The Literate horse

-The Koran

A horse is the matter and subject whereupon the art worketh, and is a creature sensible, and therefore so far as he is moved to do an thing, he is thereunto moved by sense and feeling. Further, this is common to all sensible creatures, to shun all things as annoy them, and like all things as do delight them.

-John Astley, The Art of Riding

A little neglect may breed mischief: For want of a nail the shoe was lost, For want of a shoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse the rider was lost, For want of a ride the battle was lost, For want of a battle the kingdom was lost- And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

-Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard�s Almanac

If one induces the horse to assume that carriage which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then, one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable to having been ridden.

-Xenophon

�Whose only fit companion is his horse.� -William Cowper

�She was iron-sinew�d and satin-skinned, Ribbed like a drum and limb�d like a deer, Fierce as the fire and fleet as the wind- There was nothing she couldn�t climb or clear.�

-A.L. Gordon

A good horse should have three propyrtees of a man, three of a woman, three of a foxe, three of a hare, and three of an asse: Of a man, Bolde, prowde, and hardye. Of a woman, Fayre-breasted, fair of hair and easy to move. Of a foxe, A fair taylle, short ears, with a good trot. Of a hare, A grate eye, a dry head, and well rennynge. Of an asse, A bygge chynn, a flat legge, and a good hoof.

-Wynkyn de Worde (1496)

...Vaulted with such ease into his seat, As if an angel dropp�d down from the clouds, To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus And witch the world with noble horsemanship.

-William Shakespeare, Henry IV (1597)

Well could he ride, and often men would say, �That horse his mettle from his rider takes: Proud of subjection, noble by the sway, What rounds, what bounds, what course, what stop he makes!� And controversy hence a question takes, Whether the horse by him became his deed, Or he his manage by the well-doing steed.

-William Shakespeare A Lover�s Complaint (1609)

There are no handles to a horse, but the 1901 model had a string to each side of its face for turning its head when there is something you want it to see.

-Stephen Leacock �Reflections on Riding,� in Literary Lapses (1910)

��My sister and my sister�s child, Myself and children thee, Will fill the chaise; so you must ride On horseback after we.�

-William Cowper

...Some people, who as soon as they got upon a young horse... fancy that by beating and spurring they will make him a dress�d [trained] horse in one morning only. I would fain ask such stupid people, whether, by beating a boy, they should teach him to read, without first showing him his alphabet.

-William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle, New Method of Dressing Horses (1743)

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, that cost thy life, my gallant grey. -Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake (1810)

�You will hear the beat of a horse�s feet And the swish of a skirt in the dew, Steadily cantering through The misty solitudes, As though they perfectly knew The old lost road through the woods- But there is no road through the woods.�

_Rudyard Kipling

I will not change my horse with any that treads on four pasterns. Ca, ha! He bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs, le cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les narines defeu! When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pope of Hermes...he is pure air and fire...the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage.

-William Shakespeare, Henry IV (1598)

With a heart of furious fancies, Whereof I am commander; With a burning spear, And a horse of air, To the wilderness I wander.

-Tom o� Bedlam

�God forbid that I should go to any heaven in which are no horses.� -Robert Browning

Dear Priscus, don�t ride on that hard-pulling mare, Or gallop so fast in pursuit of the hare. Too often the hunter turns victim, and lies Where he fell off his horse, never more to arise. Though you still skirt the hedge and the ditch and the wall, You�ll see lots of riders come off, every Meet. Let�s hope they are lucky and land on their feet! If you must have blood-sports, take a tip from a friend, The more dangerous game brings less risk in the end. Let�s go and hint boar; with your galloping habits You�ll come to more grief than you bring to the rabbits.

-Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis)

�Lived in his saddle, loved the chase, the course, And always, ere he mounted, kiss�d his horse.� -William Cowper

The high-spirited horse is controlled with the shadow of the whip, while the slug can hardly be made to move with the spurs. -Fra Batolommeo Da San Concordio, Giunta agli Ammaesramenti degli Anichi

�His mane is like a river flowing, And his eyes like embers glowing In the darkness of the night, And is pace as swift as light.�

-Barry Cornwall

There is a touch of divinity eben in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exept it from indignities. As for those majestic truck-horses of the docks, I would as soon think of striking a judge on the bench, as to lay violent hands upon their holy hides.

-Herman Melville, Redburn (1849)

My friend, judge me not, Thou seeist I judge not thee. Betwist the stirrup and the ground Mercy I asked, and mercy I found.

-William Camden, Remains Concerning Britain (1605)

�Altogether upon the high horse.� -John Brown

The neck of the animal, before arched, as if in compassion...was now extended, at full length...The eyes, before invisible, now wore an energetic and human expression, while they gleamed with a fiery and unusual red; and the distended lips of the apparently enraged horse left in full view his sepulchral and disgusting teeth.

-Edgar Allen Poe, Metzengerstein (1831)

The horse will leap over trenches, will jump out of them, will do anything else, provided one grants him praise and respite after his accomplishment. -Xenophon

�He doth nothing but talk of his horse.� -William Shakespeare

�I see nothing unusual,� replied the King. �True, the mane is a handsome one. Yes, he is twice the size of the horse we keep here in the stables. His form is handsome. His eyes are bright-� �That is not all,� interrupted the traveler. �You have only to climb on his back and wish yourself anywhere in the world-and, no matter how far the distance, in a flash of time too short to count you will find yourself there. It is this, Your Highness, that makes my horse so wonderful.�

-The Arabian Nights

They say that princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.

-Ben Johnson, Explorata: Illiteratus Princeps (1636)

�There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse.� -Robert Smith Surtees

Such horses are The jewels of the horseman�s hands and thighs, They go by the word and hardly need the rein.

-Stephen Vincent Benet, John Brown�s Body

�Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!� -Robert Browning