PetsArentChildren

PetsArentChildren t1_jb93s22 wrote

You’re right. I misunderstood my first source.

> After the creation of a special cavalry unit, the peoples of the ancient Near East and China made some innovations to the equine equipment in order to control their horses during fighting. The “martingale” collar was probably an innovation of the Near East, and stirrups were invented in ancient China.

On my first read, that sounded to me like these happened concurrently. Upon closer reading, the paper actually indicates China had cavalry 600 or more years before the stirrup. Thank you!

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PetsArentChildren t1_jb7ffnw wrote

The Assyrians and Chinese did develop horseback riding, but each had to invent/adopt new technology in order to do so: the former, the martingale collar, the latter, stirrups. Apparently riding a horse bareback into battle means you’re likely to fall off and get stabbed!

https://www.asor.org/blog/2014/11/17/a-comparative-study-of-the-origins-of-cavalry-in-the-ancient-near-east-and-china/

https://www.shorthistory.org/ancient-civilizations/ancient-egypt/the-horse-in-ancient-egypt/

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