Horsin' Around

Many, although not all, of the horses possessed genes associated with racing speed that are found in today’s thoroughbreds.
The genes also showed a variety of colorings — cream, black, spotted, bay and chestnut. New York Times

Two of the creatures were fitted with bridles and stirrups of braided cord.

On horses she walked, simply forgetting to spur them into a trot, a canter, a gallop, having no desire to be thrilled.

Elizabeth became a skilled equestrian and learned how to jump ditches and four-foot fences on horseback.

Pulling his chariot were four horses made of wind, each constantly shifting from equine to human form, trying to break free.

It had been so long since a farrier had trimmed War Chief’s hooves that he hobbled painfully around the yard like a crippled ballerina.

I dug my heels into my horse's ribs and urged her into a gait that, for a short time, outstripped even Falconer.

The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and halted, rearing and plunging.

So silent was it that the fall of their ponies’ hoofs, rustling on dead leaves and occasionally stumbling on hidden roots, seemed to thud in their ears.

In Baltimore’s Preakness Stakes, Stout stuck to his stirrups but finished second to Derby winner Bold Venture, foiled by the brilliant reinsmanship of Seabiscuit’s onetime jockey, George Woolf.

He shut his eyes and clung to the horse’s mane.

The mare splashed through the stream, peppering her riders with droplets of cool water, then headed for the cemetery, which was clouded over with a strange silvery mist.

The elephantine flying horses that had pulled the carriage were now grazing in a makeshift paddock alongside it.

I stepped back, but he swooped me up in his arms and shouted, “My little palomino pony! That’s what you are!”

Suddenly the foremost Rider spurred his horse forward.

Horses in vaulting acts are always white so that the powdered rosin that makes the performer’s feet stick to their backs won’t show.

Actually Goblin’s gaits were so smooth he seemed easier than the sorrel.

The horses liked it; they pranced a little during the first two miles, heartened by an extra-good breakfast and perhaps conscious of a light hand on the reins.

I rode with one hand on the pommel and the other goading my horse with a switch.

Praying that she would not fall off and disgrace herself, she gave the filly the lightest and most timid touch with her knees.