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If you looked side by side at an american mustang and a modern european warmblood or thoroughbred (after the introduction of arab and anglo-arab lines into euro
by motohagiography 4y ago
If you looked side by side at an american mustang and a modern european warmblood or thoroughbred (after the introduction of arab and anglo-arab lines into european studbooks around the 17th century during an apparent period of fashionable anglomania in france), the missing link between them would be iberian horses like the lusitano and andalusian. It's not scientific, but mustangs are thought (colloquially) to be the descendents of escaped iberian horses both because of the plausibility of the shipwreck theory, and their general conformation. (shorter backed, roman noses, pointed ears, whereas up-hill withers are more of an artificial selective breeding trait) Another marker for iberian horses today is the common incidence of piraplasmosis, which may be interesting to see if it appears in those island horse bones, as it may indicate where the horse would have acquired it.
The andalusian and lusitano are often called baroque breeds and they have a more compact conformation and up-and-down movement that we refer to as "carriage-y" now because we think of pulling carriages, but the iberian horses were bred for their agility and bold temperament for cattle herding (bullfighting and skirmishing cavalry), so a shorter back (think turning a short wheelbase) gave them an advantage. Wild horses in the US weren't subject to the "lightening up" of the breed that introducing anglo-arabs into european studbooks did. But admittedly these are post-hoc explanations that pervade horse history.
The DNA evidence in the article confirms some ideas that I think had more rigor and reason than folklore, unless we treat historians and horsemen as folklorists.
- towledev 4y agoDo you have a newsletter I can subscribe to
- upsidesinclude 4y agoUnfortunately, these days if it isn't 'science', it doesn't count... That is a great bit of knowledge you have and it opened up a whole realm of thinking regarding genetic modification that I haven't ever explored. Primarily about the longevity and complexity of a society that requires the modification compared with their ultimate success. As we see many instances of domestication in various species, but often little diversity in that domestication. I'm interested to know what the possible genetic markers could provide regarding the history of the migrations across, say, Northern Europe of the Celts and Scots and if there are any distinct breeds that can be traced. Or tying those forward to the breeds we see of the various native tribes across America
- motohagiography 4y agoI can recommend this documentary series: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/equus-story-of-the-horse-about/16877/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/equus-story-of-the-horse-abo... it's dramatic, but fun. (second episode here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7xsqy0 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7xsqy0) I have a pet theory about how greek mythology talks about wisdom originating from centaurs who lived in the forests of the "east" rhymes pretty well with mongolian horse cultures, where full time riders being percieved half-man and half-horse barbarians is a pretty plausible metaphorical description. These centaurs would have brought sophisticated techniques for domestication, and even the necessary cultural morals and ethics that were the effect of their competence - and which cultivated willingness in the animals, and the stewardship of them. The myth of greek titans raised with the wisdom of centaurs is appealing, and what we understand as hellenic western values that originate from those myths may have been the necessary conseqeuence of our species relationship to horses. The link above talks about the Mongolian connection. This is more hypothesis generation than explanatory, but horses live shorter lives than humans, we would have left dead ones behind over the course of our migrations. Maybe it could inspire something to test for in the genetic record. The documentary gets into prehistoric ancestors of them, so there are definitely serious people working on this academically.
- upsidesinclude 4y agoInteresting take. I'll check these out, thank you