There are few animals that have played as important a role in history as the horse. This is because the horse has been so useful in warfare. Can you imagine what wandering tribes, invading armies, knights, and soldiers all over the world would have done without the horse during the last few thousand years?

We can trace the ancestors of the horse back millions of years. But who first tamed the horse, the animal that we know? It is impossible to say. We know that prehistoric man used the horse as one of his chief sources of food. This was probably long before he thought of using the horse for riding.

The earliest pictures and carvings of horses were made by European cave men about 15,000 years ago. The horse in these pictures is very much like today’s Mongolian pony. In these pictures and carvings there are marks that suggest a bridle, so perhaps the horse was already tamed!

It is probable however, that the wandering tribes in central Asia were the first to tame the horse, and from there the horse came to

Europe and Asia Minor. We know there were horses in Babylonia as long ago as 3,000 B.C.

Because the horse was tamed before historic records began, it is very difficult to trace the origin of any of the modern breeds. The oldest and purest breed of saddle horse is the Arabian. They have been bred for at least fifteen centuries! They are small horses, their legs are slender, and their feet are small. Their backs are short and strong.

When Julius Caesar invaded England he found horses there. In his time, they were probably small, hardy animals. Later on, during the days of the knights, horses were bred chiefly for size and strength, and used as war horses. Then when gunpowder was invented, speed became more important than strength or size, so faster horses were bred.

As horse racing became more widespread, horses from the Arabs, Turks, and Persians were brought into England. Our modern thoroughbred horse is descended from these combinations.

A thoroughbred, by the way, is any horse eligible to be registered in the General Stud Book. It was begun in England in 1791 and traces the pedigree of horses, going back to about 1690!