As a kid, grown up on watching Westerns, I thought Poseidon got shafted losing that mythical contest against Athena. He produced the horse, and she provided the olive tree. Phooey on stinky olives! Give me a horse to ride any day.
Now that I’m grown, and can appreciate Greek culture, well, I’d still rather retire to Arizona and ride a horse.
I’d rather have the olive. Ever try to dress a salad with, or to burn, ‘horse oil’?
It is much easier to sit in the shade of an olive tree, then in the shade of a horse. Can’t sling a hammock or hang a swing from a hourse’s limbs, either.
Horses reproduce too slowly, and require too much year round work, and take up too much pasture that cows could use, for the amount of meat they produce.