John Royce – Page 54 – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

Little Horse on the Prairie

The horse is prey and never forgets it: his motto is to ‘run away to live another day.’

Horses are built for speed over distance, and with a good headstart he is safe from his natural predators.

The only hole in the equine’s survival program is the time it takes to reach top speed. To solve this problem horses come “fully-loaded” with highly advanced bio-technology to detect predators.

The Super-Human Horse

An equine’s sense of hearing and smell rivals that of a dog, with additions of swiveling ears and a canyon of a nose that sifts the wind with every breath. Their eyesight is much different than our own, featuring extreme motion-detection ability and a field of vision of almost 360 degrees, with only a few blank spots right behind and in front (which is why you never walk up behind a horse, and why jumping is such a challenge).

Equine abilities extend beyond the human experience. A horse’s legs serve as a sounding board to feel ground vibration, and can even recognize a person by their walk. Horses also have an amazing “photographic” memory and are able to see well at night.

Horses don’t see the world as humans see it

As you ride, the horse has mapped out the robin in the hedge 100 yards away, noted a freshly-painted mailbox and the spot where a dog barked seven years ago … even as feels the rumble of a distant train and responds to your cues.

We don’t share the outlook of horses, the same mind or same senses–we hardly share the same world. Yet somehow, implausibly, a close partnership was made … and is still kept.

Photo: Bureau of Land Management / Wikimedia / Public Domain

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Copyright © 2010 John Allen Royce, Jr.

“The Golden Spark” scheduled for publication this Fall 2010

The Golden Spark, Book II of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, will be published on this Fall 2010.

The eagerly-anticipated sequel to Eclipsed by Shadow continues the historical adventure with a journey through the Renaissance.

The story follows the main character, Meagan Roberts, as she struggles to survive history and find her way home.

A pre-publication edition will be released during the World Equestrian Games (September 25 – October 10, 2010). Review copies and a special pre-publication edition will be available this summer.

“The Legend of the Great Horse” is not about horses

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is filled with horses galloping through history — but the story is not about horses. It is about us: for it is ourselves we find in horses, for better or worse.

The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is filled with horses galloping through history — but the story is not only about horses. It is about us.

Horses are strange and fascinating creatures, but it their adaptation to our endeavors that bring them into our world. And of course, it is humans who take the prize for strangeness.

It is humanity that put armies of thundering, gleaming chariots in the service of ancient empires … and we ourselves who built the Circuses of Rome to race those chariots in the madness of the world’s first major spectator sport. We were the ones who decked our mounts with leather, armor and gold, charged them into battle, elevated our partnership into art and were inspired by their beauty and power.

We have been entertained and healed and recreated by the horse … we have shared in his speed and strength. Yet Nature remains Nature, brought higher by our good works or brought to destruction by our brutality; the horse remains a horse, always. It is ourselves we find in horses, for better or worse.

History may be seen as a record of bad ideas improved upon, then forgotten, and relearned again. Mankind has suffered countless dark ages, and it is ourselves who slowly reclaim the good ideas of the past; and then forget why. The horse has been only our silent witness, an innocent participant in man’s follies, waiting patiently for us to learn and remember once more.

The Wonderful Strangeness of Horses

Book II of my fiction trilogy about horses and history is being published soon. So why did I write about horses?

The main reason is they teach us about the world, and they’re lots of fun. Here are some reasons I think horses are an interesting subject:

Horses have always been with us

Since Stone Age man first put paint to rock, horses have fascinated and assisted mankind in some capacity: for food, weight-bearing, load-pulling, travel, status, inspiration, therapy, sports, recreation, gambling, war … it’s amazing how many roles the horse has taken.

The horse and our partnership is filled with paradoxes

So much of life isn’t what it seems and horses are no exception. For example:

– A timid prey animal, the horse was history’s most feared engine of war.

– A humble servant, the horse ennobles mankind.

– A century after engines made the horse “obsolete,” there are more horses than ever before.

– Horses can gallop miles with a human on its back and pull tons of weight, but can perish of a missed feeding.

(And they let people ride them!)

Horses haven’t much changed since the Olden Days

Horses have been tamed, but they retain their basic character and instincts. Prehistoric man could have raised a prehistoric colt, put a saddle on him and trained him to gallop and jump. What is the difference between then and now?

It took thousands of years to learn to ride horses (and we seem to have forgotten several times). I wonder why it took so long to figure out … unless we had to change…