Horse-Poems and Verses.

Horses can inspire people in many ways....

and some people are lucky enough to be able to record those inspirations in horse-poems or verses. I am amazed how the use of so few words can generate so many moods, places, actions and memories.

Horse-Poems....that capture the imagination

Ah, steeds, steeds, what steeds!
Has the whirlwind a home in your manes?
Is there a sensitive ear, alert as a flame, in your every fiber?
Hearing the familiar song from above, all in one accord you strain your bronze chests and, hooves barely touching the ground, turn into straight lines cleaving the air, and all inspired by God it rushes on!
~ Nikolai V. Gogol, translated from Russian

A thousand horse and none to ride!
With flowing tail, and flying mane,
Wide nostrils never stretched by pain,
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow o'er the sea,
Came thickly thundering on,...
~Lord Byron, XVII, Mazeppa, 1818

Where in this wide world can man find
nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
He serves without servility;
he has fought without enmity
. There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.
~Ronald Duncan, "The Horse," 1954

Somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.
~Stanley Harrison

He's of the colour of the nutmeg. And of the heat of the ginger....
he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him,
but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him;
he is indeed a horse, and all other jades you may call beasts. ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

When God created the horse, he said to the magnificent creature: I have made thee as no other.
All the treasures of the earth shall lie between thy eyes.
Thou shalt cast thy enemies between thy hooves,
but thou shalt carry my friends upon they back.
Thy saddle shall be the seat of prayers to me.
And thou fly without any wings, and conquer without any sword. ~ The Koran

Horse-poems...on the lighter side

I bless the hoss from hoof to head
From head to hoof, and tale to mane!
I bless the hoss, as I have said,
From head to hoof, and back again!
~James Whitcomb Riley

He knows when you're happy
He knows when you're comfortable
He knows when you're confident
And he always knows when you have carrots.
~Author Unknown

For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost;
for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost;
and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost;
being overtaken and slain by the Enemy,
all for want of Care
about a Horse-shoe Nail.
~Benjamin Franklin

Horse-poems...Memories of a life with horses

Again the early-morning sun was generous with its warmth.
All the sounds dear to a horseman were around me
the snort of the horses as they cleared their throats, the gentle swish of their tails,
the tinkle of irons as we flung the saddles over their backs - little sounds of no importance,
but they stay in the unconscious library of memory.
~Wynford Vaughan-Thomas

The hooves of horses!
Oh! witching and sweet
Is the music earth steals from the iron-shod feet;
No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird,
Can stir me as much as hooves of horses
Have stirred.
~Will H. Ogilvi

Horse-poems.....from inspired riders

When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. ~William Shakespeare, Henry V

What delight To back the flying steed,
that challenges The wind for speed!
seems native more of air Than earth!
whose burden only lends him fire!
Whose soul, in his task, turns labour into sport;
Who makes your pastime his! I sit him now!
He takes away my breath! He makes me reel!
I touch not earth - I see not - hear not.
All Is ecstasy of motion!
James Sheridan Knowles, The Love-Chase

My horse's feet are as swift as rolling thunder
He carries me away from all my fears
And when the world threatens to fall asunder
His mane is there to wipe away my tears.
~Bonnie Lewis

If one induces the horse to assume that carriage which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then, one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable for having been ridden. ~ Xenophon

Horse-poems....historic inspiration

Why did this animal that had prospered so in the Colorado desert leave his amiable homeland for Siberia? There is no answer. We know that when the horse negotiated the land bridge... he found on the other end an opportunity for varied development that is one of the bright aspects of animal history. He wandered into France and became the mighty Percheron, and into Arabia, where he developed into a lovely poem of a horse, and into Africa where he became the brilliant zebra, and into Scotland, where he bred selectively to form the massive Clydesdale. He would also journey into Spain, where his very name would become the designation for gentleman, a caballero, a man of the horse. There he would flourish mightily and serve the armies that would conquer much of the known world.
~James Michener

Look back at our struggle for freedom,
Trace our present day's strength to it's source;
And you'll find that man's pathway to glory
Is strewn with the bones of the horse.
Author Unknown


Horse-Quotes

Horse Quotes Philosophical

Horse Quotes about Training

Horse Quotes for Riders


Dressage-Quotes