In Praise of Famous Horses: An A-Z of the Most Celebrated in History and Culture, Myth and Sport

Description

The Complete Horse is a single-volume A-Z companion to perhaps the most loved of all domesticated animals. The books's 5000 entries not only cover such basic equine topics as the physiology and anatomy of the horse, and breeds of horse and pony, but also accurately reflect the multiplicity of roles played by the horse historically and culturally. In addition to its coverage of core equine topics, The Complete Horse also includes a wealth of unexpected, fascinating and serendipious information, from horse slang phrases to horses in British pub signs, and from the horse in advertising to the horse as a food item. The volume will also include extended narrative essays on key themes such as the horse in warfare and the horse in folklore. These features add up to a richly satisfying accumulation of information about the horse's role in human culture and society over two millennia. The Complete Horse will not only be a helpful reference source and congenial bedside book for those who work with or enjoy horses, but also a satisfying and browsable companion for the inquisitive general reader.

Sean Magee is one of the UK's most prominent and respected writers on horse-racing matters and the author of numerous books on the subject including Channel Four Racing: The Complete A-Z of Horse Racing. He is also the editor of Ascot: The History. Currently editorial director of Politico's, Sean Magee lives in rural Oxfordshire with his family.

Many books have been written about famous horses but none like this; a well-informed, enthusiastic, engagingly written and unusually wide-ranging work. It was written to celebrate horses famous for whatever reason and it succeeds wonderfully well -- David Ashforth * THE RACING POST *