Wow, I disagree. Riding is going to be easier to learn for someone with experience handling large animals, whether an actual horse or not. It's not enough for the technology itself of course but a useful stepping stone.
You can disagree of course but that doesn't make it "sloppy."
Okay, instead of 'Sloppy', how about 'Temporally Irrelevant'?
There is DNA evidence for the Domestication of cattle, sheep and goats dating back to 8500 - 7700 BCE.
There is archeological evidence of cattle pens and even domesticated Water Buffalo by 7000 BCE
There is evidence of Horses domesticated for hauling travois and plowing by about 4400 BCE
While archeological evidence keeps changing our picture, at this moment, as far as I know, the earliest evidence of horseback riding dates to between about 1000 and 800 BCE.
So, basically, you domesticate 'large animals' like cattle and water buffalo, and 6000 years later this leads you to ride horses?
Since the game only lasts about 6000 years, I'd say this is a pretty irrelevant Eureka...
Eureka/Inspirations happen because a large part of the player base likes the thrill of "found money." You stumble across a twenty in your winter coat pocket and suddenly it's your lucky day, even though it's your money that came from your work anyway. You do the thing and you get a reward. Bell, treat, salivate.
Well, except that all too often I get a 'Eureka' for Tech: Sailing from some &^%$ Tribal Village when my first two cities are in the middle of the continent 10 - 15 tiles from the nearest body of water bigger than a Damp Sponge. Like finding money in your old pocket and it turns out to be an East German mark, worth about 6 cents even when there
was an East Germany...
Every Civ should have its own Eurekas, with some overlap for similar Civs. Honestly, each Civ should have its own tech tree, with some Civs being able to beeline to Horseback Riding and some having virtual Swordsmen analogues available in the Ancient Era. Some Civs should have Writing as a mid-game tech and some should be able to get it right out of the gate.
More work than Firaxis are willing to put in, and probably more detail than most desire. Some people just play without ever coming anywhere near a Civ forum or without mustering up the passion to post.
Absolutely NOT. This idea assumes that all Civs are Set in their development from 4000 BCE on, regardless of their actual surroundings of terrain, climate, and position relative to other Civs. It is bad enough now that some Civs are stuck with 'naval' Unique Units which are worth diddily-squat if they get stuck building Harbors around a small inland lake (seen it happen to both England and Indonesia in Civ VI games, including R&F, so Initial Placement Bias is still very badly programmed).
Instead, let's have Eurekas and Bonuses that are well-thought-out and related to the Techs and Civics the way they are supposed to be, so that IF England's first three cities are all on the coast, the Naval Techs and Trade Bonus Civics/Social Policies are almost automatic for her. On the other hand, if England starts in mid-continent, no Naval 'Bonus' should apply - if she turns into a Great Trading/Exploring Nation, it will be with Camels instead of Caravels and Sarais instead of Sea Dogs.
Now, one possibility would be for each Civ to have Unique attributes that are both Terrain/Climate specific and not, so that the Civ, depending on the in-game situation, may get all or only some of them, but isn't left 'high and dry' if the situation makes a single set or type of Unique inappropriate.
To take England as an example, instead of Sea Dogs and Royal Navy Dockyards which she might or might not find useful, England could also have as Alternatives the Yeoman Archer (longbowman) and Bank of England Uniques which are largely 'terrain independent' but still related to 'Englishness' historically, even if the In-Game England develops in a bunch of mid-continent rain forests.