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 Book Expo of America (BEA) begins today at the Javits Center in New York City. This three day convention is the largest publishing event in North America.
