Wied; ie General Editor: Elizabeth Peplow-oitShipethe permission ofthe. copyight, holders" Publishing Dire Laura Bamford Executive Ed Jane Metntosh ny Ea Jane Royston Assistant Editor ‘Nicola Hodgson Proof-reade Anne Johnson Creative Director Keith Martin tor Executive Art Editor Mark Winwood Les Needham Picture Researcher Wendy Gay Production Controlle Bonnie Ashby First published in Great Britain in 1998, by! famlyn, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd. his edition published 2002 by Chancello Press, an imprint of Bounty Books, a divisi of Octopus Publishing Gro 2-4 Heron Quays, L Copyright © 1998 ctor p Ltd Domestication and the Early Horse Peopl by Marsha Levine feom pp 315-317 of Oxford Compenion to Archaeology, ed Brian M, Fagan, Copyright © 1996 by 0: University Press, Ine: Used by.petmissior Oxford University Press, Inc ISBN 07537 067 All ights reserved. No part this publication, may be reproduced, stefed: in a retrieval system, oftasmetted in any foifitoehy anyimestisimnechanical, photo opving feddelfte Br btherwiseyiwitiou Me neon Se WOIP CT TOBE ord for this Dogk ‘Bvallable from the British Libraryfa: General Editor: Elizabeth PeplowForeword by David Broome 6 Introduction e Part One: The Development of the Horse i. Part Two: The Pre-Domestic Horse Domestication and the The Breeds of the World Early Horse Peoples 12 The Development of The Influence of the Arabian 34 Classical Equ The History of W 16 The Thoroughbred 38 The Spanish Horse 42 Riding 20 ‘The Genetic Jigsaw 44 The Horse at War 24 Principal Horse Breeds 48 ‘The Working Horse 28 Principal Pony Breeds - Equestria Recreation Dressage Showjumping Eventing Racing Endurance Riding Polo Showing, Hunting Carriage Driving Harness Racingind Care Learning to Ride Training the Young Horse ~ General Management : Feeding and Nutrition Saddlery and EquipmentForeword Foreword by David Broome CBE Me, HORSES Have #EEW a lifelong fascination. I gave them up just once, when I was five years old. My father used to train Welsh Mountain pon’ alight jockey. fen. Leame hack after 18 months and Thave been lucky in that being able to tide has saved me from ng co do any other kin job. 1 was born the son of a ragrocer, but through horses, | have travelled the world and met so many wonderful people. However, my first press cutting was not a picture me aged nine at Henllys Show near on reads D. Broome sat back a bit on Ballanlad bound, and unfo unately fell off on landing re mea useful piece of advice which was ‘never get ight with a horse and you in, always stick it out for another five minutes and breakthrough’ - the number of times {have h hat a horse isa lt stronger th lot of people forget that the horse has a him to build the kind s together. Be ionship where you can achieve th his with an animal as big and as wonderful thing The better trained the horse, the happier he usually is and the better chance you have « lishing a bond and the kind of ip in which he is always trying to please you. Probably the bond lever had with a horse was with Sportsman. He was so intelligent. We just it it off and he always understood exactly what wanted, all that they are such forgiving, noble beasts. They react to the sound of you pice and can be led with a piece of string, and it is duty that whatever we ask them to do, it has to be achieved Ne David BroomeIntroduction | 7 Introduction by Elizabeth Peplow Elizabeth Peplow/ Part One: The Development of the Horse ‘ 1a, oe \ ” gt a vy 4The Development of the Horse THE PRE-DOMESTIC HORSE MIL THE ENO OF the eighteenth cen tury, two races of the wild horse, Equus ferus, existed in Europe and Asia: the Tarpan in eastern Europe and the Russian steppes, and the Mongolian wild horse, or Przewalskis horse, in Mongolia (see also page 82). These two races were the relics of vast populations of wild equines that inhabited virtually the whole of Furope, Asia, and North Ametica at the lose of the last lee Age, 12,000 years ago, humans, bur at this time horses were much more frequently caten than they were ridden, From 9,000 years ago the wild horse became increasingly rare; its remains are seldom found on archaeological sites in Europe, while in North America all equines hecame totally extinct From around 6,000 years of horses begin to appear in cultural con texts that indicate domestication, The mos authentic of these come from Neolithic sites in central Asia, such as Dereivka on the river Dneiper, where subfossil remains reveal a pattern of specialized. human exploitation of the horse. Stallions were probably killed for their meat, mates could have been milked, and both sexes may have been used as draft animals, Until recently archaeologists generally believed that there was no evidence for horse riding until the much later period of approx imately 1000 n.c. However i is known that at least some of the Dercivka horses were driven or ridden with bridles and bis abnormal w teeth of buried skulls, and six perforated tines of red-deer antlers—which probably cheek 1 was found on the premolar served as bridle pieces—were ako discovered Ichas been sugested that domestication of the horse occurred at this time because it enabled the expanding. human populations to move away from the river valleys (which were becoming deforested and overhunted) right ad, ited Sts The a han of aid reds found man in Posi bred nex and into the steppes, where the wild horses provided a new resource. It must be empha sized, however, that there are very few hard facts to substantiate the “where and when” of early horse domestication, although new evidence is accumulating all the time from the dating of and osteological (skeleton and boone} study of excavated material By 2000 n.c, continued to be pushed into its easter while the wild horse refuges by loss of habitat, climate change, and human hunting, the domestic horse had begun to spread rapidly around the whole of the Old Word. domesticated stock was pr Most of this newly from the core area noth of the Caspian Se but itis nor inconceivable that some local uals taken from the dwindling wild-horse herds domestication occurred with indiv found in several parts of Europe Since ancient times, there have been Afferent forms of domestic horse. Thete are small, stocky ponies in the cold north,heavy horses in middle Europe, and slender legged Arabians inthe hot, sout fegions—yet biological, molecular, and pic nt are descended horses ofthe past and pres from the single ancestral species, Equus fens. (The division o Ik aed” types is a reflection of the species -d “cold-blooded” and “warm adaptation to different climatic regions these terms have no sciemific validity. All horses have the same body temperature, and all the diferent breeds are able to mate and to produce fertile offspring.) Despite the gréat variation of coat color found in domestic horses, there is a spor radie occurrence of a longitudinal dark band along the ridge of the back, together with stripes on the shoulders and forelegs, ‘on horses of different breeds from countries as far apart as Britain and China. These stripes occur most frequently in dun colored ponies, and—like the mealy muzzle of the Exmoor pony (see page 83}— probably represent a reversion to the wild type. On this basis, Charles Darwin believed thar all domestic horses. were descended from “a single, dun-colored, more or less striped, primitive stock, 10 which our horses sill occasionally revert. a conclusion against which there can be lirae argument today The PreDomestic Horse | 11 above Bete Pos2 The Development ofthe Horse DOMESTICATION AND THE EARLY HORSE PEOPLES Tc ie the invention of the steam engi id yet swe know very little about when, where, or hhow it happened. The increased mobiliey provided by the horse would have enabled people to move further as well as faster and to take more with them than ever before Jandscapes, maintain la increase the range of their trade They could move into previously un able regions such as the Eurasian And since a man on foot is no mat ‘man on horseback, the military implications of horse domestication would have been revolutionary. John C, Ewers has shown how profoundly the introduction of the horse into North America changed Blackfoot culture, We should expect no less harnessed, and even eaten without being domesticated. Aboriginal peoples throughout the world are known to tame all kinds of wild animals to keep as pets. There is no reason to think that this ‘would not have been the case at least from the time of the earliest anatomically modern Homo si And when the need arose, taming would probably have been the first step towards domesticatio acily defined as the animals by plane humans, the real distinctiveness of domest: cation lies in the fact that it involves ownership and hus results in a completely litferent level of hurnan commitment from hunting. Taming also involves ownership, bur its social and economic implications would have heen, at most, superficial and Raeacee aes localized, and would have disappeared with the dea the animals involved, while the of domestication would have ighout the whole society. What this means is that we ate not simply trying to identify horse riding, traction, milking and meat eating in the archaeological record, but rather, we are looking for evi dence of horse breeding, which is, as such, archacologically invisible. It may be approached indirectly, however, through an investigation of population structure, archaeological context, and other charac Paleolithic horse exploitation ‘We have no convincing evidence that horses had either been tamed of domesticated dr. ing the Paleolithic. Paul Bahn has put for. ward iconographic and anatomical arguments propounding such a theory, but they are not supported by the availabledata, On the one hand, the evidence of cave artis ineseapably a hhand, the tooth wear anomalies Bahn has described as arising from crib biting or from rubbing against the strap could more easily bbe explained by bark biting, abnormal ‘cclusion, or chipping. ‘Moreover, the stratigraphic integrity of sites excavated nbiguous. On the other accidental around the turn of the canturyis nor reliable This does not prove that horses were never ridden in the Paleolithic, or that the were not domesticated, but it docs mean that we have no evidence at all chat they ‘were, or even could have been. On the other hhand, there is serong evidence, based upon Lilloff profiles from a series of relatively recently excavated sites ~ including Solute Feldkirchen-Gannersdorit, Combe Gre and Pech de I'Azé i, that throughout the Middle and Upper Paleolithic in western urope horses were, in fact, hunted. right agent cf ee icing hares horses and cas ord infopt ard dir fom 1382-1368C let Hoses pee Eppa Ts ce, printed thei ofa att btrgig Tatham was furdin aly ofthe Kings hove Grek haere Tee wo ung asven preg jana ese a ded 00 te ee af te Fare Fight Hossa rer: ths icin of ‘quien ind ches ck the sere cent. Evidence of early horse husbandry Horses are relatively Neolthie archaeological deposits. It bas therefore commonly been hel chat they could not have been domest cated during those periods, On the other hand, relatively large quantities of horse bones and teeth have been recovered from Chaleolothie (or Encolithic) sites on the central Eurasian steppe. Although other information, such as teeth morphology, popul Mesolithic a jon structure, representation of anatomical elements, and distinctions based upon measurements are credited as evidence for horse domestic tion, until recently the real evidence has ben that of the increased representation of horse remains at archaeological sites. In fact, until recently, the methodologies employed for interpreting the data have been seriously flawed. This is noe meant as 4 criticism of past scholarship, but rather ‘Domestication and the Early Horse Peoples recognition that the analytical techniques of zooarchaeology have progressed quite ‘considerably in recent years Dereivka, an Eneolichic habitation sie, {s central to the problem of horse domesti cation, It is situared on a tributary of the Dnepe River in the Ukraine and dated berween 3380 and 4570 BC (Sredni Stog, Phase Ila). Fxeavated by DY, (Institure of Archaeology, Kiev) beewe 1960 and 1983, Dereivka has bec re evidence for the domestication of the horse. Moreover, rded_as the ‘site with the carliest until recently there was a ‘consensus that horses hud been raised there first of all for meat, but also for riding, the evidence be the remains of what have been described as bridle cheek pieces. “The methodological framework used ro reach these conclusions was, however, the conventional but unsound one just described, Criteria used as evidence that the horses from Dercivka were domesticated ude the following: (1) the absence of old hhorses, (2) the presence of a high propor: tion of male skulls, (3) the presence of “object identified as bridle check pieces, (4) the results of a morphological analysis com paring the Dereivka horses with other equid material, (5) their association with other domesticates ~ cattle, sheep, goat, pig and dog high percentage fof horse bones and teeth in the deposit and (6) the relatively 2B4 The Development ofthe Hose In reality om the basis of archacological, ethnogeaphical and ethological compar isons, the absence of ok individuals is much more likely to indicate hunting than herd ing. Males would outnumber females if either bachelor groups or stallions protecting their harem were targeted in the hunt cheek pieces at all The check pieces may not have been The morphological study involved very small and disparate samples and produced contradictory results, The association of horses with other omesticares is not evidence of horse domestication. In any case, they were also associated the remains of wild animals, In fact, the most important criterion is the relatively high proportion of horse bones and teeth present at che site. This apparent change could also have resulted, however, from an increase in horse hunting by comparison with eatlir sites, MLA. Levine's reassessment of the dara related to population structure indicates that the vast maid Dereivka had been killed in the hunt. The possibility chat horses were being ridden at Dereivka was initially lent support in a paper by D.W, Anthony and D.R. Brown in of the horses from Which they described bit wear on teeth from a socalled ritual head and hoof burial. However, a recent radiocarbon for that skull, at around 3000 BC, shows thar it was almost certainly a Bronze A firmed by the work of YY. Rassamakin, et ernst i hoses min goes ard considerable disturbance had taken place at the site in ancient times, In other words, there is no compelling evidence for horse hhusbandey at Dereivka. Anthony and Brown have also claimed to have identified bit wear on a small sam ple of teeth from Botai, an Encolithie site, dated to around 3500 BC, located cem Kazakhstan. Over 99 per cent of the north hundreds of thousands of horse bones and teeth excavated at Botai belonged to the horse. Levine's analysis of the population structure of the tecth from part of this site suggests chat the vast majority (if not the totality) of the horses from Botai, as at Dereivka, were wild. If both Anthony and Brown are correct then i i» possible that tamed or domesticated horses could have been used to hunt wild ones for their meat let herent ope Foes lefeThoe The spread of horse husbandry Our understanding of the spread of early horse husbandty i as bsevilled by obsolete methodologies as is the problem of its sarliest domestication. Ie nonetheless seems clear that the period bridging the Copper and Bronze ages was characterized by imporant social and economic changes Thes ment of social ranking, wolved increased trade, the develop and_ possible changes in land tenure, which may have been associated with a less egalitarian so: ex. All ofthese could have arisen in connec: tion with the increasing importance of the domesticated horse After the Early Bronze Age horses were apparently no longer killed in very large numbers, their wide distribution throughour Europe and their associationWith high-prestige human burials leaves no doube as to their importance. Then, dusing the first half ofthe second millennium BC, a of conquests by charioteers shook the ancient world, bringing social, ‘economic, military and political change cratic federations, usually described as few dal in nature, in which horses played a racial roe npass. progeessvely Daring the first millennium BC, the horse bes ofthe two Seythias, European larger geographical area and Asiatic, controlled central Eurasia from the f The ho reached its apo of the Carpathians ro Mong .edominated military machine ce during the thirteenth and AD. under thy Mongols, whose empire at its greatest m Hungary to Korea. I is land-based empire in history. The horse was the main well into the Gunpowder Age, that is, undl ound AD 1500, when it was superseded by firearms, This Americas, where the power conferred by was echoed in the pattern the horse and the terror i inspired played a crucial role in the European conquest “Moreover, the subsequent acquisition of che horse by the indigenous inhabitants of che New World transformed their own societies in ways that remind us ofthe beginni horse husbandry in Eurasia ~ for example in the development of che less egalitarian ial structures and nd more hierarchical s in the increased exploitation of previously New directions Although the study of the development of horse husband, all the big questions coneernin subsequent diffusion still need to be addressed. It seems that by t 3000 BC period 3500 to Domestication and the Early Horse Peoples No o steppe er region has been studied intensively enough for us to know whether such behaviour was widespread or had developed eatlier elsewhere, oF whether it has developed from a single or from many loci. Research is now in progress on the further work also needs to be carried out the adjacent Carpathian and Caucasus regions, the northern Black Sea coast, and possibly further west as well. Both widespread assumptions — that hors domestication must have evolved on the steppe and that i¢ must have arisen out of settled agricultural he challenged The ranking in Europe has been debated exten: sively, bur without taking the horse into the ‘equation in any serious way. Data need tc be collected that will help us to understand better the links between the dispersal of horse husbandry and the development of trade, warfare, and the differential distribution of wealth and power16 ‘The Development ofthe Horse THE DEVELOPMENT OF CLASSICAL EQUITATION ona system of riding that formed the basis ofthe classical eques: and is sill valid today, However, despite his advanced thinking, Xenophon's great disadvantage as a cavalry office attempting, to withstand the enemy's charge was the lack of a saddle, and iewas not unt this came into use (see page 2) thar the course of mounted warfare changed, The Middle Ages brought the Age of ‘Chivalry, with jousts and rourneys between knights siding Arab or Barb-type horses and ‘wearing chain mails the tourneys were also the start of an early form of musical ride or carousel. The influence of the mounted kenghe persisted until 1346 when the bow and arrow decimated French troops at Créey, forcing the knights to encase them selves and their large ‘cumbersome armour. They became virtual sitting targets, and their end eame in 1525 with the Battle of Pavia, However, the chivalrous age did produce a high degree of schooling in the horse ~ albeit imposed by ‘curb bits and sharp spurs, Equitation as an art form Riding was fist recognized a8 an art form in the Renaissance period. No nobleman's exluation was considered complete until he had acquired an appreciation of equitaion, and elegant Baroque riding halls sprang up all over Europe t0 house the stately carousels performed by these aristocrats Xenophon and his works were redscov ered, and High School riding had begun. In 4 book written in 1559, Count Cesare Fiaschi advocated patience in teaining = 3 Xenophon had done — but in. practice results were achieved by barbaric methods Heedgehogs oF cas ted to horse’ tails, hor ns and ion bars with hooks were used ro encourage horses to go forward, stirrups often had sharp edges, and severe eur bits and spiked nosebands’ were also used Fiaschi's best-known pupil, Federico Grisone, whose own system of teaining spread through Europe and whose book Gli Ordini de Cavaeare was translated into English on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I is generally credited asthe fist Master of the Howse. His sucesso, Giovanni Bapesea Pignatelli, developed his methods further and incorporated some circus training and movements, noting thatthe high degrce of obedience and balance required was achieved by careful training, not by mechanical means, Gradually, classical riding asa whole took on lighter appe were abandoned Horses of a lighter Spanish build became popular, and studs were set up 10 breed them the best known being the Lipica stud now in Slovenia, founded in 1580, which ‘established he Lipizzaner breed. Pignatell’s pupils went on to continue his teaching throughout Europe in the early seventeenth century. The Chevalier de St Antoine became First Master of the Horse to James I of England, while Antoine de Pluvine! (1555-1602) taught King Louis XIII in France. A sympathetic trainer, de above: The Grek sr ad sori Krapon, ho pote ssf the dasa ten of questa atin se toy Pluvinel considered the use of whip or spur “a confession of failure’, and laid great stress ‘om patient handling. He refined the ais t0 rmake them almost unnoticeable and was the first Master to use pillars to reach horses in the manége, requiring pupils to sit on their horses without reins while performing the High School airs. While de Pluvinel was at work in France, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle (1592-1676), who had been trained in the School of Naples, had started a riding school in Belgium. He believed that hhorses obeyed their riders from fear rather than respect, bu he rarely resorted to severe punishment. He was one of the first t0 realize that horses have a memory, and that this could be exploited ~ as well as being a disadvantage fa horse was wrongly taught Further developments As the enlightened approach to horseman- ship spread across Europe, the way was paved for the Frenchman known as the “Father of Classical Equitation’, Frangois Robichon de la Guérinitre (1688-1751) His inflacnce changed the course of classical sition, and hs teachings are atthe basefof modem schooling methods. It was largely due co his work that to gre streams of classical equitation sprang up in Europe: one based on the French Schools of Versailles and Saumur, the other on the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, His riding school at the Tuileries was founded by Louis XIV and managed by de la Guériniére from 1730. Europe, mainly due to the refinements in de It became famous across la Guerinigres schooling methods and to the quality horses used (mainly English ‘The Development of Classical Equation Thoroughbreds). He perfected exercises cultivate the horse's natural movements and invented the shoulderin as a suppling exer cise; he also designed a modern form of sa: to that used in the Spanish ool today Meanwhile, in Versailles, de Nester had become riding master to Louis XV, but at the outbreak of the Revolution, he and ‘other écuyers were driven into exile. As mil itary supremacy became increasingly impor tant, the first cavalry school was set up in Saumur and, although it was temporarily closed down through lack of funds, another was established in 1744 at Versailles, Seven Miltary Schoo! in Pars this lasted only 37 years, but lef its was created influence on French equitation in its aim of ‘making the riders position less formal and stiff, and military equitation ‘simpler, more natural and bolder’ The war years dd little o further equi tation in France but, with the rerun of Louis XVIII, the School of Versailles. was above: ciaever tain Cordies, who later became the become écuybr em chef at Saumur ater the ist écuyer en chef ofthe School of Saumur retirement of Cordier’ pupil, Novital when the School for Mounted Troop Although he never fulfilled this ambition, he Instruction was moved there and academic founded a School in Le Havre and another cquitation again took over at Versailles The in Rowen, and published his Dictionnaire first of the carousels, for which Saumur is Raisonné’ d’Equitation in 1833. Baucher famous, was presented under Cordier in used a systematic training of the horse t0 1828. This was just two years before the destroy resistance, and his achievements School of Versailles closed for ever, leaving have lft their mark — not least by his inven: Saumur to perpetuate the traditions of the tion of the flying change of leg at every c-cstablished. ‘The National School of — French Schoc stride, which was written off by others as Equitation, created in 1793 at Versailles, ‘nothing but a cantered amble’ uubsequently changed its name co the Systematic training Baucher’s contemporary, who suc School for Mounted Troop Instruction ies A butcher's son from Versailles called ceeded Novital as écuyer em chef, was arpose being co train officers. Ie did, how- Frangois Baucher (1796-1873) aspired to Antoine Carter, Viscount D’Aure. Rather than teaching pupils on perfectly trained horses he treated each horse as an individual al eh, by opposing resstanc with resistance he le it mechanically ino the required movements. The man who brought together the teachings of Baucher and D’Aure was Lt. Alexis Frangois Hort, a pupil of Baucher who later eam under D’Aure as a cavalry officer at Saumur. A brilliant horseman, his book Questions E lessons with both teachers, and expounded his motto of ‘calm, forward and straight Takin LHorte became probably the greatest fer as éeuyer en chef at Saumur, horseman ofthe century Another versatile horseman was James Filis, an Englishman who became éayer en chef ae the Cavaley School in St Petersburg He taught pupils without stirrups so that they gained a deep, flexible seat, placing great imporeance on balance rather than trip. Fillis practised some unorthodox movements for the cieus ring, such as the reversed pirouette with crossed feet and the canter backwards on three legs; he also introduced jumping - leaning back on the descent, allowing the horse free head move ment and keeping his legs in contact throughout ro obtain a bascule Fills was let teprobably the last great horseman to use this positon over fences, as Federico Caprilli (1868-1908), a captain at the Italian Cavalry School at Tor di Quinto, evolved the forward seat and established its use at about the time of Fills’ death in 1900. Caprili’s justification for the forward seat was in accordance with the classical Principle of keeping the rider above the horse's centre of gravity when crossing ountry at speed. Cross-country riding today uses a combination of Caprill’s system and the purely classical method. The Spanish Riding School During the ninetcenth century there were ffeguent interchanges between Saumur and the Spanish Riding School. Few documents he early beginnings ofthe Tater but the Imperial Court in Vienna had long been concerned with equitation Spanish horses were introstuced in 1562.10 found the Coure Stud at Kladrub and, three years later, an exercise area was built. Work began on the pres opened by the Emperor Charles VI in 1735 and festivals, balls and exhibitions were held there in addition tothe daily trai sessions of the horses. Carousels were alo popular with the most spectacular ~ to Which all the kings of Europe were invited — held in 1814. After 1894, the School was devoted soley to che training of horse and rider in Haute Ecole, and entrance to the School was restricted to aristocrats. Although the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wats put an end to the classical ar in most European countries, in Vienna the School continued ro adhere strictly to its principles. The training of horse and cider at the School - then as now ~ follows the pattem drawn up in 1898, This stated thar the “High Act of Riding’ comprises three pars: the frst stag, in which the horse i ridden in ‘as natural a position as possible with free forward movement alon straight paign riding’, or iding the colleted horse a all gaits and in curns and circles in perfect balance; and riding in a more collected position with the haunches deeply bent and performing all the gaits and jumps thac comprise the ‘Ars With the collapse af the Austro: Hungarian monarchy in 1918, the Spanish Riding School was taken” into state possession and its future looked uncertain, However, die largely to the fund-raising efforts ofthe Chief Rides, Moritz Herold, ic was saved, and in July 1920 gave its frse public performance. Since then, the School has attracted visitors from all over the world to see the highly schooled Li performing the classical ar of equitation, in Whar is believed to be the last Baroque riding hall in the world. The Development of Classical Equitation 920 ‘The Development ofthe Horse THE HISTORY OF WESTERN RIDING THE leemian enmisuLs during the late fifeench cencury, there were two distinct styles of horsemanship. In the north, as in western Europe, men rode a ka bride: steaigh-legged and with the feet rather for- ward, ina saddle with a high pommel and cantle. The bie was a severe curb, with a high port and cheek pieces as long as 37 em 15 in). The whole was the product of a long-obsolete battle tactic — namely, the lance charge of the armoured knight, where the knight braced himself using the stirrups ove: Depa irs Not Aneta ied abl tight The he bled city in waa eth and candle co absorb impact, and needed a severe bit to control his horse with one hand. Throughout western Europe and much of the United States, this style of horsemanship prevailed for centuries after its original purpose had disappeared, By contrast, in the south of the penn sula where the Moorish influence was strong, horsemen rode in the style of the steppes and the desert, described by a con- temporary English author as ‘riding short in the Turkey fashion’. The reason for this was that cheir principal weapons were the bow and the curved scimitar, which could best be used if the rider stood in the stirrups, Young horses were trained by Arabs and Moors with a bitess bridle, which. wer known to them as a hakma, to Spaniards as a jaquima, and were familiar to us as the hhackamore (see page 165) The first western horses When Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492, he took a number of gentlemen adventurers as. his mounted ‘escort. Before embarking on such a doube ful enterprise, these men had exchanged theie chargers for others that were more expendable American Indians who had never seen but even these — against horsemen ~ proved as formidable as tanks would have been to an eighteenth-century my. It is reasonable to suppose that the Mexico first horses taken to the main! in 1509 — were of far beter qu: From the horses of the conguistadores descended the Mustangs, through animals abandoned by early explorers or through those that strayed from ranches and mis sions. By the nineteenth century these were roaming over the great plains west of the Mississippi, and proved a good foundation stock. Mustangs had hard feet, sound legs and were tough and selfliant. On the dey prairie grass they increased nd multiple, bur two or three centuries of hard condi tions, with no selective breeding, impaired their size and beauty. By the nineteenth cen: tury the typical Mustang tended to be ham- mercheaded, ewe-necked, roach-backed, cow-hocked and tied-in below the knee, a revealed in early photographs. Horses transformed the lifestyle of the plains Indians, As hunters they had alw heen ata disadvantage in pursuing animals ‘on foot, but when mounted they could kill buffalo by the thousand. The horse also meant nobility in war wealth it waslet Baclotbaveand ad in he 18505 tight A Chennai Fein in currency, status symbol and bride-peie in fone, In just a few generations the plains tribes ~ especially the Comanches ~ became horsemen as complete as the Seythians, Mongols and Huns. They vitally lived on horseback and, when a warleader died, his favourite horses were sacrificed to accom pany him, The early cowboys gentleman named John Pynchon who, in the mid-seventeenth centur help of his cowboys, drove a herd of fat cattle from his farm at Springfield down to Boston for shipment to the West Indies. and with the ‘Around Springfield, ranching techniques developed on a small scale, and spread to the‘ When Americans came to Texas as wpens’ in several southern states industrialization opened up lands west o the Mississippi after the Civil War, they found a different tradition of ranching, developed by the wealthy Charros and their Mexican naqueros The catle were lean, wild Longhorns. As immigrants flooded ino the west after the Civil War, ie became apparent that the toughest beef would find a buyer if only it could be brought to marker Longhorn could survive winter on the prairie and would put on weight as it was he plains in spring and summer. In 1867, an entrepreneur built a Te was also discovered that the moved over The History of Wester Riding ‘complex of stockyards on the railway at Abilene to which cattle could be deiven from Texas before being railed east oF west to the consumer ~ and so began the cattle kingdom. It was finished in the 1880s by over production, slump sheep-farming and successive hard winters prices, wire although on the screen and in fietion it has never ended. The cowboys of the 1860s, with che exception of Mexican raqueras, ‘were nearly all Texans: indeed, the eo a22 | The Development ofthe Horse The stock saddle used by the cowboys was designed to fit a horse of almost any size; to be comfortable on long rides; and, with its deep se Uificult horse. A cowboy’s saddle was his trademark, and every cowboy took pride in having the best and most elaborate that he could afford, to make it easier to sit a In-bred instincts The Mustang seemed to inherit ~ oF t0 develop very quickly ~ the essential quality fof eowsense: it simply anticipated what a ‘cow would do next so that, with rider on its back, it could establish an extraordinary mental savage Longhorns, which would kill a man on foot. Although no attempt was made to school a horse in the had to be taughe its trade —to remain steady under a whirling lariat, and to brace itself against 8 roped steer. The tar of any ranch was the good cutting horse (a horse used to ‘cut out? a steer from the herd), which only had to be shown the wanted animal and would then Jo the job itself even without a bridle. ascendancy over the above: Gly he ralbacame ago pastand coats’ rk Other western riders OF course, there were plenty of western riders who never worked with cattle = among them the cavalry troopers, Texas Rangers, trappers, 1 prospectors, homesteaders i lvery-stable keepers. However, they all rode — in western style with western tack ~ and were part of the tradition. Most famous among them were the Pony Express riders of the eatly 1860s, described as: ‘young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18, willing t0 risk death daily’. The horses were selected for specd and endurance, and were bought at high prices. The Express averaged 15 km (9 miles) an hour over 40 kes (25 mile) stages, with two minutes for changing horses. A riders round trip of 110-60 km (70-100 rls was covered twice a week, and at every staging post were the best of oats, bedding and ostlers. This was very expensive, and eventually the service became priced out of business, topleteAconboyssaide above: wes tara rd hares equ deipettobecntvate. wines nt an ogres eter ofan teprghe & adie) san at Te bee suck 05 enavnch cd ama Changing requirements With the decline of the cattle kingdom, ranching conditions altered. The long tral ‘was a thing of the past, and a cowboy’s work consisted mostly of repairing fence line breaks. Fewer horses were needed for this, and it became more convenient v0 have something faster than a 13.2 hh. pony. More emphasis aso bea: pleasure riding, and casual contests berween cowboys developed into the highly orga nized rodeo industry of today (see page 138). Later still, che internal 60 to be placed on