Bad Design Arguments about Horse Riding

While woolgathering the other day, I thought back to a small get-together at my prospector friend Stormie Waters' place. There were equine games. I knew Stormie's friend Ruby Slippers was skilled at horse riding, but in the speed, turns, and fine maneuvering, she and the horse were like a unit.

In the heyday of the nineteenth century American cattle drives, riders and horses worked together. Such unity is common. Long ago, people were using horses for transportation (riding and pulling wagons), pack animals, and more. So why say there were not designed to be ridden?

The Cowboy, Frederic Remington, 1902

We have looked at dysteleology arguments (that something supposedly had bad design, so the Creator does not exist or is incompetent, therefore evolution) several times. Sorry, Wilbur, but the argument can be used about the horse. Of course. Although poor design imaginings are used to prop up evolution, they are theological opinions, not scientific, in nature.

Interestingly, there is not much scientific research in whether or not a horse is designed to be ridden. People have opinions, but they seem contradictory — some even present evidence that horses are designed to be ridden. Is it because of evolutionary thinking and they don't want to see design?

The author of the article linked below presents evidence that supports the idea that horses are designed to be ridden (including the fact that it has been done for thousands of years), and that some factors are not taken into account by the neigh-sayers. Also, he has some interesting theological evidence that they were designed for riding.

Horses have served as one of man’s closest companions for thousands of years. Humans have ridden them into battles, attached them to the plow, galloped them across great plains, and shown them in countless competitions. Found anywhere from ranches, to back yards, to racing tracks, to beaches, these magnificent animals have been used as instruments which brought great change into the world. One might even wonder how easily man would have managed to advance without them. With such close ties to man’s history, it seems natural that one should ask if horses were designed for riding. Such is the topic of this article and the research thereof. In considering different subjects such as History, Anatomy, and Scripture, it is this author’s belief that horses were designed to be ridden.

I'd be much obliged if you'd read the rest over at "Were Horses Designed to Be Ridden?"