The Horse Collar (Edited from Wikipedia)
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The Horse Collar (Edited from Wikipedia) SUMMARY A horse collar is a part of a horse harness that is used to distribute the load around a horse's neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plough. The collar often supports and pads a pair of curved metal or wood pieces, called hames, to which the traces of the harness are attached. The collar allows the horse to use its full strength when pulling, essentially enabling the horse to push forward with its hindquarters into the collar. If wearing a yoke or a breastcollar, it had to pull with its less-powerful shoulders. The collar had another advantage over the yoke as it reduced pressure on the horse's windpipe. From the time of the invention of the horse collar, horses became more valuable for plowing and pulling. When the horse was harnessed in the collar, the horse could apply 50% more power to a task in a given time period than could an ox, due to the horse's greater speed. Additionally, horses generally have greater endurance than oxen, and thus can work more hours each day. The importance and value of horses as a resource for improving agricultural production increased accordingly. The horse collar was very important to the development of many areas of the world. Wherever oxen were used and could be replaced with horses, the use of horses boosted economies, and reduced reliance on subsistence farming. This allowed people more free time to take on specialized activities, and consequently to the development of early industry, education, and the arts in the rise of market-based towns. HISTORY Long before the horse collar harness, there was the less efficient throat-girth harness. This, it was claimed, could be found in many ancient civilizations, according to early 20th century French cavalry officer Lefebvre des Noëttes. This type of collar was supposedly used in ancient Chaldea, both Sumeria and Assyria (1400 BC–800 BC), New Kingdom Egypt (1570 BC–1070 BC), Shang Dynasty China (1600 BC–1050 BC), Classical Greece (550 BC–323 BC), and ancient Rome (510 BC–476 AD). With this "ancient harness," ploughs and carts were pulled using harnesses that had flat straps across the neck and chest of the animal, with the load attached at the top of the collar, above the neck, in a manner similar to a yoke. These straps pressed against the 1 horse's sterno-cephalicus muscle and trachea which restricted its breathing and reducing the pulling power of the horse. Thus, the harder a horse pulled, the more strongly it choked off its own breathing. Because of these supposed physical constraints, oxen were used in preference to horses for heavy work, as they do not have this problem due to anatomical differences and could be yoked to their loads. Breastcollar harness The throat-girth design was not improved until the Chinese breast-strap or "breastcollar" harness developed during the Warring States (481 BC–221 BC) era in China. The Chinese breast harness became known throughout Central Asia by the 7th century, introduced to Europe by the 8th century. Its first depiction in artwork was on lacquer-ware boxes from the ancient State of Chu. This type of harness put pressure upon the sternum, where the line of traction is directly linked with the skeletal system of the horse, allowing for nearly full exertion. It was in universal use by the time of the Chinese Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), depicted in artwork of hundreds of different carvings, stone reliefs, and stamped bricks showing it featured on horses pulling chariots. This type of breast-strap harness became known in Central Asia and elsewhere with the Avars (who probably transmitted the stirrups to Europe), Magyars, Bohemians, Poles, and Russians during the 7th to 10th centuries. After Central Asia, the first breast-strap harness was spread to Europe by the 8th century (in depicted artwork), and became more widespread by the following 9th century. The problem with a breastcollar harness was that the actual shafts of the cart, chariot, or other vehicle are attached to a surcingle around the barrel of the horse. The breastplate primarily kept the surcingle from slipping back, not as the primary pushing object. This results in the horse literally pulling the load, a less efficient use of the animal. The modern breastcollar has traces which transfer the pull directly from the breastcollar, but a horse collar still is more effective for pulling heavy loads. Development of the collar After the breastcollar harness, the next and final evolutionary stage was the collar harness. The collar allows a horse to use its full strength when pulling, essentially allowing the horse to push forward with its hindquarters into the collar. The fully developed collar harness was developed in Southern and Northern Dynasties China during the 5th century AD. 2 The first questionable depiction of it in art appears on painted moulded-bricks in the Three Kingdoms (220–265 AD) era tomb of Bao Sanniang at Zhaohua, Sichuan province, China. These paintings display an amply padded horse collar with no sign of a yoke. However, the earliest legitimate depiction of it in art is on a Dunhuang cave mural (cave 257) from the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty, the painting dated to 477–499 AD. The same basic design is seen in other painted Chinese frescoes, one from 520–524 AD (with shafts projecting beyond the horses chest for sternal traction), and another circa 600 AD (Sui Dynasty). This Sui Dynasty depiction is of particular interest, since its depiction of the horse collar is not only more accurate (the same seen even in north and northwest China today), but it is used for a camel, not a horse. The Chinese had used camels often from the 2nd century BC onwards during the Han Dynasty, and there was even a Camel Corps serving the military on the frontier of the Tarim Basin. However, the adapted horse collar for camels would not have been common until the 6th century. The horse collar eventually spread to Europe circa 920 AD, and became universal by the 12th century. The Scandinavians were among the first to utilize a horse collar that did not constrain the breathing passages of the horses. Prior to this development, oxen still remained the primary choice of animal for farm labor, as all the previous harnesses and collars could only be worn by them without physical penalty. Additionally, the yoke used to harness oxen were made exclusive to each individual animal. However it was sometimes difficult to cultivate the land; based upon soil condition, it may have taken up to sixteen oxen to effectively use a single heavy plow. This made it difficult for farmers who lacked the capital to sustain such large numbers. When the horse was harnessed with a horse collar, the horse could apply 50% more power to a task than an ox due to its greater speed. Horses generally also have greater endurance and can work more hours in a day. The centuries-long association that the Europeans had with the use of horses allowed an easier transition from oxen-based harnesses to the horse collar. IMPACT OF THE HORSE COLLAR The creation of the horse collar removed the previous physical restrictions the old harness had on the animal, and allowed the horse to be able to exert its full strength in plowing. Originally, the structure of the old harness forced the horse to literally pull its workload, the horse collar’s development instead allowed the horse to push its workload, increasing the efficiency of its labor output. 3 Following the introduction of the horse collar to Europe and its use being clearly evident by 1000 AD, the use of horses for ploughing became more widespread. Horses work roughly 50 percent faster than oxen. With the collar, combined with the horseshoe, the heavy plow, and other developments in the agricultural system, the efficiency of the European peasant farmer in producing food increased, allowing further societal development in Europe. The surplus in food allowed labor specialization as farmers could change their occupation and focus on other skills, such as the purchase and selling of goods, resulting in the emergence of a merchant class within European society. The horse collar was one of the factors in the ending of the feudal system and transition from the Middle Ages. 4.