Horses through Time

by Sandra L. Olsen (Editor)

This text draws on paleaontological records, archaeology and history, to examine the history of the interplay between humans and horses, the development of the breeds, the history of equestrian sports, and the advances in equine veterinary medicine. Each chapter contains recent research and information on a wide variety of equine topics, from reproductions of Palaeolithic cave paintings, to modern horse racing, and a chapter on related equine animals, such as the African Zebra.

Genres: History

222 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horses Through Time (which is published by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and edited and introduced by Sandra L. Olson) is a collection of nine diverse and extensively researched academic papers (read research articles) on horses both then and now (with topics ranging from the evolution and ancestry of horses to a panorama of horse and pony breeds, and yes, even an essay on how the domestication of the horse also might well have helped fuel the spread of in particular the Indo-European languages). And indeed, because Horses Through Time is a collection of equine-themed papers penned by multiple authors (and therefore presenting a variety of topics and themes) I have also and of course quite naturally so enjoyed and appreciated some of the featured offerings contained in Horses Through Time considerably more than others (finding for example Richard C. Hubert’s article on horse evolution and David W. Anthony’s musings on how the domestication of the horse also likely helped spark language contact and expansion much more of personal interest to and for me than editor Sandra L. Olson’s exposé on equestrian sports and Corinne Raphael Sweeney’s a bit overly with scientific jargon filled essay on advances in modern equine medicine).

With each and every horse themed article also including a detailed bibliographical reading list and there also being an appendix providing general information on basic equine anatomy, colours and white patterns, Horses Through Time truly is one of the best and most all encompassing general scientific introductions to horses I have read to date (and the only reason why I am ranking it with four and not with five stars is that unfortunately, in my version of Horses Through Time, the oh so expansive seeming subject and name index does annoyingly then not feature the relevant and corresponding page numbers within the text proper).