Starting today, Monday November 6, 2017, I am going to post some short posts about horses that have served in wars as a tribute leading up to Remembrance/Veterans Day on November 11. First is a horse from the 4th Century BC. Bucephalus. Here is an excerpt from Kathleen Walker-Meikle’s book “The Horse Book-Horses of Historical Distinction”.
“Bucephalus was the beloved horse of the Macedonian general and conqueror, Alexander the Great ( 356-323 BC) As a young teenager, Alexander tamed the Thessalian horse, which no one had previously been able to do. He did this by noticing that the horse was afraid of its shadow, so turned the animal into the sunlight so it could not see it. The horse’s name means ‘ox head’–a reference to a branding mark on its haunch that resembled one. Bucephalus was black, and is described as having a star on his forehead. Alexander rode the horse in all his conquests. Bucephalus was once kidnapped, and in his rage, Alexander threatened to destroy the entire region; the horse was returned promptly. Bucephalus died at the grand age of thirty, either from old age or from battle-wounds, in 326 BC. Alexander buried him in a tomb and named a city in Punjab (Bucephala) in his honor.”
Till this day, I didn’t even touched a horse. But I like horses so much I like to see horses even in photos. That’s the reason I followed your blog ma’am and today I feel very happy as I read a memorable post about a horse.
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I am so glad you like horses. They are such wonderful creatures. This week I am posting about horses that have served in wars leading up to Remembrance /Veterans Day. I hope you will find the posts interesting. Thank you for your kind comment.
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Welcome ma’am. I am waiting for those interesting posts.
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Thanks for sharing this with us, and I cannot wait to read your other tributes to the many brave war horses!
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Thank you I hope you will find them all interesting. Do let me know which one you like the best.
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What an interesting idea for Remembrance Day
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Thank you. There have been horses throughout history that have served in human’s wars and battles.
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You might be interested in this project. I’ve followed it on Facebook for a while now, and it’s almost complete. The artist is a magnificent sculptor and as you look through the photos you can see clear reality of the anonymous horse rather than the celebration of a famous war horse. It’s quite a moving tribute. In human terms, I guess we could say it honors the troops rather than the generals.
http://www.equinesculptures.com/WW1_Memorial.html
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Thank you Alli. I shall take a look. Last year I did some famous horses and some rank and file but thought I would start this year with some ‘famous’ ones. I will check out this link you have given me though.
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Oh my! What a beautiful tribute to the WW1 horses. It had me in tears. I shall use a photo of this with credit to Susan Leyland and a note about the memorial in a future post. Thanks Alli!
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Yup, had me in tears too!
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I have sent an email to her and asked her to take a look at the posts I did last year for Remembrance and if she would mind if I used the poem and photo of the statue with credit and a link to her site.
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