the spanish explorers and conquistadores first brought horses to the southwest in the 1500s. hernán cortés was the first spanish to bring horses in 1519. juan de oñate brought many more horses in 1592. later these horses moved north and came to the plains region. the horses changed the way the plains indians hunted. they quickly adapted to hunting bison on horseback as nomadic hunters. the navajo began to steal horses from the spanish. apache traded captives for horses. horses also escaped into the wild. horses were traded to or captured by other tribes.the comanche soon followed and realized how useful horses could be. the comanche became powerful and took over the apache areas. all of these tribes based their wealth and power on the horse. by the mid-1700s, most plains indians had each one or more horses. the plains culture had now fully developed.