Indian Horse won the 2013 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature.[3]
Indian Horse was a competing title in the 2013 edition of Canada Reads. It was advocated by Carol Huynh. It lost to February by Lisa Moore.[4]
In 2020, the novel's French translation (for North America), Cheval Indien, was selected for Le Combat des Livres, the French-language edition of Canada Reads. It was defended by Romeo Saganash.[8]