The history of the domestication of horses goes back much further to at least about 3000 BCE

Amazing stuff!

"... Scholars continue to debate when this historic bond actually began. Some scientists have argued, for example, that horse domestication first occurred about 2200 to 2100 B.C.E., around the same time humans invented chariots.

This time period marked the expansion of horses from a lineage known as DOM2, the direct genetic ancestors of all modern domesticated horses. These equines possessed favorable genetic mutations linked to endurance and calmness around humans—and they eventually galloped their way across Europe, Anatolia, the Near East, and Central Asia.

But research published last week ... challenges this idea, suggesting that humans began riding horses much earlier than previously thought.

Researchers combined archaeological artifacts, ancient DNA, bone studies, and other evidence to show that horses from multiple genetic backgrounds were being eaten, managed, milked, and ridden in communities across Eurasia long before 2200 B.C.E. The team identified people from the Yamnaya culture, who lived across the Eurasian steppes between about 3200 and 2600 B.C.E., as early riders of DOM2 horses. “Rather than a sudden breakthrough, domestication was a protracted, regionally varied process whose transformative effects on human mobility and social organization began as early as the fourth, if not the fifth millennium B.C.E.,”  ..."

"Taming and domestication were not single events. They were a slow, stop-start process, full of setbacks, playing out over generations and across vast regions, before full domestication set in shortly before 2000 BCE. ...

“The role of horses in major historical developments is almost too vast to measure, hence the saying that the world was conquered on horseback,” ...

Today, truly wild horses no longer exist. Even Przewalski's horse

Opens in a new tab, long held up as a living relic of the wild, is now known to descend from early domesticated populations, showing how deeply humans have shaped horse populations over time.

The timing matters. Around 3,500 to 3,000 BCE, steppe populations began pushing east and west across Eurasia. They brought the wheel with them. Cattle pulled the first wagons. Horses came at the same time. A rider could cover ground in hours that a wagon took days to cross but both were key innovations in mobility and transport, revolutionizing human society.

Researchers now link that leap in mobility to the spread of Proto-Indo-European languages. The horse carried people. And with them, words. The languages spoken across much of Europe and Asia today trace back to those early riders and wagon drivers. ..."

From the abstract:

"Recent papers argued that the domestication of horses can be equated with the appearance of favorable genetic mutations that are first evident in individuals in the DOM2 clade dated about ∼2200–2100 BCE.

We challenge the idea that this genetic shift alone defines domestication.

Evidence from archaeology, ancient DNA, osteology, and other disciplines shows that horses from multiple genetic backgrounds (DOM1, DOM2, and, as we suggest here, DOM3) were managed, milked, and ridden long before 2200 BCE.

Yamnaya groups (∼3200–2600 BCE) rode DOM2 horses—the direct ancestors of modern domestic stock—while incorporating them into diets, rituals, and mobility systems. 

Selection for traits linked to endurance and temperament began centuries earlier. Rather than a sudden breakthrough, domestication was a protracted, regionally varied process whose transformative effects on human mobility and social organization began as early as the fourth, if not the fifth millennium BCE, and set the stage for later DOM2 dominance."

ScienceAdviser

The first domesticated horses: 6,000 years of a complex story (original news release) "Horses were being ridden, worked, and traded long before anyone thought it possible. New research pushes back the accepted timeline of human use of horses by centuries, showing that humans used horses in organized ways as early as the 4th millennium BCE, if not earlier."

Horse genetics, archaeology, and the beginning of riding (open access)

Fig. 1. Early horse representations in the steppes.

(A) The earliest clear image of a steppe horse, embossed on a silver cup from the Maikop-Oshad chieftain’s grave, Russia dated 3520–3350 cal BCE

Fig. 9. Wagons in the third millennium BCE record.

Two time slices, three geographical regions and three horse populations: A complex map of Eurasia.

Archaeological study shows humans started riding horses more than 4,000 years ago and improved breeding techniques and equestrianism

Amazing stuff! We owe horses so much! Without horses, we might still be very primitive people!

"... Horse power was a critical development in human society as it significantly sped up ancient people’s ability to communicate and trade. Riding on horse back remained the fastest means of transportation until the mechanical engine was invented in the 20th century. ..."

"... The research team gathered an extensive collection of horse archaeological remains spanning the Eurasian continent. They combined radiocarbon dating with ancient DNA sequencing to characterize a comprehensive genome time-series providing fine-grained resolution into the genetic transformations coinciding with the emergence of equestrianism. ...

The research team scrutinized their data for three indicators of horse husbandry. First, they traced when the progenitors of modern domestic horses began to spread outside their native domestication homeland. Next, they reconstructed the horse demography all along the third millennium BCE to precisely date the earliest signs of breeding and large-scale production of horses. Last, they uncovered evidence of significant shifts in the horse reproductive lifespan, indicating deliberate manipulation of animal reproduction by early breeders.

The remarkable alignment of all three lines of evidence around ~4,200 years ago strongly suggests that domestic horses were produced in sufficiently large numbers to sustain a growing demand across the continent only then, and not earlier. Therefore, the date of ~4,200 years ago marks the true onset of horse-based mobility as we recognize it. ..."

From the abstract:

"Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility. However, the timeline between their domestication and widespread integration as a means of transportation remains contentious. Here we assemble a large collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged ~2,200 BCE (Before Common Era), through close kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than ~2,700 BCE, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly-held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe ~3,000 BCE and earlier. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai ~3,500 BCE, a settlement from Central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centered on horses. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines."

Archaeological study shows humans started riding horses more than 4,000 years ago

The rise of horse power ~4,200 years ago (original press release) An international research team sequenced the genomes of hundreds of horse archaeological remains to track the historical rise of horse-based mobility around 4200 years ago in the Pontic-Caspian steppes.

The emergence of improved breeding techniques at the time considerably enhanced the yearly capacity of horse production, which helped spreading domestic horses like a wildfire across the whole Eurasian continent.

The massive human migrations that spread Indo-European languages outside the steppes around 5,000 years ago were not mediated by horses, contrarily to what was previously thought.

Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2,200 BCE in Eurasia (no public access)