ABSTRACT
The horse’s domestication probably began in several locations throughout its wide area of distribution during the 5th millennium BC. The
environment
Domestication required the horse’s adaptation to new living conditions. One can imagine the following sequence of events:
At first, small groups of horses were caught and penned up in an escape-proof enclosure. Man provided feed for the animals, tended to their health, provided protection from their natural enemies, and often also reduced their tendency to fight among each other. Interbreeding of animals in captivity with their wild original form was diligently avoided. Only those horses were kept that were not too dangerous, that tolerated human approach, and that could be tamed with time. As a consequence, only horses that were able to adapt to living conditions dictated by man were domesticated. This required a long process extending over many generations. As a result, alterations in phenotype and modifications of behavior were genetically fixed. No behavior that had developed in the course of evolution was completely lost due to domestication, however.
