While the functional elements of MEMS are miniaturized structures, sensors, actuators, and microelectronics, the most notable (and perhaps most interesting) elements are the microsensors and microactuators.
The horse (Equus caballus) has made many dramatic and significant journeys. During the Pleistocene (Ice Age), more than 20,000 years ago, wild horses that had evolved in America migrated to the Old World, Eurasia and Africa. More than 6,000 year ago in the Volga basin of eastern Europe horses were domesticated and in the subsequent millennia spread to other parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa.
I'm guessing that they originated in Asia somewhere. The domestication of the horse most likely took place in central Asia prior to 3500 BC. We know lots about where horses came from because there are lots of fossil horses that show us how, and where, they evolved.