From the horse's mouth

[amyntoros]

Here's couple of horse-related questions that have intrigued me for a while and this seems like the right time to ask them. http://www.allvet.ru/Horses/moon_blindness.phpHere are some excerpts from the above website. "Periodic ophthalmia, otherwise known as recurrent uveitis, uveitis, or moon blindness, can be a devastating disease of the equine eye. It also, unfortunately, is a disease that we really don't know much about. . . . The term moon blindness comes from the ancient belief that the disease was associated with the changes of the lunar cycles. The "recurrent" or "periodic" part of the disease is the result of the propensity of this disease to recur in a rather unpredictable manner after the animal has once experienced the disease. . . All species of animals, including humans, can suffer from some form of uveitis, but the horse has been plagued with the recurrent form of this disease for some time. In fact, this disease was recorded by veterinarians attending horses of Alexander the Great. . . "Is this just another example of logic at work, as when Alexander is credited for bringing Indian spices back to the Mediterranean, or is there mention in the histories of some horse affliction that fits the profile of this disease? We don't have any surviving "veterinarian" records so I don't know how they can make this claim. And were there vets in Alexander's time, or did the owners or those charged with the care of their horses "treat" them? Medical knowledge wasn't that advanced for humans so how many different horses' ailments could there have been that would have required a "professional" diagnosis and treatment? A rhetorical question, I know, but I'm curious. A web search on veterinary history brings up mention of Aristotle and others who wrote about the biology of animals, but nothing else helpful.My second question is about horse-bits. I've asked about them before on another forum but I don't think I explained myself properly then. The best illustrations I have seen are on the Alexander mosaic, and after examining close-up photographs such as those in Paolo Moreno's book, Apelles, I couldn't help but be appalled by the Persian horse-bits. Now, perhaps the Macedonians had similar bits but they can't be seen on the mosaic: any bits on the Alexander Sarcophagus must have been made of metal and are lost to us. However, the Persian bits on the mosaic seem so cruel - they look like a roll of half-dollars strung on a rope and the p

[amyntoros]

However, the Persian bits on the mosaic seem so cruel - they look like a roll of half-dollars strung on a rope and the poor horses' mouths are forced open so wide that I can't believe it wasn't extremely painful! Perhaps the illustrations on the mosaic are exaggerated for effect - indeed, the horses' mouths on the sarcophagus are all open, but they don't look quite so "grotesque." Still, everything else on the mosaic seems quite true-to-life. I don't understand. WHY would anyone want to do that to a horse? Can it really be that the rider had better control of his horse in a battle? And if so, why would an extremely uncomfortable animal or an animal in pain be easier to handle?I took a look at Xenophon's treatise on horsemanship and it isn't of any help. He writes about putting large discs on the smooth bit "so that they may force him to open his mouth and drop the bit" but he doesn't explain (at least not to me!) *why* this is necessary. He also writes "The same care must be taken to make his mouth tender as to harden his hoofs. This is done by the same methods as are employed to soften human flesh." Again - why? Why does the mouth have to be made tender? So that the bit is even more uncomfortable? Sheesh. I'm sorry if these questions seem foolish - it's obvious I know very little about horses, but I'm fairly confident in saying that I've never seen similar bits used today. Then again, we don't take horses into battle any more, do we?Best regards,Amyntoros

[beausefaless]

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[amyntoros]

Hi Andrew,So sorry to hear about your computer. Would you believe Sikander also has a problem? His whole computer is quarantined because of a virus and he's using an internet cafe to get online for a while!I'll wait patiently for anything you can post. And you had pictures of ancient bits? I do hope you can recover them. About a year ago I saw an illustration of a bit that had spikes - not on the outside, but on the part that goes in the horses mouth! It must have been in some book on ancient military weapons or the like, perhaps at the library or in a bookstore. Could have been on the web, I suppose, but I really can't remember. I didn't mention it here before because the image wasn't in reference to Alexander's army, but I've never quite been able to get it out of my mind. I just don't understand why anyone would want to do that to an animal.Best regards,Amyntoros

[daneionpelos]

Hi AmyntorosIt is my understanding that horses didn't wear a bit in Alexander's day, but were directed by the knee,leaving a warrior's hands free to hold a weapon. If you ask for source references I'd have to say, "it's somewhere in a book on one of my bookshelves." My filing system is the garbage dump in my head.

[azara]

Dear Amyntoros, I found the word GÇ£ippiatrosGÇ¥, which means GÇ£horse doctorGÇ¥, but it appears in late authors, from IV a.D. till Byzantine times. The Palatine Anthology, 16, 271 uses the variant GÇ£ippoiatrosGÇ¥, but I suspect it doesnGÇÖt belong to classic times either. Obviously they could have used the expression GÇ£doctor of the horsesGÇ¥, but when there was the possibility of inventing a nice composite word the Greeks always did it. So in AlexanderGÇÖs times either the profession existed but didnGÇÖt have a name, or it didnGÇÖt exist as a distinct branch of medicine, or it had a different etymology(not a great discovery,eh?). In Latin the word GÇ£veterinariusGÇ¥ is documented in Columella, a writer of I century a. D., with the meaning it has for us; it comes from GÇ£veterinusGÇ¥ that means GÇ£beast of burdenGÇ¥. In fact itGÇÖs likely that those who treated horses were the same who treated mules and donkeys.
As for horse bits, IGÇÖve found some pictures of ancient ones on Italian websites; IGÇÖll email them to you . With my best regards Azara

[beausefaless]

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[beausefaless]

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[amyntoros]

Faye, nice to see you here on Pothos. I'm interested in the name of the book you read as the archaeological evidence definitely points to the use of horse-bits, as does Xenophon (and our own horse-authority, Andrew!). Wonder if the writer was referring to the mounted archers?Azara, again many thanks for the references and the photos which I did receive by email. Apologies for my delay in responding.And Andrew - I knew you'd come through, as always. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing those photographs.Best regards,Amyntoros

[S]

Greetings Andrew,The photos you sent me are still on the hotmail site. I can now access my site and to forward them to you, but each time I try to forward I get a message saying the hotmail site is "not identified correctly". I can get *in* to look but I cannot sent *out*. If anyone here can suggest a solution to get things *out* of hotmail, I will try to forward them to Andrew.. I have tried following hotmail suggestions but they do not seem to work as stated.Regards,
Sikander

[beausefaless]

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