WRIT1152 Course Blog

For this paper, I decided to analyze the invention of the horse collar and the impact that this technology has had on society. For all of you that do not know what a horse collar is, it was a tool developed during medevil times that allowed for the use of a horse to pull things like plows or wagons. Before the horse collar was invented, oxen were use to perform these types of tasks, with the use of a yoke to harness them to the plow or whatever they were pulling. However, horses are better workers and can work longer hours then oxen, so people preferred to have horses. The problem that people encountered before the horse collar was developed, though, was that the yoke that was used for oxen did not work on horses, because the the yoke made it difficult for the horses to breathe due to their body type. With the invention of the horse collar, though, it made it possible for people to use horses as a draft animal. This allowed people to work longer hours or travel longer distances, causing the expansion of not only agriculture but society as well. One could say that the invention of the horse collar has led to the domino affect of agricultural innovations that has led up to the current point where someone can sit in their tractor and let the GPS work the field. This has definitely made agriculture more efficient and cost effective, but, with all of these knew technologies, I think people are losing the sense of being in touch with their land or other emotions that are tied to a passion for production agriculture.