Includes bibliographical references (pages 467-499) and index.

Everything equus: Taxonomy and terminology -- Introduction -- Part I: Early interactions. The dawn of the horse: equine evolution and bone wars -- Straight from the horse's mouth: I am the grass, let me work -- Eat like a horse: human hunting and vanishing habitats -- Hold your horses: steppes of domestication and the agricultural revolution -- A horse by any other name: the Indo-European domination of Eurasia -- Part II: Forge of empires. Behold a pale horse: apocalyptic chariots and imperial ambitions -- Riders on the storm: cavalry, assyrians, libraries, and scythians -- The education of Alexander: academia and empires -- My kingdom for a horse: the hitched fates of the Chinese and Roman empires -- Dark horses: feudal knights and contending faiths -- Road apples: the medieval agricultural revolution and the making of modern Europe -- Part III: Global trails. Shuttling the Silk Roads: Mongol hordes and Eurasian markets -- The return of the native: the horse and the Columbian exchange -- Big dogs of the Great Plains: horses, bison, and the downfall of Indigenous peoples -- Spiritual machines: the supremacy of the horse -- The final draft: war, mechanization, and medicine -- Equus rising: wild horses, therapeutic healing, and worldwide sports -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- Selected bibliography -- Notes -- Index.