On Horseback: How Riders Changed World History

No animal has had as much influence on human history as the horse. It all began in prehistoric times when people hunted these animals for food. Hunters domesticated the horse to secure meat and later mare's milk. For both species,... domestication was a turning point: the horse became the most valuable type of livestock. The horse's need to travel long distances in search of new pastures forced horse breeders to settle across the Eurasian steppes, and in order to keep up with the herds migrating over long distances, shepherds learned to ride — and this changed the course of history. Riding made the horse a strategic resource, at one time as important as oil in the 20th century. It lost this status only when it was supplanted by cars and airplanes. Thus came to an end the culture of horse breeding that lasted for four thousand years. At the same time, the horse ceased to be a pillar of human civilization so suddenly and irrevocably that the role of this animal in its formation has largely been forgotten. The book "On Horseback" tells the amazing story of the horse and at the same time offers a new perspective on the emergence of the modern world.