Inventions & Discoveries · Farming and food

Horse collar

late 5th century · 5th century

A horse collar is a padded harness collar that spreads a load across a horse's shoulders and chest without pressing on its windpipe; it was invented in China by the early medieval period. The earliest certain depiction is a Dunhuang cave mural of 477–499 CE, from the Northern Wei dynasty. It spread westward and was clearly in use in Europe by 1000, where horses came to be used more widely for ploughing, working roughly 50 per cent faster than oxen.

Horse collar
Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
477–499 CE
Where
Dunhuang, China

NoteAn earlier, doubtful depiction comes from a 3rd-century tomb in Sichuan, and some see a partial collar in ancient Rome.

Built onPloughc. 2800 BCEDomestication of the horsec. 2200 BCE

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See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Horse collar. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/horse-collar
MLA
“Horse collar.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/horse-collar. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Horse collar.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/horse-collar.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Horse collar’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/horse-collar (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻