Where Jacob speaks of an adder that biteth the horse heels

Where Jacob speaks of an adder that biteth the horse heels

Where Jacob speaks of an adder that biteth the horse heels

One of the first records concerning the horse is found in Genesis xlix, 17, where Jacob speaks of "an adder that biteth the horse heels." Pharaoh took "six hundred chosen chariots" and "with all the horses and chariots" pursued the Israelites. The Greeks at first drove the horse fastened to a rude chariot; later they rode on its back, learning to manage the animal with voice or switch and without either saddle or bridle. This thinking people soon invented the snaffle bit, and both rode and drove with its aid. The curb bit was a Roman invention. Shoeing was not practiced by either Greeks or Romans. Saddles and harnesses were at first made of skins and sometimes of cloth.