Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-08-14
WHEN WAS THE HORSE FIRST
RlDDEN7
WAS HE RIDDEN OR DRIVEN FlRST?-
VIEWS OF IMPORTANT SCHOLARS.
From the Academy

Canon Taylor, in that most interesting
book, "The Origin of the AryanS,' has
raised once more a question which has
often attracted the attention of scholars.
Why is it that in the earliest records of
the Greeks. Egyptians. Assyrlans, lndi-
ans and kelts we find the horse used for
drawing chariots, but not for riding:
Canon Taylor remarks (p. l6l) ut
is curious to notice at how late period
men first ventured to mount the swift
one" and he goes on to say that there is
nothing in the Rig Neda to show that the
art of riding was practced, and that our
first notice of it is in the Zend Avesta
The Homeric Greeks employed the horse
almost exclusively for the chariot, riding
being only alluded to in some two or
three isolated passages, as when Odys-
seus and Domedes rode to the ships the
horses of Rhesus which they had cap
tured Oh. 515 cf. Cd. v. BID. This, how
ever, shows that it was hardly from fear
that the Greeks did not habitualy ride
instead of drive their steeds. The same
remark applies to the ancient Britons,
who. according to the ancient accounts.
performed wonderful feats of agility in
running out and standing upon the pole
of the chariot.
The true solution may probably be
this. The primitive horse that ranged
over the plains of Europe and Asia was
too small when he was first domesti-
Gated to carry man for any great time
or distance on his back. This. of course.
would render him practically useless for
warfare. There is ample evidence to
prove that the primitive wild horse was
of very diminutive size; probably of all
his descendants the Shetland pony is hi.
best representative. Canon Taylor says
(p. lbs, speaking Of the enormous de-
post of their bones found at Soutre
near Macon, which contains from 2O,0OC
to 1900 skeletons:
This primitive horse was diminutivC
animal, not much larger than an ass
standing about thirteen hand, high. tho
largest specimens not exceeding fourteen
hands. But the head was of di,prup0r
tionate size, and the teeth were very
powerful. lie resembled the tarpan ol
wild horse of the Caspian steppe-.
Even long after he had been domesti
Gated lie remained very small. A. l.
proved by the bits made of bronze ant
staghorn winch have been found at Nor
mgen and Auvernier, which belong t
the latest bronze age. These bits ar,
only three and half inches wide ant
could now hardly be used for a child
pony
Let us now turn to Herodotus, V. Q
:. where, speaking of the unknown region
to the north of the Danube, he says tina
the only people he can learn of as inhab
, iting the region are called Sigynnae. VIII
wear the costumes of the Modes, AM
; whose horses are shaggy all over tn
. body, being covered with hair to a dept
-, of five fingers, and are small and fla
; nosed, and incapable of carrying men
il, but, when yoked under chariots, they ar
. very swift, and that the natives accort
I
the external appearance of the littl
: horses of the Sigynnae of central Europ
4 agrees very well with that of the skel,
. tons found near Macon. The simou
= shape of the head talles well with I'll
9 ugly shaped skull and powerful Jaws
the bone deposits.
!, We can hardly doubt that we have hel
primitive horses such as those whose d
minutve bits have been found in the la
= er lake dwellings of Switzerland.
- seems to me, then, that the reason Herr
2 dotus assigns for the fact that this tribe
>, central Europe drove their horses instea
), of riding them is the true eXplanatc
q why all early peoples alike employed IL
a horse for driving long before they ev,
habitually practised riding. 1t was on
after generations of domestication tina
-, under careful feeding and breeding, Il
- horse became of sufficient size to carry
man on his back with ease. That size W
- held to be of great Importance by Il
: Greeks is proved by II. Y. 1876.
:. 1t is worth noting that Sophocles, in
IN famous passage of the Antigone q. $50
> evidently considered that it was for Il
10 chariot and not for the saddle that mi
j., first used "the shaggy-necked steed."
a., WILLIAM RIDGEwAY.
l. OXFORD, Jan. St Is not my obe
ed to set right the differences which Mr.. w
I'll liam Ridgeway has drawn in the Acad
r. my of Jan. as to the priority of driyil
S, horses. On the contrary, | quite agr
with him. But the fact which he quote
y. Hthat in the Rig Veda there is nothing
e. show that the art of riding was pra
ne ticed," is not fact, as by this time eve
In student of the Veda knows.
er +. MAX MULLER.