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[[File:1200px-%C3%84gyptischer_Maler_um_1355_v._Chr._001.jpg|left|thumbnail|300px|Horses used in Ancient Egypt to pull chariots.]]
The horse today is often seen as an animal useful for recreation, sport, transport, and work. The nature of the horse, however, has changed in different societies across time. Sometimes horses were seen as war animals, while in other places and periods there use was the privy of royalty.
==Early Horse Domestication==
Most studies suggest that domestication of the horse took place along the Eurasian steppe. However, it is not clear where exactly and most likely there were several independent domestication attempts. Interestingly, wild horses before domestication show a wide range of interspecies variation; however, it is believe that only one type of species became domesticated.<ref> For more information regarding the debate of horse domestication, see: Olsen, Sandra. 2006. “Early domestication on the Eurasian Steppe,” In: ''Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms'', Melinda Zeder (Ed.). Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, pg. 245-269.</ref> Most likely, the horse was domesticated by 4000-3500 BC. All domesticate horses are classified as Equus ferus caballus, with Equius ferus as being the species that domesticated horses derive from.<ref>For more information on the species of horses, including how a single species became domesticated, and their genetics, see: Weinstock, Jaco, Eske Willerslev, Andrei Sher, Wenfei Tong, Simon Y.W Ho, Dan Rubenstein, John Storer, et al. 2005. “Evolution, Systematics, and Phylogeography of Pleistocene Horses in the New World: A Molecular Perspective.” Edited by David Hillis. ''PLoS Biology 3'' (8): e241. dos:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030241.</ref> Initial domestication may have been done as a means to develop horses as traction animals, or use in agriculture and plowing, and also for riding.<ref>For more information for the early domestication of the horse, see: Mills, D. S., and Sue M. McDonnell, eds. 2005. ''The Domestic Horse: The Origins, Developments, and Management of Its Behavior''. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press, pg. 7.</ref> Probably at around the 3rd millennium BC, the horse began to spread across Eurasia and into China, Europe, and India. This could have been associated with the migration of Indo-European and Eurasian groups that were likely migrating across Asia during this time. These populations may have introduced horses, therefore, to new regions such as the Near East, India, and China.
During the 3rd millennium BC, the utility of the horse for warfare is apparent and the association of horses for high status individuals is likely, as warriors of high standing were now sometimes buried along with their own horses. Horse skulls were also sometimes separated and buried separately, suggesting a type of cult around horses may have also developed.<ref>For more information on burial of horses and cults around horses, see: Drews, Robert. 2004. ''Early Riders: The Beginnings of Mounted Warfare in Asia and Europe''. New York: Routledge.</ref> By the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the horse is referred to in ancient textual sources from the Near East.<ref>For information on some of the earliest historical references to horses, see: Postgate, JN. 1986. “The Equids of Sumer, Again,” In: ''Equids in the Ancient World'', Meadow RH, Ueopmann H-P (Eds.). Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag: Weisbaden, pg. 194-206.</ref>
With the migration of Indo-European and Central Asian groups into the Near East by the end of the 3rd millennium BC and early 2nd millennium BC, we now begin to see horses used in warfare in early urban societies. The horse increasingly gains prominence in the ancient Near East, where the ancient Amarna texts refer to them as a trade item and that they were desired by elites.<ref>For information on the trade of horses from the Amarna letters, see: Morkot, Robert, and Robert Morkot. 2010. ''The A to Z of Ancient Egyptian Warfare''. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, pg. 107.</ref> Although horses had clear advantages in warfare, they may have taken sometime before they became more commonly used. For one, there was the complexity of training horses, which was considered more difficult and perhaps exchanges for horses indicates that few people had the needed skills to properly train them. In fact, texts exist that show that horses were often difficult to train. Horses, although used for warfare, were also seen as useful pack animals and were utilized in trade routes in the ancient Near East. Prices for horses, however, were more expensive than other pack animals, further suggesting the difficulty in mastering these animals.<ref>For more information on how horses were used and spread in the ancient Near East, see: Orlin, Louis L. 2007. ''Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pg. 82.</ref> Horses by around 1800-1600 BC were utilized with chariots in war, making them now among the most important war weapons available for ancient armies. <ref>For information on war horses and chariots, see: Eglan, Jared. 2015. ''Beasts of War: The Militarization of Animals''. JEG Publishing, pg. 47.</ref>
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==The Golden Age of the Horse==
We see that horses, which were first domesticated in Eurasia, began to spread rapidly soon afterwards in the 3rd millennium BC. Horses and their roles included agricultural work, as pack animals, and as instruments of war. By the mid-2nd millennium BC, horses begin to have an even more dominant role in large-scale, complex society warfare. In the early 1st millennium BC, elite soldiers and horsemen replaced charioteers and became the elite soldiers of the battlefield until the early 20th century AD, even after innovations such as gunpowder and rifles. Key innovations such as the stirrup and harness facilitated the dominance of horses as beasts of burden and warfare.
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