Robert Fogel discussed the use of oxen and horses in one of the first chapters of his recent book _The Fourth Great Awakening_. Horses are actually better for plowing or pulling lumber than oxen for various reasons, including strength. However, the anatomy of the horses' necks is quite different from the oxen. With oxen, you can just tie something around the neck and they can pull. With horses this method leads to either choking or cutting off circulation (I can't remember which), so that a different type of harness is necessary. The development of the ring (or U shaped) harness that puts pressure on the shoulders took a very long time according to Fogel, but the result lead to to tremendous increase in productivity in agriculture.
Dimitriy Masterov _______________________________________________________________________________ Dimitriy V. Masterov Center for Social Program Evaluation 1155 East 60th St. Room 038 Chicago, IL 60637 Work: (773)256-6005 Fax: (773)256-6313 Home: 1312 East 53rd St., Apt.309 Chicago, IL 60615 Mobile: (773)220-2760
