The Age of the Horse: An Equine Journey Through Human History. Susanna Forrest. New York, Grove Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-8021-2797-6. 420 pp., paper, $18.00.
Review by: Allen F. Horn, Eastern Connecticut State University
Note: This review first appeared in the newsletter of the New England Historical Association, vol. 48, no. 2 (Fall 2019).
In this excellent overview of equine history, Forrest subverts the usual narrative followed by similar summaries. While other books devote much of their time to the evolution and domestication of the horse, as well as the technical evolutions of chariots and riding tack, Forrest deals with this in a mere seven pages of her large book. Her goal is not to be the definitive volume on the history of the horse, but to provide brief explorations of the multi-dimensional relationship between humans and horses. Forrest is aware that her work only scratches the surface of this question, as she informs readers, “On the way, you may spot tempting carriles to explore on your own” (3).
In keeping with Forrest’s goal, her first real chapter, “Wildness,” is not a detailed discussion of the differences between the domesticated horse and wild ones such as the takhi. Rather, she explores how human groups from Nazi Germany to Mongolia have used the wild horse as a symbol of strength and liberation. The most compelling thread of this chapter is the story of Nazi attempts to reconstruct the tarpan, an extinct wild horse that they connected with ancient Germanic heroes, and how their views on animals and race bled into each other. Forrest notes that even after the war, the scientists involved were, “… unselfconscious about the parallels between their skull-measuring for the Tarpans and the treatment of the millions of humans whom the Nazis reduced to animals” (50).
“Culture,” her next chapter, talks about the evolving purposes of horse training and horsemanship. Early writers like Xenophon emphasized a military approach, but also recognized the value of showmanship and pageantry in riding. With the decline of heavy cavalry during the Renaissance, and later the outlawing of tournaments and mounted bullfights due to safety concerns, horsemanship started to become more of a cultural than practical activity. Antoine de Pluvinel started a riding academy in 1594 not to train young nobles in the art of war, but for them to, “… learn not only camaraderie among one another, but also how to rule their own people in turn” (108). However, horse performances were not limited to solely the upper-classes as a number of equine circus-like shows proliferated in this era as well. One of the most famous trick horses was Marocco, who could, “… count, play dead, walk on his hind legs, bow for the Queen when told to…” (111). His talents were considered astounding and borderline supernatural, as his owner, William Bankes, was arrested multiple times in France and accused of witchcraft after performances.
“Power” focuses primarily on urban workhorses up through the mid-twentieth century. Beyond simple transportation of people and goods, city horses were harnessed to power mills and pumps, until their replacement by the steam engine. This did not stop the urban horse population from exploding; as cities grew, so did the need for cabs, vanners, and canal horses and in Britain, “… by 1901, urban horses outnumbered rural by two thirds to one third” (179). With the invention of the automobile, some mourned the loss of the horse, but others saw it as good for the oft-mistreated city horse, as now they would, “… be driven only by those that loved them, spared from poor treatment…” (180). In response to the gas rationing required by the Second World War, the British government attempted to resurrect the heavy horse breeds for both urban and rural use. But after 1947, it was decided that these horses were no longer needed, and the British government euthanized around 200,000 horses over a two year period. Only then, Forrest argues, did the automobile truly begin to replace the draft horses.
“Meat” mainly explores the question of why most Americans emphatically refuse to consume chevaline; the formal name for horseflesh. Some of this was due to its taste; an 1875 letter described horsemeat as, “…impregnated with an odor of perspiration” (236) while others expressed repulsion at eating an animal that had likely died in the dirty city streets. However, Forrest argues that most of the American aversion to horseflesh is cultural, “Not only was it repellent, horsemeat also represented a backwards Old World dogged by war, revolution, and social breakdown” (236). The US government made multiple attempts to encourage a horsemeat industry, but faced resistance that sometimes descended into domestic terrorism. In 2006, after decades of both non-violent and violent protest against horse slaughter, the government pulled all funding for inspection of horsemeat, forever giving up on the idea of getting Americans to eat chevaline.
Forrest’s book is not without problems, however. Though she bookends each chapter with short anecdotes, she becomes increasingly reliant on them to the point that her last chapters “Wealth” and “War” are composed almost entirely of interviews and observations. Despite her attempts to include multinational views on the horse, Forrest is ultimately rather Eurocentric, as evidenced by her missing several connections between horses and slavery that would later be made by historians like Katherine Mooney and Charlotte Carrington-Farmer.
Overall, The Age of the Horse serves as a superb introduction to equine history and a good beginning for any project in the field. Though Forrest does not explore any one topic especially deeply, neither does she let a subject overstay its welcome. She has written an entertaining book that constantly piques its reader’s curiosity and encourages them to the burgeoning field of horse history.