horse thieves
Stole your stallion
Horse thieves is the plural of horse thief—someone who steals horses.
In the American frontier era, horse theft was a serious crime often punished by hanging, since a horse could mean survival.
The term appears in Western lore and idioms: They'd hang horse thieves for less.
Today it's mostly historical or used for rhetorical color.
- rustlersThose who steal livestock
- posseArmed group pursuing fugitives
- sheriffCounty's chief officer
- criminalsLawbreakers by act
- outlawsFugitives from justice
chase · bandits · highwaymen · gallop · theft · stolen goods · livestock · stable · capital punishment · ranch · frontier town · Wild West · hanging tree · saddle · frontier justice · lynch mob · moral tales · dime novels
- Westernscowboys, western, outlaws, sheriffs, western novels
- raidersraiders, marauders, pillagers, plunderers, looters
horse thieveslawmen
Official crime fighters
sheriffs · marshals · vigilantes · bounty hunters · Texas Rangers
horse thieveshorse traders
Shrewd negotiators, literally or figuratively
horse breeders · gentlemen farmers · homesteaders · cattlemen
horse, thief, horses, horsed, horsing, horsy, horsey, horseman, horsewoman