ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Frois focuses on horses, mules and donkeys were more common than horses in Iberia as late as the nineteenth century. Equines of all types, including warhorses that were bred from European, Barbary, Arabian, and oriental breeds, were a big part of European culture and identity. The Japanese horse apparently was descended from the Mongolian horse, whose ancestor was the Asiatic wild horse. Japanese footmen had to be 'straw farriers', ready at a moment's notice to replace a worn-out horse slipper. However, the grass in Japan is not as calcium-rich as in Europe, horses may have been more prone to leg injuries. It was for this reason that Japanese racehorses broke bones at a tremendous rate in the 1980s. During the mid-fifteenth century the Portuguese began trading and raiding for slaves in West Africa and also initiated a lucrative trade in gold and a variety of exotic animals, including zebras.
