Hittites Again

DeLong picked up (link) my Hittites squib (link), where it generated a great comment thread, of which the prize goes, I think, to this:

Having taken on the alternatives, I'll throw out my theory: horses. Not war chariots, although that's how they were used, but stud farms. The Anatolian plateau is wet in the summer, and thus the nearest place to the Middle East (besides the Zagros) where you can run a stud farm. The Hittites had the horses.

From one Erik Lund, unknown to me but thanks, Erik, for the provocative thought.