The travellers had frequent occasions to admire the skill and grace with
which these Indians managed their horses. Some of them made a striking
display when mounted; themselves and their steeds decorated in gala
style; for the Indians often bestow more finery upon their horses than
upon themselves. Some would hang around the necks, or rather on the
breasts of their horses, the most precious ornaments they had obtained
from the white men; others interwove feathers in their manes and tails.
The Indian horses, too, appear to have an attachment to their wild
riders, and indeed, it is said that the horses of the prairies readily
distinguish an Indian from a white man by the smell, and give a
preference to the former. Yet the Indians, in general, are hard
riders, and, however they may value their horses, treat them with great
roughness and neglect. Occasionally the Cheyennes joined the white
hunters in pursuit of the elk and buffalo; and when in the ardor of the
chase, spared neither themselves nor their steeds, scouring the prairies
at full speed, and plunging down precipices and frightful ravines that
threatened the necks of both horse and horseman. The Indian steed, well
trained to the chase, seems as mad as the rider, and pursues the game as
eagerly as if it were his natural prey, on the flesh of which he was to
banquet.
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