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To: allmendream
Odds are the Carthaginian elephants were simply fed and exercised to have more muscles. It takes centuries to get those skeletons stretched and strengthened ~ and elephants are not all that easy to manage.

Still, the Middle Ages War Horses were definitely what folks had been after for a very long time.

BTW, this business about modern horses being large enough to ride has misled folks about how the horse was domesticated.

The earlier idea was that early man saw that horses were rideable and started out riding them bareback. Fact was they were edible, not rideable, and they were fit only for pulling light built wagons called "chariots". Good shot of King Tut's chariot at http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/king-tuts-chariot-heads-to-new-york.html

Gives a very good idea of what "light" meant in the early days. That one's for two horses BTW. Even the Pharoah couldn't get a really big horse.

23 posted on 09/28/2010 5:06:58 PM PDT by muawiyah ("GIT OUT THE WAY" The Republicans are coming)
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To: muawiyah

“The Caspian is thought to be one of the oldest horse or pony breeds in the world today, dating back from the now-extinct miniature horses of Mesopotamia, who lived in the region from 3,000 BCE until the 7th century. The ponies now inhabit an area between the Caspian Sea and the Elburz Mountains, although new groups of horses potentially related to the Caspian have been identified in a much wider range.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Pony


49 posted on 09/28/2010 11:40:12 PM PDT by happygrl (Continuing to predict that Obama will resign)
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