When did the population of horses peak?

There's a big difference in the answer depending on whether you are thinking total equine population or population per capita (per human). read more

This link includes a chart that suggests to US population of horses peaked in 1915 at about 26 million, so that might be a good guideline, but this is old data, too. It dates to a book from 1969. The rest of the data is more current (2006) and echoes the report above. read more

Horse cultures tend to place a great deal of importance on horses and by their very nature are a nomadic people, usually hunter-gatherers. ----- Competing theories exist as to the time and place of initial domestication. The earliest evidence for the domestication of the horse comes from Central Asia and dates to approximately 4,500 BC. read more

I need statistics on the population of horses both in the wild and farm animals during the period 1850-2000 for the US and Europe from a good source (e.g. UN or US Department of Agriculture) as well as for the entire world population (this last can be estimates as hard data is usually not available). read more