How did horses become animals of fancy while donkeys largely didn't?
score:9
Riding a horse is a hell of a lot more fun than riding a donkey. So from a pure pleasure aspect, moderns are far more likely to want to maintain a horse for amus*m*nt than a donkey.
The ceremonial aspects are almost entirely down to the horse being a central animal of warfare for millennia. This produced an air of romance around the horse that does not exist for the donkey. When you think of the horse in history, you think of the medieval knight, or the mongol warrior, or the native american warrior, performing acts of bravery on the field. Look at all that romance!
When you think of the donkey in history, you think of an English monk or a Chinese peasant ambling down the road with their load. The work donkeys do tend to be associated with the poor and the powerless. There's little romance there. So it's no surprise that on ceremonial occasions, people want to look at horses rather than donkeys.
As far as work goes, throughout history, horses were always more expensive than donkeys, and used for "higher class" work. The local baron wasn't going to have a cart pulled along by six donkeys. Imagine five hundred years from now, when cars are purely vehicles for pleasure. Do you think people will own ferraris or hyundais?
Upvote:1
There is ample market for gambling based on race horses, which by itself maintains the need for horsebreeding, breeding contests, etc. Donkeys seem to be not usable this way.
Mexico and China are underdeveloped countries, according to both the UN and their own governments.
Upvote:8
From ancient times to about the medieval age, horses were mostly used in a military application - they were strong enough to hold an armoured soldier, able to sprint/gallop at an incredible speed, had a massive weight that combined with speed (and numbers) could break through an line of infantry, and had reasonable stamina. Though, they can be temperamental, and require a high level of care - meaning they are expensive to maintain.
Over the same time, most hauling and pulling work was done by donkeys or oxen. Donkeys are low maintenance, but have a reputation for stubbornness - oxen are also low maintenance, and quite docile.
Horses started to be used as sporting animals partly from the training they needed to be used as military animals, and also because of the leisure pursuits of the nobility that owned them.
Eventually, the benefits of a horse became more affordable to the lower classes, and the horse began to displace other animals for work. For example, the large horse breeds that were bred to support the heavily armoured knights of the 14th century become redundant as cavalry began to be lighter and faster, especially after the introduction of firearms. These particular horses began to be used for pulling wagons.
So, it can be said that horses actually were bred from military/sporting animals and into working ones, rather than the other way round.
More post
- 📝 What was the role of Nigeria in Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- 📝 Where was the Barberini psalter created?
- 📝 Why is Titus known as Titus?
- 📝 What was the reaction to English monarchs using the title "King of France"?
- 📝 When and why did the use of the lifespans of royalty to limit clauses in contracts come about?
- 📝 In what language was the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897 held?
- 📝 Why didn't the Greek language survive in Egypt?
- 📝 What were the indigenous populations of California before American settlement began to peak?
- 📝 How much faster were the printing presses than hand writing?
- 📝 Are there any ideas as to what the English landscape was like before the arrival of the Angles?
- 📝 Inviting rulers vs taking power
- 📝 How was South African infrastructure before 1994?
- 📝 Did medieval stores have names?
- 📝 Did the Romans ever deploy troops to, or try to conquer, Ireland?
- 📝 Which United States cities started getting electricity in the 1920s?
- 📝 What paintings might these be (2 sketches made in the Tate Britain Gallery)?
- 📝 During the French Revolution, how did the French address non-citizens?
- 📝 What was a Purity Chapter?
- 📝 Why is Spain's base timezone UTC+1?
- 📝 Trying to identify this sword. Think early 20th century. Maybe ceremonial
- 📝 Did the Soviet Union protest against Italy building or acquiring submarines after WW2?
- 📝 What is the brown doll on Nicolás de Ovando's desk?
- 📝 What was Karl Marxs views on drug use?
- 📝 How common are the following activities historically?
- 📝 Why didn't the US choose to demolish Tokyo with an atom bomb?
- 📝 How did Porfirio Diaz leave Mexico for Europe?
- 📝 Lenin Jacket Picture: What's the story?
- 📝 Why was New Guinea not colonized by Austronesians the way Indonesia was?
- 📝 Mexico has the right to possess firearms?
- 📝 How come every culture on the planet has a different calendar, yet follow the same system for a week?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How did horses become animals of fancy while donkeys largely didn't?
- 📝 Were secret treaties ratified? How did they become official while remaining secret?
- 📝 When and how did the USA and the UK become allies?
- 📝 How did Moscow become the capital/most important city in Russia?
- 📝 When and how did the Han ethnic group become by far the biggest ethnic group in China?
- 📝 How much did J. Robert Oppenheimer get paid while overseeing the Manhattan Project?
- 📝 How and why did trade unions in America become influenced by organised crime, but unions in Britain didn't?
- 📝 How did Moldova and Romania become separate in the first place?
- 📝 How did former Spanish colonies in the Americas become so fragmented?
- 📝 How did Saudi Arabia become and remain strongly Wahhabi?
- 📝 How did residents of Estonia and Latvia prove that their family settled in the country prior to 1940, in order to become citizens in 1989?
- 📝 How much did Didius Julianus pay to become emperor of Rome?
- 📝 How did corn become the most produced crop in the world?
- 📝 How did slavery become permissible in the French West Indies when it was forbidden in France?
- 📝 How did New York become the financial hub of America?
- 📝 How did Egypt become a protectorate of the British empire?
- 📝 How did the Catholic Pope manage to become more powerful than Kings in old Europe?
- 📝 How did the South USA become more overtly Christian than the North?
- 📝 How did India become a founding member of the UN?
- 📝 How did South Korea become one of the most developed nations on Earth?
- 📝 How did Edward Misselden become a deputy-governor of a merchant company at 15?
- 📝 How did St Sebastian become a gay male icon?
- 📝 How did the French word 'familier' become associated with the concept of Magical Familiars, historically?
- 📝 How did a scientist who came from China in 1935 become a US Army Colonel by 1945?
- 📝 How did Charles de Gaulle become the leading figure of French liberation movement?
- 📝 When and how did Thailand cease to be Siam and become the modern Thailand?
- 📝 How did ruffs become fashionable and then went out of fashion?
- 📝 How did letters become published?
- 📝 How did silk manufacturing become a major industry in medieval Europe?
- 📝 How did China become so **populous**?