Why So Many Pioneer Families Chose Oxen Over Horses

Back in Frontier times, many pioneer families owned several different animals, variously using them for their meat, milk, eggs, and other produce, for their wool, and for their labor—whether that meant pulling a carriage or plowing the fields. But many of these animals, such as sheep, ducks, and chickens, were acquired long after these families had settled down and established the new farms and homesteads on which they were now free to live.

When they began their grand expedition out west, however, many Frontier families instead travelled with only one animal to ease the journey—and perhaps surprisingly, given the main transport choices of the day, more often than not that animal was not a horse. 

Horses might have been the most popular draft animals kept on farms and ranches in pioneer times, but most wagon trains heading westwards during the Frontier era were instead more often powered by oxen. In fact, it has been estimated that perhaps as many as three-quarters of all the animals employed in pulling wagons on these early trails were oxen, rather than horses.

So why were oxen the preferred choice for pioneer families making the journey west? 

The Practical Choice for Frontier Families

Well, for one thing, although horses are better suited to fast-moving, single-person movement and travel, and are a far more versatile choice overall, the greater strength and stockier build of oxen make them more suited to heavier, longer, slower-moving tasks, like hauling heavy loads over great distances. In terms of raw pulling power, ultimately, oxen would have proved the better choice in a far-ranging wagon train, and, although far slower than horses, would have been able to sustain its workload for longer travel periods without a rest. 

There was also an economical factor here. Because of their strength and versatility, horses and mules were far more expensive than oxen; in the mid 1800s, a typical yoke of oxen would have cost a family around just $25, roughly a quarter the cost of a mule, and almost ten times less expensive than a good-quality saddle horse. What’s more, the oxen’s stockier build made them less prone to injury—as too, somewhat ironically, did their inability to run or gallop at any particularly fast speed. Their low center of gravity and cloven hooves made them more sure-footed than horses too, and did not require metal shoeing either. This also made oxen a better choice when it came to covering unpredictable terrain, as their sure-footedness endured even on wet, boggy, muddy, sandy, rubbly, or mountainous ground, across which even the most nimble of horses might struggle. 

With food supplies a constant issue while traveling, moreover, the oxen’s unfussy diet and robust constitution also made them a better choice. An ox will happily keep itself full on grass or fodder, no matter how coarse or poor-quality it might be, whereas a horse might prove pickier and less inclined to eat rougher forage. As a result, oxen could keep themselves well fed and strong throughout the journey, as well as less likely to succumb to disease, and better suited to enduring harsh weather. Their slower, less skittish, and more stoic and docile temperament made them a more patient, reliable, and less unpredictable option too. And while horses require a complex set of harnesses to control, an ox or pair of oxen needs only a simple yoke to keep them in check. 

Survival on the Trail

But it wasn’t just the oxen’s diet that was a consideration. If times really did become hard on the trail out west, a family could, if necessary, slaughter and butcher one of their oxen for a ready supply of nutritious meat; although horsemeat was certainly an option, perhaps understandably it wasn’t one that many families were willing to choose. 

All told, for pioneer families, many months-long, several thousand-mile journeys out west in Frontier times, oxen made far more sensible and reliable than horses. Cost, utility, temperament, diet, stamina, power, and even the equipment required to keep them were all important factors that had to be considered, and in every one the humble ox proved the better choice.

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