File:The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse (1905) (14594208559).jpg

Identifier: The Lombard Horse, origininfluenceo00ridg (find matches)
Title: The origin and influence of the thoroughbred horse
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Ridgeway, William, Sir, 1853-1926
Subjects: Horses
Publisher: Cambridge, England : University Press
Contributing Library: Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Tufts University

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the 16th century. Let us now return to Central and Upper Europe. We sawthat the horses on the north side of the Danube were remark-able for their small size in the 5th century B.C., and that downto the time of Caesar the Germans still possessed only theirprimitive, unimproved, large-headed horses. But as the Gaulsbeyond the Alps had shown the keenest desire to improve theirnative breed by importing horses of superior blood at great cost in) AND HISTORIC TIMES 315 from southern lands, we might assume even without evidencethat the Gauls of the lower Danube had for several centuriesbefore Christ been importing horses of improved kinds fromMacedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly. But there is not wantingevidence that for a good many centuries before our era theCelts, who dwelt in what is now StyriaS had begun to ride onhorseback. At Strettweg, near Judenburg, in that province, acremation grave of the early Iron Age—formed of large roundstones—contained a remarkable series of objects, the most
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Fig. 90. The Lombard Horse.

interesting of which was a small bronze waggon. The vehicleis a simple platform on four wheels, each of which has eightspokes. At each end are the heads of two animals: on themiddle of the car stands a woman, nude save for a girdle Jthere are four figures of men on horseback, each of whomcarries a round shield with a central boss and wears a conicalcap. There are altogether thirteen figures on the waggon. Inthis vehicle we have probably a model of the waggons on whichthe Celtic tribes conveyed their women and children as they ^ Eidgeway, Early Age of Greece, Vol. i. p. 428. 316 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC (CH. wandered into southern lands. The occurrence of horsemendressed and armed in the fashion of the early Iron Age provesthat the Gauls on the north-east of the Adriatic had learned bythat time freely to ride on horseback. But as the tribes ,on thenorth side of the Danube continued to fight in chariots becausetheir horses were so small, we may infer that th

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