1000 Famous Horses Fact & Fictional Throughout the Ages: (Not Race Horses and Not Show Jumping Horses) (repost)

This reference book on Famous Horses started ‘as something to do on my computer’ in 1997. As I mentioned it to friends in pubs they would ask me ‘have you got this one or that one’. So the list grew and grew. You can see from the Acknowledgements pages that most people contributing to the book are patrons from various pubs.

It has turned out to be ‘A Never Ending Story’. I decided to stop at 1000 horses and to continue with the next 1000 in the second edition of the book. Anyone buying this first edition will be invited to send me the names of Famous Horses for the second edition. They would have their names in the Acknowledgements. The following paragraphs contain some facts about horses. All information has been verified on the web search machines:

In 1984 the world’s horse population was estimated to be 75,000,000.

In 2000, at the International Museum of the Horse, Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, Kentucky, an exhibition, entitled IMPERIAL CHINA was the first exhibition ever to explore the role of the horse in more than 3,000 years of Chinese history and culture. Far more than just an equestrian history, more than 350 artefacts not only illuminated the horse’s significance in art, warfare, leisure activities and sport, but also showed how this interaction affected the overall culture. Beginning with the Western Zhou Dynasty (1027-771 BC), and covering all subsequent dynasties through the Qing (1644-1911), the world exclusive exhibition contained many artefacts never before seen outside of China. All of the art and artefacts was selected from the collections of museums throughout Shaanxi Province, capital of China for more than a millennium, and home of the terra cotta army of China’s first emperor.

The horse, “hippus”; as the scientists named it, first appeared on earth as a small, timid creature no bigger than a fox. It was 10 to 17¾ inches (254mm to 450.85mm) tall at the shoulder and had four toes on its front legs and three toes on its hind legs. Eohippus lived in a damp, hot jungle of huge cypress and mammoth trees. Here it fed on leaves as it roamed over the boggy ground. Small size and multi-toed feet kept Eohippus from sinking into the swamp. The remains of this original little horse have been found in such places as the Wasatch Range in Utah and in the Wind River Basin in Wyoming.

The Bayeaux Tapestry:

The tapestry contains about 50 different scenes and one researcher has counted that there are 632 human figures in it, 202 horse, 55 dogs, 505 other creatures (some clearly mythical beasts), 37 buildings, 41 ships, 49 trees and nearly 2000 Latin letters.

Some 16 million animals saw action in World War I. Mules and horses ferried troops, equipment and supplies; carrier pigeons bore messages between ships at sea; and cats were kept in the trenches to hunt mice. Cavalry charges were phased out only once it became bloodily clear that horses were no match for tanks and machine guns and barbed wire.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

My definition of Famous Horses are from History, Mythology, Films, Television, Books and News stories.