Eurasian nomads

The Eurasian nomads were a large group of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian Steppe, who often appear in history as invaders of Europe, the Middle East and China.

History

The generic title encompasses the ethnic groups inhabiting the steppes of Central Asia, Mongolia, and what is now Russia. They domesticated the horse, and their economy and culture emphasised horse breeding, horse riding and a pastoral economy in general. They developed the chariot, cavalry and horse archery and introduced innovations such as the bridle, bit and stirrup. "Horse people" is a generalized and somewhat obsolete term for such nomads, which is also sometimes used to describe hunter-gatherer peoples of the North American prairies and South American pampas who started using horses after the Europeans brought them to the Americas.

The earliest historical phases of China involved conflict with the nomadic Rong and Xiongnu peoples to the west of the Wei valley. The Roman army hired Sarmatians as elite cavalrymen. Europe was exposed to several waves of invasions by horse people, from the Cimmerians in the 8th century BCE, down to the Migration period and the Mongols and Seljuks in the High Middle Ages, the Kalmuks and the Kyrgyz and later Kazakhs, down into modern times. The earliest example of an invasion by a horse people may have been by the Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves, following the domestication of the horse in the 4th millennium BCE (see Kurgan hypothesis). Cimmerian is the first invasion of equestrian steppe nomads that is known from historical sources.

The Horse

"The Horse" is an American instrumental song by Cliff Nobles and Company. It was released as the B-side of the single "Love is All Right" and is simply an instrumental version of that song. "The Horse" made an improbable trip up the pop music charts, peaking at #2 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart (in June 1968) and the Black Singles chart. The song missed the top spot on the Hot 100 because of the success of Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love With You" from 29 June through 13 July 1968.

"The Horse" sold a million copies within three months of release, and attained the gold record award from the Recording Industry Association of America in August 1968. Ironically, even though Nobles is the title artist, he does not personally perform on the track. "The Horse" was simply "Love is All Right" without his vocal track. The horn section which is featured eventually became the group MFSB.

The track itself features a simple, unvarying rhythmic line played by different instruments, finished off each time around by a melodic, heralding horn section line.