In 3 Nephi 4:4 we finds that the Nephites "reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of very kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years." E. L. Peay notes that since horses are associated with the food supply, one might think that horses were a source of food for them. If that were true, this could account for the lack of horses when the Spaniards came; the horses could have been depleted during times of war and famine. [E. L. Peay, The Lands of Zarahemla: Nephi's Land of Promise, p. 153]