Horses and their strength

“Do you give the horse its strength

or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?” (Job 39:19)

The main thing about a horse is not the main thing that is generally thought about a horse - and I don’t mean his mane. On the index of intelligence, horses tend to rank somewhere alongside armadillos or beavers, that is, not extraordinarily impressive - though I must say they are a trifle bit more elegant and graceful in stride. Were there a Harvard or Oxford for animals, horses need not waste the oats to apply. Yet when it comes to strength and endurance, we have a formidable contender with the endurance of an antelope and the strength of a bear. Is it any wonder they have been the primary choice for load-bearing beasts throughout history, though alpacas, camels and water buffalo will do the trick if horses are scarce to be found. However, I’d like to see a water buffalo rush into battle at the sound of the trumpet. We may even be tempted to think it is the horse’s obedience that makes him superlative, but let us not forget that he sometimes requires a bridle. Even still, the horse’s main quality for which he is to be praised is not his endurance or strength, or even obedience, all of which were sufficient characteristics to be admonished by Orwell in ‘Animal Farm’, but rather his fearlessness. Yes, the horse’s endurance may make it in good standing to be the ultimate clean energy vehicle that will eventually be pressed upon us by progressives, and this may not be a bad thing, though there is nothing new under the sun. It is the horse’s carelessness for himself that makes him able to adequately care for his commander and rider. The donkey was adequate for the Lord’s first appointment in Jerusalem, but his second will be on the horse.