Central Asia- center not periphery The web is abuzz with the discovery of a steppe city, Semiyarka on Kazakhstan's Irtysh river. As usual, this discovery "revolutionizes our understanding of ancient history". I don't agree.

A lovely review of Raiders, Rulers, and Traders in the Irish Field: "A thrilling, intelligent read that manages to be both educational and genuinely gripping. For anyone who has ever looked into a horse’s eye and glimpsed something ancient and unknowable, Raiderswill strike a deep chord."

I can't endorse much of Jeff Sach's views these days but this video strongly suggests that he has read "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders" If he comes to our 50th reunion I will ask him. www.facebook.com/share/v/1AMp...

A day does not go by without learning something new. Here is a link between stiletto heels, and Persian horsemanship. www.instagram.com/reel/DP4hU0n...

A fun day in Blue Grass country, meeting both history buffs and horse people at the Kentucky Book Fair.

Rock art represents the earliest interactions between humans and horses. asianreviewofbooks.com/rock-art-and...

asianreviewofbooks.com Rock art represents some of humans earliest interactions with horses.

Quail Ridge Books in North Hills, Raleigh, carries Raiders. Keep it in mind, Tar Heels, for stocking stuffers

Kazakhstan is creating a new institute "to support national livestock breeding and safeguard Kazakhstan’s rich equestrian heritage". Of the 4.2 million horses, only 40,000 belong to recognised breeds. Is this really a problem?

Learn more about the horse trade as the origin of the Silk Road in the latest issue of the Shanghai Literary Review. Issued first on paper, it will be available on line later.

A wonderfully receptive audience at the National Sporting Museum and Library in Middleburg, VA on October 23. The question on the table was, who domesticated whom? People or horses? At the end the jury was out.We also sold out, 50 copies of Raiders, Rulers, and Traders. Photos (c) Nancy Kleck

Daunt Books in London carries an eclectic selection of books.

Pope Leo XIV recently received as a gift a Polish Arabian horse, Proton. Since the days when the Poles and Ottoman Turks were neighbours, Poles have collected Arabians. They raised these horses on the steppe of Podolia, where once Cossacks and Tatars roamed. Podolian studs enjoyed great repute.

Why do horses figure in so many aspects of Chinese culture? Laurence writes about this in one of his detective novels. Maybe "Raiders" can clear up this mystery.

If you are in Abu Dhabi you should visit this exhibition. Worthwhile! asianreviewofbooks.com/mamluks-louv...

Keep in mind that during the paleaolitic era, there may have been as many as 3,000,000 equids in Europe and 5,000 humans. No wonder the equine herds appeared to our ancestors like a food pantry. That explains why horses are the most common remains found in ancient camp sites.

In this piece, I explore what constitutes the frontier between Europe and Asia. This goes back to a train trip I made from Moscow to Beijing. The journey continues. engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-b...

Humans' fascination with horses long precedes riding. They are the most popular subject in parietal art, 30,000 yea Sacrificial horses have been found in human burials as early as 5000 BCE. That's 2,000 to 3,000 years before domestication and ridiing. What did horses signify to the ancients?

I enjoyed this snappy discussion with Peter Zablocki. For the time challenged, Peter cuts to the chase!

Chatgpt reminds me of a rogue employee. As in the off-line world, sometimes you work for the rogue employee and not the other way around.

"new research revolutionizes our understanding of horses": Horse proteins found ancient cooking pots in Sicily. Really? Native horses abounded in Europe until around the 2nd millennium BCE. Why would bronze age fette di cavallo surprise anyone? #equinehistory #ancienteurope

All candidates for mayor of NYC agree on banning horse drawn carriages. Andrew Cuomo says "free the horses". As though people can afford to raise and feed work horses that cannot work. Since the Central Park now bans cars, it is safer than ever. The political class is just out of touch.

We almost didn't have horses. Imagine that. Without the horse, the history of Eurasia would have resembled that of sub-Saharan Africa, or Meso-America, with empires, yes, but not as we know them.

Friends in Washington, DC or in Virginia, take note. I am going to talk about the horse, how we changed them and how they changed us. This thought-provoking theme builds on my book, Raiders, Rulers and traders. www.nationalsporting.org/.../event_de...

The horse came to China from the west. The ancient Chinese word for horse "mra" (reconstructed form) recalls English "mare", and ancient Germanic/Celtic "marko". But why is our word female? As with "cow" we often name domesticates for the female. (source, Victor Mair, Language Log). #equinehistory

What happened to "L'Ami", the horse ridden by Alexander I of Russia during his triumphant entry into Paris in 1814? This, and many other unexpected horse stories, came up during my coffee with Jean-Louis Gouraud, one of Europe's greatest gurus on horses and horsemanship. #equinehistory,

Breeders spent centuries seeking desirable characteristics in their livestock, be it speed for horses or milk volume for cows. Recently discoveries show that a single genetic modification can provide these outcomes. CRISPR can be used to engineer gene in the foetus. This has big implications.

A processional orchestra with a chariot as well as a mounted dragon, Mathura, Jain stupa, 1st century BCE, New Delhi.

Imagine the diligence of 20-year old Judith Gautier, learning Chinese when she could speak it with only a few people - she could not dream of ever travelling there. She did it for art's sake. asianreviewofbooks.com/chinese-song...

The earliest act of selective breeding -- identifying calm horses. Maybe if you have been thrown from a horse you wonder if we ever managed to do this. But then try riding a zebra. Scientists identify the FPM1 gene as the critical, first step towards domestication. #equinehistory, #genetics

Not only did scientist find the gene responsible for for rideability, but now genetic-engineers are using CRISPR to insert speed genes in Argentine polo ponies. They will sell for 800,000 USD? My college poney, retired from professional competition was blind in one eye. #equinehistory, #polo

Mannerheim's Kirghiz guide, whom he calls his jiggit, sits proudly in the saddle, in front of a yurt. The word is yiğit in modern Turkish, and means "brave". In Tolstoy's Hadji Murat the eponymous hero has an escort of jiggits. He looks like he would look after you on the steppes. #steppehistory

Scientists isolated the gene that made horses rideable. It's rare that a single gene is responsible for a complex adaptation: the GSDMC gene made stronger backs and legs, and better coordination. Selective breeding increased the frequency of this gene from 1% to 100% with 200 years. #equinehistory

#alimatalieva in AzerNews: Kazakhstan is home to a rich archaeological heritage, often overlooked in mainstream narratives... Discoveries like this contribute to a growing body of evidence that Central Asia was not a peripheral zone, but a dynamic cultural crossroads .. #steppehistory, #kurgan

Researching Raiders, Rulers, and Traders, I learned that many European states were created by steppe horsemen. Hungary, obviously. But Bulgaria is another significant example. A new book by Eric Halsey explains how steppe horsemen created Bulgaria #steppehistory, #equinehistory, #bulgarianhistory

Here's a written interview about Raiders by "Meet the Professor". It's a good summary of the book, and some of the insights I developed since writing it. #equinehistory, #horses, #ancienthistory, #steppehistory www.sociologygroup.com/raiders-rule...

Imperial Russia sent Gustav Mannerheim across the Silk Road to China. What did he find in Kirghizstan? Horses and a horse market. #silkroad, #equinehistory

This obsession with identity, attempting to align DNA, material culture and language, seems so outdated to me... like 19th nationalism. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Horse husbandry suited Mongolia perfectly. Modern land uses, including intensive goat herding and mining, have not been kind to this land. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Why does this paper not attribute the rapid spread of Zoonotic diseases to the obvious candidate, the horse? #equinehistory #domestication #endemicdiseases phys.org/news/2025-08...

We had a fascinating visit with the director of the museum of Ostrów Wielkopolski. www.mmow.pl/kronika/

It's significant that while the connection between humans and horses started much later in North America compared to Eurasia, the same deep, sacred bond emerged. #equinehistory, #horsesinamerica, #nativesmericans centerofthewest.org/2025/08/11/t...

The doomed love of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang, and concubine Yang, immortalized in the drama "The Palace of Ever-lasting Youth". Here Yang is being helped into the saddle by grooms as the emperor looks on lovingly. Musée Guimet

What do Iranians, an eminent horse nation, make of Raiders, Rulers, and Traders? Morteza Hajizadeh takes a look in this podcast. newbooksnetwork.com/raiders-rule...

The favorite game of steppe hunters. I always wondered where it got is strange nose. #steppehistory, #hunting vocal.media/earth/the-sa... The Saiga Antelope: Survivor of the Steppes with an Alien Face | Earth

To eat or not to eat? This question is answered in Raiders, Rulers, and Traders. #steppehistory, #hippophagy, #equinehistory www.washingtonpost.com/food/2025/08...

More re-wilding today! #rewilding, #steppehistory

Maggie Freeman is at it again with a lively podcast on how empires arise. Not surprising from her Mongol guest, horse are the answer. #steppehistory, #chinesehistory

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 I talked to Lhamsuren Munkh-Erdene about his work on Mongol and Chinese history and why many pre-modern states were founded by nomadic pastoralists. Listen below ⬇️ or wherever you get your podcasts!

Distant Cathay-- Europeans called it this because they only knew about the Khitans, and had no contact this the Song dynasty.