The way the horse's physical structure is, is of course the result of evolution, controlled initially by the environment. However, once humans began to intervene with the process of nature, it was the human factor that increasingly influenced the development of the horse. By limiting the breeding to selected, high-quality animals through cross-breeding between different types, in-breeding within families as well as the safer line-breeding method to a common ancestor, a whole variety of distinctive horses and ponies gradually emerged to what we now know today.
Some of the horses were encouraged to be very strong, others of them were bred for speed, while some of the horses, like the Arabian, developed a unique beauty that would not have been possible without man's direct intervention.
Some of the horses were encouraged to be very strong, others of them were bred for speed, while some of the horses, like the Arabian, developed a unique beauty that would not have been possible without man's direct intervention.