Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History

William T. Taylor

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"Hoof Beats helps readers see the drama even in the grass eating. . . . Taylor has written that too-rare work that is as authoritative as it is legible to the lay audience."--New York Times

Journey to the ancient past with cutting-edge science and new data to discover how horses forever altered the course of human history.

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. Tracing the horse's origins and spread from the western Eurasian steppes to the invention of horse-drawn transportation and the explosive shift to mounted riding, Taylor offers a revolutionary new account of how horses altered the course of human history.

Drawing on Indigenous perspectives, ancient DNA, and new research from Mongolia to the Great Plains and beyond, Taylor guides readers through the major discoveries that have placed the horse at the origins of globalization, trade, biological exchange, and social inequality. Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

Book Details

Publisher: University of California Press
Publish Date: Apr 7th, 2026
Pages: 360
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00lb
EAN: 9780520430808
Categories: • Animals - Horses• World - General• History

About the Author

William T. Taylor is Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History in Boulder.

Praise for this book

"Hoof Beats helps readers see the drama even in the grass eating. . . . Taylor has written that too-rare work that is as authoritative as it is legible to the lay audience."-- "New York Times"

"Taylor is helping break new ground with his scientific perspective on horse domestication, the timing and origins of which scholars have argued over for decades."-- "Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine"

"This eminently readable, patiently argued, and insightful history of horses will delight and instruct readers, even those who have never felt the pull of saddle leather and horse sweat. It provides the best summary to date of our ever increasing scientific knowledge of the horse and its interaction with our own species, and shows the debt we owe scholars like Taylor who have spent their lives traveling across the globe to lie on their bellies looking for the tiniest scraps of the past."-- "Asian Review of Books"

"Fantastically rich."-- "Science"

"The story of the horse is changing fast. Hoof Beats tells us where it stands just now, and can help fill the gap between scholarly developments and popular equine histories."-- "The Spectator"

"Hoof Beats is an indispensable guide to the contours of the human past as they were drawn through contact with horses."

-- "Not Even Past"

"Hoof Beats' melding of archeology, paleontology, anthropology, genetics, and history--including, importantly, indigenous perspectives--ultimately provides more than an assessment of Equus caballus and its place in history; it underscores the extent to which our modern world simply would not exist as we know it without the lasting bond between human and horse."-- "Animal Welfare Institute"

"Taylor's persuasive narrative leaves you with the humbling feeling of how integral horses have been to our civilisation. On their backs we have built empires."-- "Daily Mail"

"A comprehensive and enlightening overview of the history of horsemanship as a global phenomenon; Hoof Beats offers a unique perspective, focusing on the horse's point of view rather than the human, which is a refreshing departure from the usual anthropocentric view of history."-- "Antiquity"

"The depth of research that went into writing Hoof Beats is staggering, and Taylor does an exceptional job of delivering a work that is not only rich in detail but entertaining. It's an engaging and important story."-- "Cowgirl Magazine"

"William T. Taylor is well qualified to write this book. He has specialised in equine archaeology at the University of Colorado Museum and has, with the help of others, dug many of the ancient tombs that he describes in his book. That horses, both and individually, have shaped human history cannot be disputed. They have also had, and perhaps still have, a symbolic importance to humans. Why else would we still be able to gaze at the skeleton of Napoleon's horse, Marengo, in the Army Museum or visit the tomb of Wellington's grey, Copenhagen, at Strathfield Saye?"-- "Salisbury Review"

"Hoof Beats is a book that will appeal to both horse people and history people, and for those of us that are interested in both, this is a must read."-- "Inner Asia"

"A strong incorporation of archaeological research into the four millennia of human domestication of the horse and shines in its clear voice and readability."-- "Journal of World History"

"New archaeological methods are promising unparalleled insight into the deep past and the transformative impact of equine domestication. . . .Hoof Beats draws its insights primarily from 'the bones of ancient horses themselves' and is refreshingly free from the romanticism and nostalgia often coloring equestrian writing. Rigorous but friendly, the book will appeal to scholars and general audiences alike interested in technology and social transformation, pastoralism, and Indigenous history."

-- "Animal History"

"Hoof Beats casts the history of horses as an intersection in
the long evolutionary history of horses and humans that facilitated
the expansion of human cultures and civilizations and of permanent
horse habitats first in Eurasia and Northern Africa and later on all continents except Antarctica. Taylor draws evidence from both archaeological studies of equine societies and archeozoological studies of
ancient horse skeletons to better understand how the evolutionary histories
of horses and humans have repeatedly intersected."
-- "Journal of World History"