The threat to kill our horses invoked a dark and not-too-distant past. During the 19th-century Indian Wars, U.S. military campaigns systematically seized and slaughtered Indigenous horses—essential for transportation, hunting, and warfare. This tactic, documented in policies like the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty violations, immobilized tribes, disrupted economies, and eroded cultural practices, exemplifying colonial strategies of subjugation and forced dependence.