# Horses in old west **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433 "2022-08-10T13:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/1 "2022-08-10T13:01:28Z")
I get the impression that people who were on a trip would sometimes get a new horse at a town because their horse needed rest. . Is that true? Did they try to come back later and reclaim their horse or did it not matter they would just get a different horse?. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/2 "2022-08-10T13:15:29Z")
I don’t see where you would get that impression for individuals. Most westerns show them taking their horse to a local livery to be fed and groomed. Or they just tie them to the post outside of the saloon. Stealing a mans horse was a hanging offense if you believe the old time westerns, not something you would do with a rental. Stagecoach and freight companies would trade out horses, but they were rotated through other company owned coaches and wagons. Perhaps you are thinking of the Pony Express. Where a rider would switch out horses and continue on with the mail… This was a short lived operation and not the norm. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/3 "2022-08-10T13:18:08Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Stagecoach companies would trade out horses, but they were rotated through other stagecoaches. As did mail delivery like the Pony Express. There were probably a number of times when such a practice of trading fresh horses to expedite a journey were used, but it wouldn’t be for the average traveler. ETA: I see @Si_Amigo added the bit about Pony Express on edit. So, edit ninja’d? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/4 "2022-08-10T13:19:25Z")
Here’s an article that says horse rentals were common, but there didn’t seem to be any one-way rental option, as with modern car rentals. If you rented a horse you were expected to return it to the place you rented it. You could board a horse at a livery stable, so let’s say if you needed to switch horses you could board your tired horse at a mid-point town and rent a new one. Prices for boarding were 50 cents a day to 10 dollars a week, not cheap for the ordinary cowboy. [https://truewestmagazine.com/livery-stables-west/](https://truewestmagazine.com/livery-stables-west/) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/5 "2022-08-10T13:25:53Z")
pony express only lasted about a year because the telegraph took away all their business ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/6 "2022-08-10T13:40:30Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Stealing a mans horse was a hanging offense if you believe the old time westerns, not something you would do with a rental. Probably untrue. Certainly a felony (akin to stealing a car) but not often a capital offense. Among famous examples, Wyatt Earp had been accused of horse theft in the Indian territories (due to corruption and such, it’s quite possible this was a false accusation) and had he not made his escape and had he been found guilty at trial, he could have reasonably expected a prison sentence of several years rather than hanging. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/7 "2022-08-10T14:15:05Z")
Cavalry troops on campaign would bring a herd of remounts. Cowboys would bring a string of two or more trained cow ponies on a drive. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/8 "2022-08-10T14:17:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Here’s an article that says horse rentals were common, but there didn’t seem to be any one-way rental option, as with modern car rentals. If you rented a horse you were expected to return it to the place you rented it. I would imagine that buying a horse at your place of departure and selling it at your destination is a suitable substitute for a one-way rental. In his highly readable book _Engineering in the Ancient World_, J.G. Landels describes this as a common practice for cross-country travellers on donkeys in ancient Greece; I don’t see why it wouldn’t have worked in the West. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/9 "2022-08-10T14:21:28Z")
I would expect that if your horse was worn out and needed rest there was a significant probability that you were also worn out and needed rest. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/10 "2022-08-10T14:29:04Z")
[Endurance Hunting](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o) shows otherwise. And you can assume it’s how humans domesticated horses. More recently, Robert Falcon Scott had to shoot all his ponies long before he and the rest of his team kept on walking to the South Pole. We can’t run as fast as horses, but we can (convince ourselves) to keep going. We can’t carry as much, but we can carry more relative to our body weight. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/11 "2022-08-10T14:37:51Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I would imagine that buying a horse at your place of departure and selling it at your destination is a suitable substitute for a one-way rental. In his highly readable book _Engineering in the Ancient World_, J.G. Landels describes this as a common practice for cross-country travellers on donkeys in ancient Greece; I don’t see why it wouldn’t have worked in the West. It would depend on if there was significantly more demand in one direction than the other. You could end up with a situation where horses were in short supply and very expensive in the popular departure city, and overly abundant and worth next to nothing in the popular destination city. But so long as the number of travelers seeking to do this was small relative to the overall market for horses it should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/12 "2022-08-10T15:42:12Z")
I also don’t think horses were interchangeable. I owned horses, and not all horses are the same. After a while, you learn each of their strengths and weakness. If you’re heading out on a month-long journey, you would likely stop every few days in a town and leave your horse at the livery stable to be fed and watered while you found someplace to eat, drink, and sleep. You wouldn’t get a different horse to continue on the journey since you have no idea whether that horse is in shape for a long trip or, as in the case of my horse, would be likely to buck you off in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/13 "2022-08-10T16:15:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > , would be likely to buck you off in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason True enough, and relating to the horse-rental discussion upthread, if I was bucked off a horse I’m sure that I would have to say that it Hertz. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/14 "2022-08-10T16:17:12Z")
And remember, horses are only afraid of two things. Things that move and things that don’t move. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/15 "2022-08-10T17:04:31Z")
A well trained saddle horse was/is a very valuable thing. You understand it and the horse understands what you want with a few simple commands. It may have been your most valuable asset in those days. You aren’t going to be pulling into a new town and trading your Ferrari for some Pinto. Now harness horses for pulling some wagon are something that you might trade in for a fresh set, but not your saddle horse. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/16 "2022-08-10T18:09:15Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > And remember, horses are only afraid of two things. Things that move and things that don’t move. Schrödinger’s Cat must be the ultimate nightmare for them. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/17 "2022-08-10T18:37:17Z")
A livery stable would have horses for rent or purchase. A stage coach/transport company would have teams of horses stabled along the route to switch out. Now, could a person ride along and trade their horse to a livery stable on their route to get another horse? Sure. A good horse is important, but if all you care about is getting from A to B, how “good” they are might be less important to you. ETA: Lynchings for horse theft did occur on a vigilante basis. If you made it to the legal system, you would spend time in jail. I haven’t found statistics on how many made it to the legal system. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/18 "2022-08-10T18:37:53Z")
Huh. I always assumed it was a rental if you’d been thru the desert on a horse with no name. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/19 "2022-08-10T19:01:30Z")
talking about one way rentals - there have been times where uhaul had to hire people to drive trucks back to states where a lot of people left due to job losses. Normally they would drive empty trucks back north from the SE or SW. This mainly happens when the economy goes down like in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433/20 "2022-08-10T20:01:32Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Now, could a person ride along and trade their horse to a livery stable on their route to get another horse? Sure. And not just to a livery stable, but to other individuals. There was often somebody in a rural district who was known for having a main or side business in swapping, trading or buying/selling horses in an opportunistic (and not always entirely legal) way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horses-in-old-west/969433.md?page=2)