Horses
Horse, (Equus caballus), a hoofed herbivorous mammal of the family Equidae. It comprises a single species, Equus caballus, whose numerous varieties are called breeds.
Before the advent of mechanized vehicles, the horse was widely used as a draft animal, and riding on horseback was one of the chief means of transportation.
The relationship of the horse to humans has been unique. The horse is a partner and a friend. It has plowed fields and brought in the harvest, hauled goods and conveyed passengers, followed game and tracked cattle, and carried combatants into battle and adventurers to unknown lands. It has provided recreation in the form of jousts, tournaments, carousels, and the sport of riding.
The influence of the horse is expressed in the English language in such terms as chivalry and cavalier, which connote honour, respect, good manners, and straightforwardness.
The horse is the “proudest conquest of Man,” according to the French zoologist Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon. Its place was at its master’s side in the graves of the Scythian kings or in the tombs of the pharaohs.
Many early human cultures were centred on possession of the horse. Superstition reads meaning into the colours of the horse, and a horse's head suspended near a grave or sanctuary or on the gables of a house conferred supernatural powers to the place.
Greek mythology created the Centaur, the most obvious symbol of the oneness of horse and rider. White stallions were the supreme sacrifice to the gods, and the Greek general Xenophon recorded that “gods and heroes are depicted on well-trained horses.” Therefore, a beautiful and well-trained horse was a status symbol in ancient Greece, so Kings, generals, and statesmen, of necessity, had to be horsemen.
By: Dina Reyes, Step 10
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