Domestication …show more content…
Before they were of any use, however, they had to be bred larger. Originally, during the Eocene period, the horse was quite small, being about the size of a fox. The hooves weren’t really hooves at all, but multiple toes; three in the back and four on the front feet. As the environment became wetter, the size of the horse and its hooves began to change. Grass began to grow better, giving them more food and better footing (Amherst College, 2014). These horses had originated in North America and spread over the Bering Strait land bridge into the grasslands of Europe and Asia. Eventually, the horses in North America died out, leaving the only surviving lines in the steepes of Europe. Here, native peoples captured and domesticated them, sharing the knowledge of taming and using horses (PD,