Phil Maggitti
The acquiescence of the horse in the never-ending ritual of domestication is nothing short of remarkable. This charismatic animal--long one of our favorite symbols of wild, unsubjugated power and unmortgaged freedom--exhibits for the most part an altruistic capacity to oblige its master, no matter how glorious or menial the task, how grand or grating the adventure. For the better part of 50 centuries horses have tilled our fields, shouldered our burdens, carried us gallantly into the arenas of battle and sport, provided transportation, buttressed our egos, and furnished the sort of unquestioning companionship and loyalty that few people are privileged to enjoy. Indeed, all but the most recent waltzes in the dance of civilization have been choreographed to the sure-footed, nimble-gaited movements of the horse. As cowboy artist and humorist Charles Russell observed, "It was this animal that took 'em from a cave."
Yet why this animal? What makes the horse more tractable than truculent? Why is the horse amenable to toting that barge, clearing that rail, or giving its all in the stretch? Why does the horse accept domestication while other animals scarcely concede to become tame?
Such riddles are easier spun than solved. To answer them is to weave a tapestry of constructs from the yarns of psychology, history, and physiology; and it helps in no small measure if the weaver possesses a philosophy grounded in plain, unvarnished horse sense to boot. What's more, when all is said and speculated on, the answer to the riddle of domestication is, perforce, much closer to a working pattern than it is to a finished product. The search for that answer begins with a distinction between the notions domesticated and tame.
Defining Terms
The difference between domesticated and tame is the difference between cooperation and tolerance, friendship and acquaintance. A domesticated animal cooperates amiably in its association with humans. A tame one simply tolerates our attention. Even among domesticated animals, all creatures are not domesticated equally. Cats, for example, do not cooperate so much or so willingly with us as dogs or horses do--a tendency much appreciated by anyone who has stood in a cold doorway on a winter's night going "Here, Kitty, Kitty." In the precincts of the cat many are called, but few come quickly.
History Lessons
The horse, to a comforting extent, does. The first clues to the reasons why are embedded in evolutionary history. The earliest known ancestor of the horse--Eohippus by name--was tiny, four-toed, and furtive, not much bigger than a fox. Referred to by one writer as "small, stupid, and swift," Eohippus emerged in the swamps and river beds of North America 50 million years ago. The first hominids, our earliest known ancestors, appeared in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa roughly 35 to 40 million years later. By then Eohippus had virtually completed the evolution from a browsing to a grazing animal, from a solitary to a herd-dwelling creature, from a four-toed to a three-toed beast known as Pliohippus, which stood 40 inches high. Yet neither humans nor horses had reached the stage where meaningful contact, let alone cooperation, would take place. That would require additional millions of years in the patient crucible of time.
The Appearance of Equus
During that incubation Pliohippus was gradually refined into Equus: a single-toed, long-necked animal bearing little resemblance to his ancient ancestor Eohippus. In fact, the same writer who referred to Eohippus as "small, stupid, and swift" described Equus as an "intelligent, graceful, athletic animal" that would have a much greater impact on human development than human development would have on him.
By the time Equus evolved in North America a million years ago (and subsequently began his migration into the rest of the world), humans had been sharpening their hunting and tool-making skills in parts of that world for at least half a million years. When the first anatomically correct ancestors of modern day Homo sapiens appeared 35,000 years ago (an interval that amounts to a blink in the long, steady gaze of time), the horse was well settled into a herd-dwelling existence--the social medium common to all domesticated animals save the cat.
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