H = Horses in Literature

“He moved like a dancer, which is not surprising; a horse is a beautiful animal, but it is perhaps most remarkable because it moves as if it always hears music.” ― Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

The above painting was discovered in the Lascaux cave in France. It portrays two bulls, a handful of tiny red deer at the bottom, and in the center, a horse. This painting is estimated to be about 17,000 years old. Which confirms what I already suspected: We've been obsessed with horses for a very long time. (I certainly have been.) And maybe they haven't been appearing in books for as long as we've been painting them, but they've been appearing in books for quite a while. They're portrayal in literature is unsurprisingly memorable.

Some books were written to convey major themes, like Black Beauty by Anna Sewell meant to remind us of animal welfare, or War Horse by Michael Morpurgo which has long been hailed as anti-war propaganda important enough to have been made into both a play and a movie. 

Some have been written to entertain us, like Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, a novel that has captivated children since the 1940s, and The Thoroughbred series by Joanna Campbell. 

There are books marking horses of historical significance like Battleship: A Daring Heiress, a Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse by Dorothy Ours about a steeplechase champion, or The Perfect Horse: the Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis, which is a war story summarized by its own title. 

And finally there are books meant to instruct those who are interested in working with horses, like Training Strategies for Dressage Riders by Charles de Kunffy and The Essential Hoof Book by Susan Kauffmann.

We know early caveman ate the horse. And they were trained to pull chariots before they were trained to ride. We know they were used in hunting and war before they were used for comfort and sport. We also know after their domestication roughly 5,500 years ago, we never went very far without them.

There's just something about the horse that captivates us, from images of herds galloping free across the plains to the knight on his battle charger. 

Can you name any horses in literature (or other media)? Why do you think horses make such popular characters?