Abnormal thoracic vertebrae and the evolution of horse husbandry

Abstract

The question of the origin and evolution of horse husbandry is one of the most interesting and most disputed problems in history. This paper uses palaeopathology to explore this problem. Samples of equid thoracic vertebrae from 4 populations – free living Exmoor ponies, Early Iron Age Scytho-Siberian horses, Medieval Turkic horses and Eneolithic horses – are compared. Preliminary results suggest that the abnormalities of free-living horse caudal thoracic vertebrae differ from those of riding horses and most especially from those of horses ridden with pad saddles.