The Reluctant Rider

It is suspected that chasing after stragglers was the motivation for jumping on the back of a horse (www.imh.org). The benefits horseback riding were quickly realized, and tribes began keeping larger and larger herds. The tribes began fighting amongst themselves, largely over grazing land. This constant fighting made them highly skilled horsemen, a skill which was at the time unique in Asia. The Mongols" ability as horsemen was a result of necessity due to their lifestyle, a lifestyle that was very different from that of the Chinese.
             The Chinese were a sedentary, agricultural people. They did not keep as many animals as the people of the steppe, who did not stay in the same place long enough to cultivate many crops and relied more on the products of animals that could move with them. They needed draught animals primarily, for pulling plows and drawing carts to market. For this they used oxen and other equids long before obtaining the horse (Loewe, 207).
             Richard H Meadow, an expert archaeologist, states: "not a single horse bone has been securely identified from South Asia before the end of the third millennium BC" (www.hindunet.org). Northeastern Chinese did not domesticate their horses for another 2,000 years after the Mongolians did. This late arrival and domestication of horses in China, especially in the most populated areas, is one major reason why the Chinese began riding so long after the Mongolians. New archaeological evidence suggests that attempts were made at riding shortly after domestication in the steppe (www.hindunet.org), but the horse in China was used as a pack animal or in harness for many thousands of years before any serious attempts were made at riding. .
             There is significant proof that as early as the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC) horses in China had become an important animal, even though they were not yet ridden. Horses and the chariots they powered were entombed with their owners in order to be with them in the next life.