PBOTD: January 15th, Katherine Roberts - I am the Great Horse

-
Katherine Roberts has a first class degree in Mathematics (useful, she says, for understanding royalty statements), and a clutch of well-received fantasy novels to her name.  As a child, Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby series were some of her favourites, and she's picked up the motif of the talking horse in her book I am the Great Horse (2006). 
UK edition, paperback, 2007
It's the story of Bucephalus, the great black war horse who bore Alexander the Great on his campaigns. Alexander the Great was a Macecdonian prince, son of the formidable King Philip II of Macedon (382-386 BC). King Philip was an admirable soldier and campaigner in his own right, bringing Macedonia, traditionally considered by the Greeks to be an uncivilised backwater, right into Greek consciousness, when through battle, diplomacy and treaty Macedonia became the dominant force in Greek politics. After King Philip II was assassinated, power passed to his son, Alexander (356-323 BC). Philip had already planned an invasion of Asia: after ensuring the Greeks were still under Macedonian domination, Alexander and his army defeated the Persians. Alexander went on to conquer Egypt, much of central Asia, and parts of India. Bucephalus died in India in 326 and had a city named after him: Alexander died in 323 BC, at the age of 33. His empire did not survive his death. It was divided up amongst his successors into four dynasties: the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Antigonid and Attalid, who ruled with varying degrees of success.
American first edition,2006
Alexander remains one of the most subtle and successful generals of all time: his horse certainly had a story to tell. Bucephalus, who is a horse with a considerable opinion of himself, makes the most of the opportunity Katherine Roberts gives him in this book. As a balance, I am the Great Horse is also the story of the stable girl, Charm, so we see the full breadth of life on Alexander's campaigns: from the stable lines to the royal tent. 

 I am the Great Horse was originally published (I think) in hardback in America by Chicken Shack in 2006. The British edition came out a year later, as a paperback. Both now appear to be out of print, but the book is available as an ebook.
~  0  ~

 For more on the author and her books, she has her own website.  For more on her equine books, she has a page on my website.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou...
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes...
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more