38 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



tury B.C., bareback riding was still quite common, 

 a covering of some sort for the horse's back was 

 becoming much more popular among the Greeks 

 despite the adherence to bareback riding by the 

 jockeys at the principal festivals. Atiphanes, 

 the " gentle humourist," whose plays were per- 

 formed in public for the first time towards the 

 close of the second century B.C., alludes to 

 "coverlets for a horse," this being probably one 

 of the first references we have to saddles among 

 the early Greeks. 



And now we come to Xenophon, one of the 

 most finished of horsemen among the ancient 

 Greeks, and apparently a true lover of horses. 

 With the exception of an individual named Simo, 

 or Simon, who wrote before Xenophon's time, 

 there had not existed a man with deep and 

 practical knowledge of horses or horsemanship, 

 and the care of horses, who was able to write 

 lucidly upon these subjects until Xenophon 

 wrote with so much success his own 'exhaustive 

 work. 



Xenophon speaks of Simo who, according to 

 Suidas, was by birth an Athenian on more than 

 one occasion. Xenophon, however, did not hold 

 Simo in high esteem, as we may gather from the 

 former's tone of condescension when he states that 



