A wanted murderer, Billy John, is captured by Ben Brigade, a bounty hunter, who intends to take him to Santa Cruz to be hanged. Brigade stops at a staging post, where he saves the manager's wife from an Indian attack, and enlists the help of two outlaws to continue his journey more safely.
The horses are treated pretty rough. Many horses shot or their riders shot, but no horses shown presumably dead. They do talk about pushing on even though their horses are "near dead".
They talk about the hanging of a woman. Later, a man is put on a horse with a noose around his neck. The horse runs off and the man hangs for a while but survives.