Dubai: While no one knows exactly when the relationship between man and horse began, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) puts it during the Ice Age, more than 40,000 years ago.
At that time horses were considered prey and hunted as wild game. This relationship didn't change until about 3500 BC.
According to the AMNH, archeologists believe that the Botai people who lived on the steppes of Central Asia were among the first people to domesticate horses.
While they were mainly considered cattle, equine-world.co.uk states that around this time horse racing also became popular among nomadic tribesmen. It became a professional sport in Britain in the 12th century.
Another popular sport was polo, which is thought to have originated during the first millennium BC, according to the US-based International Museum of the Horse.
Polo enjoyed great popularity in the Middle East and later the Far East and India, although it did not become a western pastime until 1869.
Records of horses in battle date as far back as 2000 BC in western Siberia and the west Asiatic steppes, where they were used to pull chariots.
By the turn of the 20th century, the relationship between horse and man changed dramatically. Horses adopted a more leisurely role working with police or becoming professional racers and jumpers.
