Raiders, Rulers, and Traders by David Chaffetz
Horses once were a primary means for moving goods and getting around, and aside from riding herd and hauling freight, they were the primary instrument of empire builders until replaced by the internal combustion engine.
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders follows the evolution of an animal whose earliest fossils were found in North America. According to author David Chaffetz, they migrated across the lost land bridge to Siberia before going extinct in the New World (European conquerors reintroduced them to the continent). In Central Asia, horses were hunted for food and exploited for mare’s milk—before the Mongols decided to ride them. Earlier horses were relatively small in size. The familiar species known today resulted from human breeding.
Chaffetz compares the bonding that can occur between horses and humans to the relationship between dogs and their owners and worries that the stabled horses of today suffer “from isolation, not only from their owners but also from other horses.”
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