Horse and Man
Created | Updated Apr 1, 2018
Horse and Man
It was during the Pleistocene era the first recognizable horse arrived, in Asia, Africa and Europe. At this time in the Americas, the horse only existed in South America. The horse existed for many years alongside prehistoric man, and ever since the history of man and the horse is one of mutual collaboration.
No one knows when the horse first attracted man's attention1 as a food item, but as the relationship developed, it became clear this animal could be more useful if it could be tamed. The horse's first task was probably as a pack animal. At this time man was still a nomadic hunter, and horses may have been invaluable on the yearly migration to the summer hunting grounds, and in the autumn south to the winter quarters.
As agriculture developed, it spread through Europe and Asia, and man discovered the larger breeds of horse could plough alongside the oxen. The big breakthrough came when man discovered how he could breed larger horses. It was at this stage, he found he could replace the pack horse's burden and ride the horse. The development of riding was a big deal,; trade expanded, and man could travel further and colonize uninhabited areas.
But trade also demanded pack horses, and the trend to breed larger and stronger horses began in earnest. As there are today, horses would have existed in a variety of sizes, and as they were of the same genus, breeding and development of horse types was possible. Although this development would take some time, prehistoric man was intelligent enough to undertake the systematic development of riding and loading pack horses2. Trade routes expanded, and Kingdoms and Empires were founded.
The development of a more organized society and the ending of the nomadic life called for a further development in using man's best friend3. Owing to the development of basic roads, the first wheeled vehicles appeared and with that development, this would have exposed the fact the basic horse of the time was too small4. This state of affairs can be confirmed by the stages in the development of the chariot.
Early chariots were drawn by four or occasionally six horses; this is a testament to the lack of horsepower that individual horses could supply. The Celts provide a good example of the flowering of the early chariot. The big breakthrough came with the arrival of the early empires in China, Africa, Greece and Rome, who independently developed mounted armies. Horses were simply selectively bred and slowly became bigger and stronger.
As stronger horses became available, the armies quickly developed cavalry. The bigger and stronger riding horses were also used to establish the first postal networks. The chariot would gradually fall out of favour when horses could carry a rider. The cavalry horse appeared, and took its place in world history. The riding horse had finally become established. Although there were still many pack and draught horses, they were not much larger than the riding horses of the period. The need for a heavier, more powerful horse was becoming apparent, agriculture and trade horse needed more horsepower. And all this before the fall of Troy.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
