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Until Europeans arrived in the Americas with horses, Plains Indians hunted buffalo on foot.
They used dogs to carry belongings. That’s why some Plains Indians refer to the time before Europeans as the Dog Days. In the 1500s and 1600s, Spanish soldiers and settlers brought horses to the Southwest. Over the next few hundred years, some horses escaped. They became wild, multiplied, and spread throughout the Plains. By the late 1600s, Plains Indians were taming these wild horses. They used them to hunt buffalo, or they traded them. By making it easier for Plains Indians to get food, the horse created a better life for these people. Some call it their golden age.
