Slide 2
The horse was domesticated by the 4th millennium BCE in the steppes of Asia, Eastern
Europe and Mesopotamia (Iran), however in Bronze Age Europe "domestication never
attained the same significance since the principal rose was always played by horses that
had spread there from the east." (Bökönyi pg 283.) By the beginning of the 2nd
millennium BCE there was domestication in the Alps of Bavaria, 1000 years before the
Ukraine.
Slide 3
During the Bronze Age, the narrow hoofed horse imports from the steppes changed as
climactic conditions changed from dry and warm to cool and humid. Although wild
fauna changed to animals which could tolerate the cold and wet, like pigs, domestic
animals were forced to adjust and the narrow-hoofed steppe horse evolved into a
stockier one with spread hooves. Horses with spread hooves also appeared in central
to southern Russia to west Kazakhstan, where such horses, looking virtually like the
heavy 'cold-blooded' animals were discovered in the Andronova culture.
Iron Age horses in Europe "of the Helvetian-Gallic horses of Switzerland belonged to
the eastern group of breeds and resembled, apart from their size, Arab horses."
Although most were of the small eastern type of horses, at the Celtic oppidum at
Maching, some were large animals whose withers-height was over 150cm.
Slide 4
Thracian Iron Age horses from south-east Europe were described as slender with slim
legs and belonging to the eastern breed. In general they were larger and more
powerful than the Celtic animals and numerous links connected these horses with the
Iron Age horses of Central Asia. On the basis of the considerable difference in size in
favor of eastern horses they could be deemed better animals from the point of view of
horse breeding, for, owing to the greater mass of their bodies, they were able to carry
heavier loads, to move more rapidly with a rider of equal weight and to carry more
easily riders wearing armor and to cover longer distances. All these qualities provided
reasons why people who lived in the distribution area of the western group of horses
were anxious to acquire the eastern horses, which were better than their own. These
horses, by the way, found their way not only to Europe but also to Africa.
Slide 5
The originally small-bodied Greek horses were subsequently improved by the great
masses of horses imported from the Eastern group, like the twenty thousand Scythian
mares imported by Philip of Macedon, of the fifty thousand eastern horses in the Persian
spoil of Alexander the Great. As a result of cross breeding with these horses the large
bodied horses of the Roman cavalry were produced.
Slide 6
• Eastern horses which were larger and better from the breeders' point of view than
western ones exerted a stronger effect just by their very mass than roman horses
which had been introduced in small numbers and thus were able to shape the
whole population of horses of central and eastern Europe to their own likeness
and render it homogeneous
Slide 7
• The Hunnish horses have large heads, curved like hooks, protruding eyes, narrow
nostrils, broad jaws, strong and rigid necks; their manes hang down to their knees;
their ribs and big, their back-bones curved, and their tails shaggy; they have very
strong shinbones and small feet, their hooves being full and broad, the soft parts
hollow. Their whole body is angular with no fat at all on the rump, nor are there
any protruberances on the muscles; the stature is rather long than tall; the trunk is
vaulted, and the bones are strong. The leanness of the horses is striking.
Slide 8
Pics
Slide 9
• Iron Age Celtic horses, on the other hand, were at the lowermost and smallest
stage in a process of decreasing size. They were very small, some the size of an
ass with a withers height of below one meter. This, however, did not decrease the
esteem in which they were held. Originally the Greek horses were probably of the
Celtic type but very early on improved by large importations of eastern horses by
700 BC, which were the foundation of the early equestrian games which
culminated in the organization of the first Olympic Games in 648 BC.
Slide 10
• In Greece horse breeding and training developed a literature best represented by
Aristotle and Xenophon. Colors of horses ranged from black or grey, white, bay
and chestnut. As the Greeks colonized extensively in Africa, the central
Mediterranean area, southern Italy, southern France and Spain (750-550 BC),
their tall, eastern influenced horses no doubt spread with them. There is evidence,
however, that the tall Central Asian horse had been introduced to Africa 1000
years earlier.
Slide 11
• During the Migration Period conscious animal breeding seems to have been
abandoned although movements of peoples spread the horses to a uniform
population emerged. Toward the end of this period, conscious horse breeding
began again and the first large, heavy, 'cold-blooded' western horses appeared.
They were thick-legged horses bred for war purposes as knights began to wear
heavy armor. The first horse shoes appeared at the same time (9th-10th cent. AD)
since the weak hooves of these animals required shoeing, which the eastern horses
did not.
Slide 13
• Between 600-1450 C.E. it was impossible for one empire to dominate the entire
globe, mostly because communication and transportation were so difficult. People
traveled both on foot and by horse, and used the roads to send messages by
courier in order to keep in contact with large empires.
Slide 14
•
Horses were considered one of the most noblest creatures around. Early
civilizations used them for travel which prevented long labor to reach
destinations. It also prevented death and disease. Walking in the cold gave the
travelers a greater risk for contracting a disease and dying. But the more the
horses were used there was less death and steady travel time.
Slide 16
•
The Huns, who were a nomadic group that lived only on horseback dominated in
horsemanship and surpassed even the best Roman and Gothic Cavalries. Atilla the
Hun had excellent horsemen. He had mounted archers who in turned helped the
army defeat everyone and thing they encountered.