What makes a child fall in love with a particular animal? Proximity? DNA? An innate connection on first contact? For as long as I can remember I have loved horses, so did my Mom, even though we didn’t have any. She tells the story of me running out into a field of horses at three years old and barely missing getting kicked in the head. (One of a couple of occasions she says I nearly died!) Now my five-year-old granddaughter loves horses, so the family fascination continues.
Marguerite Henry wrote horse stories and I joined her author fan club, a little girl loves to get her own mail! We grew up in a very
small town of 900 and the public library didn’t have a very large selection of books, but I learned about inter-library loan in the county and set out to read all of her books I could find. My favorite was King of the Wind and it fueled a lifelong love of Arabian horses. This breed is small of statue with almond-shaped eyes set low and wide apart. It has a wedge-shaped face, wide at the forehead then tapering to a delicate muzzle and has small, pointed ears that can point inward. Color is of no great concern, but the skin underneath is jet black for protection against the sun, they have great stamina and can subsist on scant feed if necessary, important traits in the harsh desert lands they came from. They are a favorite of mine at parades and horse shows and the riders usually dress in “Aladdin” type costumes. Of old, Arab chieftains used the mares to carry them into battle and they were a sign of wealth. They are the oldest domesticated horse species in the world.
The story starts with the Sultan of Morocco gifting six, racehorse stallions to French King Louis XV, each is accompanied by a horseboy who is to remain with that horse until the horse’s death, then return to Morocco. A mute slave boy, Agba, is assigned to Sham. Unfortunately Sham and the other horses arrive in poor condition and their smaller stature causes the French to consider them inferior horses so Sham then becomes a kitchen cart horse. The other horseboys abandon their horses but Agba remains loyal to his horse throughout the book even though at times it lands him in dire situations. On two occasions kind Quakers are portrayed, which I liked since I am one. In the end, Sham does sire a horse that is recognized as a great racehorse. Themes of loyalty, perseverance, and friendship never go out of style!
This is a fictional biography of the Godolphin Arabian (Sham), considered one of three stallions that founded the modern Thoroughbred. In America, you can trace the sire lines of famous racehorses Seabiscuit and Man ‘o War back to him. This book was also made into a movie in 1990.
By Ruth Binford