. The source that this information is being derived from has a slight bias towards the negative impacts of the introduction of the horse so describes more of the hardships behind having a horse as a part of the tribe. This source also seemed to recognize no positive aspects from the introduction of the horse, so the negative implications are heightened. With the introduction of the horse, these tribes were unsure whether this new addition was going to be a helping aspect or food for the men and women. Because of not having an animal to assist with everyday tasks in the past, the knowledge for the care and well-being of these animals was unclear and forced the Indian tribes to create their own ways of living with the horse. Eventually, the real need and desire for the assistance of the horse was made clear when the tribes could recognize the amount of help provided towards farming, transportation and warfare. The Spaniards also opposed to allowing the Indians to turn themselves into “horse-users” so laws against horseback riding among the tribes were established. However, the obvious benefit of having a horse to assist with the everyday activities such as farming was too beneficial to not allow the assistance of this animal. The horse was becoming so valuable that theft was becoming a larger problem. The desire for a horse was increasing and Indians were now recognizing the pressure that was taken off of them to fulfill tasks and duties. Raids were becoming more and more common especially among the Comanche tribe. In these raids not only horses were stolen, however. Mules were stolen due to their high prices in the eastern markets. Along with the animals, a vital by-product of the raids was