A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course

[shanmonster]

I've been reading a biography on Genghis Khan, and it made my brain take a jaunt off into equestrian space.

Why do people ride horses? More particularly, why do people ride horses more than they ride other animals? A wide variety of saddle-worthy critters exist, but aside from donkeys, camels, and elephants, they're mostly ignored. Why is this?

Granted, some animals may be ridden, but are not good choices for long distances (like ostriches and other people).

Yet other animals could be trained to saddle just as easily as a horse. Cattle can be ridden. So can moose, rhinos, elk, hippos, bison, buffalo, giraffes, reindeer, and zebras. Yet images of people riding these animals primarily remain curiosities.

So I just want to know why.

And since I'm already talking about a whole lot of etcetera, here are a few links:

Rubberband Ball: What happens when a 500-lb rubber band ball hits a car?

Antarctic 'treasure trove' found: "Scientists have found more than 700 new species of marine creatures in seas once thought too hostile to sustain such rich biodiversity."

B is the new C: How not to write a multiple choice test (thanks, f00dave).

Tigers Demonstrate Diving Skills: These photos are spectacular, but now I'll be far more afraid of tigers than sharks when swimming....

Professional Photos of the Lightnings: Yes! The lightnings pleases me!

Laughing German Midget: One of the creepiest and most surreal films I've ever seen. It's practically Lovecraftian in its wrongness. Start up a bunch of these in different windows, and you'll go permanently mad.

Heather Jansch: Lifesize Driftwood Sculpture: These wooden horses aren't full of Greeks (thanks, gha5t).

170 drunk Russian soldiers launch massive fight in cross-country train: The first rule of fight train....

Creative Photos by Chema Madoz: Clever and beautiful.

John Cleary Gallery: Even more clever and beautiful photos.

Comments

[cryduchat.livejournal.com]

Check out Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel" about the necessities of animal/plant domestication. The book is terminally dry tho.

Zebras, for one, are of a terrible temper. Persnickety bastards.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I dunno. I thought GG&S was very interesting.

[sorceror.livejournal.com]

Sorry; that was me.

[cryduchat.livejournal.com]

I agree, contextually, the book was very interesting. Narrative style made me cry. Dusty, dusty tears.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Are zebras of worse temperament than camels?

[cryduchat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but everything I've read about training them has been pretty bad. I've been around a few zorse and they weren't too obliging.

GG&S points to temperment and the animal as a package deal. Domestication for riding, working, producing wool (or what have you), and food. Maybe zebras just aren't as yummy as a horse or camel.

Some people are resistant to cultural integration too. Ever read about the Hmong? "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" is an awesome book!

[silverfae.livejournal.com]

So, basically, you're asking why is the horse domesticated, I think?

Interesting things about other critters (http://www.messybeast.com/history/working.htm), and a guy who does train zebras (http://www.foresthillfarms.com/zebra_training.htm).

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Not so much. I'm wondering why other species aren't domesticated in the same ways.

[silverfae.livejournal.com]

I see. The other side of the question then.
Good point to ponder.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

I'm by no means an expert, but I'd suggest the horse had the lucky traits of temperament and availability.

The horse had numerous advantages: It adapted to living in a very wide range of climates, it bred fairly fast, it was (relatively) easily trainable, and it was of a fairly comparable size to a human (unlike, say, a fully grown moose or hippo).

Even with horses, there were certain... Issues. Consider the fact that virtually no one used stallions except for breeding purposes. There's a reason they were used as warhorses: Stallions are *already* out to kill most other creatures; it's just that sometimes they can be trained to not kill one particular human.

I don't believe any of the other examples have the full set of the aforementioned positive traits.

Technically, you can ride a pig, as well. You just really really shouldn't. They eat people.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I once had a pig I would sometimes ride around the yard.

I ate her.

[momus.livejournal.com]

mmmm bacon.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

She was tasty.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Stallions are frequently, and historically, used for far more than just stud. Caution is necessary when working around horses, and sometimes a bit more caution is necessary around stallions, but they're not all slavering for people's blood. They just need to be handled properly.

I used to have a stallion. He didn't try to kill anyone. My only murderous horses were mares. I had a mare try bloody hard to stomp me to death in a rockpile, but my stallion didn't ever do as much as kick at me.

We had the stallion gelded because he was too horny for his (and anyone else's) own good. He was desperate for the neighbour's mare, and we caught him trying to shag the geese a few times. That just ain't right.

The geese got away, lucky for them....

[miami-pony.livejournal.com]

Horseys are very very very very pretty! Horseys have big engaging eyes and cute twirly ears and lotsa big strong muscles and can go really really fast when they want to. Horseys are just way way way prettier than humans are, not to mention all those other critters. Why wouldn't people want to spend more time with'm?

Donkeys are smarter than horses, mules even moreso. They tend to want to do their own thing. Zebras will just straight-out kill you, unless they've been -very- throughly trained.

As far as people not using stallions goes, that's crazy talk. You can go all the way back to Xenophon, or back to the Mongols, and you will find people riding stallions. They're not all that more difficult to train than any other critter, they just sometimes need a bit more attention so they don't do completely crazy shit.

And why shouldn't you ride a pig? I take care of 4 big mature boars and I can climb on any one of them. I give them hugs (carefully) and haven't yet been hurt by them. I get hurt (technically) by horses all the time.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't ride a pig if I thought the pig wasn't big enough. That's one reason.

I also wouldn't ride a wild boar.

But neither would I ride a wild horse.

I had a stallion once. We had him gelded, not because he was trying to kill anyone/anything, but because he was trying to fuck the neighbour's pony. And our gander. Heh....

I think ponies are smarter than horses, too.

I've never spent time with a zebra, aside from a rather friendly one at a zoo when I was a kid.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, and I've been hurt by horses on numerous occasions, yet never by any of my pigs. Out of all of our pigs, only one was mean. The rest were sweethearts.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

"...can go really really fast when they want to."

Not always! I had a pair of draft ponies who I might have been able to outrun on a straightaway. They couldn't run for shit, but they were strong.

[conspiracy-girl.livejournal.com]

Horses (and camels) have been domesticated for thousands of years. They have been bred for thousands of years to be suitable for human use and companionship. Someone might train a moose or a hippo to work as a horse, but I do not think it would be safe. Think of going into the jungle, finding a baby tiger and bringing it home to have as a pet. Chances are it will rip your face off one day.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Ah, but a moose is not comparable to a tiger. My father knew a man who domesticated a moose, and used it as a draft animal. It pulled a cart, sled, and plow.

And if you do an online search, you will find that domesticated moose, although uncommon, are not unheard of. So why aren't they more common?

Besides, I never claimed that working with a horse is safe. Anyone who spends a great amount of time around horses will be injured. It's just a question of time.

[conspiracy-girl.livejournal.com]

I would guess that (European)people did not have access to large numbers of moose until they made it to North America and by then they had become attached to horses. The Native people that were on the east coast of North America did not seem to have an interest in domesticating animals. I think the Plains Indians used horses, but contact with that people only began recently (I think the early 1800s). I am not sure if they started riding horses before or after contact with the Europeans.

Moose have those big horns that horses do not have. Those are troublesome the way the shed and grow, shed and grow.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It is popularly believed that contact with the indigenous people of the Americas began with Christopher Columbus in 1492. It began earlier, if you look at the Vikings infiltrations of northeast North America. In 1519, Cortez brought Spanish horses to the Americas.

The tribes people of the Plains are believed to have obtained their horses through trade with southwestern tribes people.

You can read more about the history of horses in North America here.

A bull moose's rack (the cows don't grow them) is not an enormous impediment to domestication. Numerous other domesticated animals (eg. goats, sheep, cattle, buffalo) also have "head gear." Although none of these animals shed their horns, they are sometimes polled for ease of handling. That being said, the reindeer grows and sheds its antlers yearly, something which has not prevented them from being domesticated for the past few thousand years.