<P> A number of hypotheses exist on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse . Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat . How and when horses became domesticated is disputed . The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE . However, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 3500 BCE; recent discoveries in the context of the Botai culture suggest that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse . Regardless of the specific date of domestication, use of horses spread rapidly across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work and warfare . </P> <P> The date of the domestication of the horse depends to some degree upon the definition of "domestication". Some zoologists define "domestication" as human control over breeding, which can be detected in ancient skeletal samples by changes in the size and variability of ancient horse populations . Other researchers look at broader evidence, including skeletal and dental evidence of working activity; weapons, art, and spiritual artifacts; and lifestyle patterns of human cultures . There is also evidence that horses were kept as meat animals prior to being trained as working animals . </P>

When did horses start being used by humans