A Horse Story : History of Horses

It's cold outside, so this is how I will keep my horse warm for the winter.

Oh, didn't you know that this writer had one? Well, he wound up in his imagination after this horse had suffered the indecency of having to push an old cart around for a mean apple vendor. This cruel owner insisted on putting the cart before the horse, so this poor creature felt forlorn and hopeless because he could never see where he was headed. Not only that, but he was forced to wear blinders which meant that all he could see was the back of the cart and the apple vendor. There must be more to look at in the world than the tail end of a man and a wagon, he thought.

So one day he upset the apple cart and bolted into a field of dreams which lay along the roadside. There were acres of oats, barley and lush grass as far as the eye could see. He thought he had died and gone to Horse Heaven. Now, he thought, I can graze to my heart's content and see everything before me. He bent his neck down to crop the sweet grass that was growing under his hooves, but, alas, he sadly discovered that it, like the oats and the barley, were all part of a field of dreams and were not real. He was in a beautiful landscape, but he couldn't enjoy it because, as a horse, he lacked imagination. It was all so sad, but true.

At that moment, this writer was coming through the field and noticed the lost and sorrowful nag looking around in bewilderment. Since he and the horse were in the same field of dreams, he reached out and put his arms around the horse's neck, slowly guiding him into his own imagination. As soon as the horse passed through to it, the grasses, the oats and barley all became wonderfully real to him. Even the landscape shone with a radiance that he had not noticed before. He could smell the earth and feel the breeze blowing through his mane. He trotted alongside the writer and soon reached his home in the woods. He was tethered to the fence post and was dressed in some old clothes the writer had found in his house. He was given a place in the barn with straw on the floor and water in a trough nearby. Now he had a home he could call his own. He whinnied his approval and neighed his joy for the wonderful world he had found.

He has lived with the writer for many years and is the happiest horse imaginable now that they both are together in this glorious field of dreams. They will be as one for as long as they dwell in the kindness of each other's mind.


Notes of Interest:

All copyrights Patricia Crane

Banner image above is from Trumpeter, plate from Carrousels, course de tetes et de bagues, Paris, 1727/43


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