horses Quotes

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”

“I hope you will fall into good hands, but a horse never knows who may buy him, or who may drive him.”

“Good Luck is rather particular who she rides with, and mostly prefers those who have got common sense and a good heart; at least that is my experience.”

“Oh! if people knew what a comfort to a horse a light hand is...”

“We horses must take things as they come, and always be contented and willing so long as we are kindly used.”

“She’ll be as good as Black Beauty by and bye. Kindness is all the physic she wants, poor thing!”

“It seems that horses have no relations; at least, they never know each other after they are sold.”

“I would my horse had the speed of your tongue.”

“He must have had fire and mettle in his day, if we may judge from the name he bore of Gunpowder. He had, in fact, been a favorite steed of his master’s, the choleric Van Ripper, who was a furious rider, and had infused, very probably, some of his own spirit into the animal; for, old and broken-down as he looked, there was more of the lurking devil in him than in any young filly in the country.”

“It was nearly a year and a half ago that Jurgis had met Ona, at a horse fair a hundred miles from home. Jurgis had never expected to get married – he had laughed at it as a foolish trap for a man to walk into; but here, without ever having spoken a word to her, with no more than the exchange of half a dozen smiles, he found himself, purple in the face with embarrassment and terror, asking her parents to sell her to him for his wife – and offering his father’s two horses he had been sent to the fair to sell. But Ona’s father proved as a rock – the girl was yet a child, and he was a rich man, and his daughter was not to be had in that way. So Jurgis went home with a heavy heart, and that spring and summer toiled and tried hard to forget. In the fall, after the harvest was over, he saw that it would not do, and tramped the full fortnight’s journey that lay between him and Ona.”

“Men who didn’t know how to get on and off a horse would not be much use around a cow outfit.”

“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”

“What he loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them. All his reverence and all his fondness and all the leanings of his life were for the hearted and they would always be so and never be otherwise.”

“Old Pops and I have got four good legs between us...Maybe that’s enough.”

“Every time the horse set foot on the course, someone would cry out, ‘Here comes the Biscuit!’ and the track would come to a dead standstill.”

“It’s easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them.”

“A thoroughbred racehorse is one of God’s most impressive engines.”

“I got a great ride...The greatest ride I ever got from the greatest horse that ever lived.”

“The little horse had drawn more newspaper coverage in 1938 than Roosevelt, who was Second, Hitler (third), Mussolini (fourth), or any other newsmaker. His match with War Admiral was almost certainly the single biggest news story of the year and one of the biggest sports moments of the century.”

“The affection that this inarticulate brown horse had aroused...was a most amazing thing.”

“He believed with complete conviction that no animal was permanently ruined. Every horse could be improved. He lived by a single maxim: ‘Learn your horse. Each one is an individual, and once you penetrate his mind and heart, you can often work wonders with an otherwise intractable beast.‘”

“So long, Charley.”

“They were people of the horse, not of the town; in that they were more like the Comanches than Call would ever have admitted.”

“‘Well, you’re horse thieves, and that’s a sin in my book,’ Call said. ‘Where do you people come from?‘”

“He who is without discrimination and whose mind is always uncontrolled, his senses are unmanageable, like the vicious horses of a driver.”

“Ruler of Athens, Lord and Governor, And in his time so great a conqueror There was none mightier beneath the sun. And many a rich country he had won, What with his wisdom and his troops of horse.”

“His worthy steed he then bestrode And forth upon his way he glode Like sparkles from a flame. And his crest he bore a tower And stuck thereon a lily-flower, God guard him from all shame!”

“He really is as big as a horse, but actually a very sweet horse. I hope he comes again.”

“Blue Horse, Blue Horse, What do you see?”

“Alec glanced down proudly at the hard muscles in his arms. Uncle Ralph had taught him how to ride- the one thing in the world he had always wanted to do.”

“Hay is for horses, Arthur, not people”

“Then John Dolittle got a fine, big pair of green spectacles; and the plow-horse stopped going blind in one eye and could see as well as ever. And soon it became a common sight to see farm-animals wearing glasses in the country round Puddleby; and a blind horse was a thing unknown.”

“You can think about red. You can think about pink. You can think up a horse. Oh, the THINKS you can think!”

“A man who apparently saw the moon’s reflection disappear from the village pond as his horse was drinking from it. Declaring that his horse had swallowed it he promptly picked up his sword and chopped the horse in two to release the moon.”

“I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.”

Discovered as a foundling in a lambing pen, Spider Sparrow grows up surrounded by animals. From sheep and horses to wild otters and foxes, Spider loves them all, even the crows must scare away the newly sown wheat.

“Today we are still glad to remember that we have relatives among the Horse People. And it gives us joy to see the wild horses running free.”

“A beautiful spotted stallion was prancing to and fro in front of her, stamping his hooves and shaking his mane. He was strong and proud and more handsome than any horse she had ever dreamed of. He told her that he was the leader of the all the wild horses who roamed the hills.”

“The people gave them fine things to wear: colorful blankets and decorated saddles. They painted designs on their bodies and tied eagle feathers and ribbons in their manes and tails.”

“And then one year she did not return and was never seen again. But when hunters next saw the wild horses there galloped beside the mighty stallion a beautiful mare with a mane and tail floating like wispy clouds about her. ”

“She was glad to see her parents and they thought she would be happy to be home again. But they soon saw she was sad and missed the colt and the wild horses.”

“The girl gave the colt to her parents. Everyone was joyful.”

“A last the storm disappeared over the horizon. The tired horses slowed and then stopped and rested. Stars came out and the moon shone over hills the girl had never seen before. She knew they were lost.”

“I love to run with the wild horses, they are my relatives. If you let me go back to them I shall be happy for evermore.”

“Once again the girl rode beside the spotted stallion. They were proud and happy together. ”

“But she did not forget her people. Each year she would come back, and she always brought her parents a colt.”

“They said the girl had surely become one of the wild horses at last.”

“He welcomed her to live with them. She was glad, and all her horses lifted their heads and neighed joyfully, happy to be free with the wild horses.”

“They’ll look after you—they promised they would. And I need the money, Joey; I need the money bad.”

“All along the meadow where the cows grazed and the horses ran, there was an old stone wall. In that wall, not far from the barn and the granary, a chatty family of field mice had their home.”

“Out of the gate and off for a walk went Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy and Hercules Morse as big as a horse with Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy”

“Two of the riders dismounted, handing their reins to the third -a boy of about fourteen- who remained on his horse. They had a look of each other, the riders, like brothers. The first to dismount, his lance still in his hand, was probably the eldest. He was bearded, but no older than about twenty. He went straight up to Malc and began to pull the back-pack from this shoulders.”

“Here is daddy. He is mostly nice. Almost too nice. Like tonight; although it’s late he reads a good, long story about a horse. Then he gives Alfie a hug and turns off the light when he leaves.”

“Willie took Gem a treat every afternoon all week.”

“That mare’s tame. She was the lighthouse keeper’s. He called her ‘Gem’.”

“I’ll clean out your stables and curry your horses... whatever you want.”

“All the same, he couldn’t keep away from the Sable Island horses. They were being trained in a paddock down by the waterfront. Willie ran there after school, whistling all the way, his pockets filled with wild apples.”

″‘I...I... my horse ran away,’ he stammered. The old man looked him over. ‘A bit young to be ownin’ a horse, ain’t ya?‘”

“He walked on, quite unconscious of the direction in which he was going, and more than once finding his hat knocked off by branch of a tree which he had not perceived- for the best of all possible reasons, because his eyes were cast on the ground- when his ears were saluted with the neighing of a horse.”

“The major climbed up onto Longmount just behind his head. The adjutant climbed on too, but near the tail. ‘We always ride him like this,’ the Major explained. ‘Longmount is afraid that otherwise he’ll sag... he never let’s anyone sit in the middle.‘”

“Her godmother only just touched her with her wand, and, at the same instant, her clothes were turned into cloth of gold and silver, all beset with jewels. This done, she gave her a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the whole world...her godmother...commanded her not to stay till after midnight, telling her, at the same time, that if she stayed one moment longer, the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and her clothes just as they were before.”

“One day the Little House was surprised to see a horseless carriage coming down the winding country road...Pretty soon there were more of them on the road and fewer carriages pulled by horses.”

“Trust a horse before a hound, a hound before a lass- and a long ship before them all!”

“Ken, you know the world is full of unpleasant things. Pain and operations and sickness and discomfort. You mustn’t mind. That’s just the way life is. Besides all that, there is health and goodness and soundness and fun and happiness, too, for horses as well as boys- much more of the good things then the bad- ”

“And now they’ve got to change their minds about the world. It’s different from what they’ve learned. It’s a world where humans take the first place. Human beings master them. They have to obey. Humans are the most important of all. But they’ll soon learn.”

“We were soon down in the village and went clattering down the village street on our horses. It wasn’t difficult to find out way because we could hear laughter and talk from a long way away. ”

“This giving you a colt is a kind of bargain between us. I give you the colt, you give me more obedience, more efficiency, than you ever have in your life before. Is it a bargain?”

″...And for a fleeting instant, at the far end of a glade, she thought she saw a little white horse with flowing mane and tail, head raised, poised, halted in mid-flight, as though it had seen her and was glad.”

“Nothing ever was as good these days as it had been when he was a young man. Horses could not run so fast, young men were not so brave and dashing, women were not so pretty, flowers did not grow so well, and as for dogs, if there were any decent ones left in the world, it was because they were in his own kennels.”

“This was such a brave little horse, so gay and splendid on his four green wheels, so proud and dashing with his red saddle and blue stripes!”

“Carl Tiflin came to the barn with Jody one day. He looked admiringly at the groomed bay coat, and he felt the firm flesh over ribs and shoulders. ‘You’ve done a good job,’ he said to Jody. And this was the greatest praise he knew how to give. Jody was bright with pride for hours afterward.”

″...suddenly I wanted, more than I wanted puppies even, to hear someone say, ‘Oh, Jean’s all right. She can ride anything.‘”

“It got so lonely for poor Jancsi, he would have given ten horses for a brother. He had it all figured out- he would give a donkey even for a sister. Not horses, just a donkey.”

“The Prince Giglio, by reason of his tender age at his royal father’s death, did not feel the loss of his own crown and empire. As long as he had plenty of toys and sweetmeats, a holiday five times a week and a horse and gun to go out shooting when he grew a little older, and, above all, the company of his darling cousin, the King’s only child, poor Giglio was perfectly contented.”

“Never go near Man, nor his huts, nor his yards where he fences in cattle and his own tame horse.”

“A silver Brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both. ”

″ In a desperate chase through the mountains, it seems there is no longer anywhere for him to run to...”

“I could still imagine Thowra eluding capture because of the lessons Bel Bel had taught him.”

“But that is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by man. ”

“Charlie heard his name being called. He stopped, bewildered. Bearing down upon him was a monstrous horse, blowing and puffing and wild-eyed. Its legs were churning up and down in a terrifying blur. The little boy was too frightened even to move.”

“That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift.”

“To picture the great potato-planting machine, drawn by four horses, or an electric motor, ploughing the furrow, cutting and dropping and covering the potatoes, and planting a score of acres a day!”

“Yes,” she said, “he is really quite a beauty, and he has such a sweet, good-tempered face, and such a fine, intelligent eye--what do you say to calling him Black Beauty?”

″...but I can tell you good places make good horses.”

“My poor Beauty,” my good horse, you saved your mistress’ life, Beauty; yes, you saved her life.

“I always get on well with horses, and if I could help some of them to a fair start I should feel as if I was doing some good.”

“The black one is the most perfect temper I ever knew; I suppose he has never known a hard word or a blow since he was foaled, and all his pleasure seems to be to do what you wish;”

“but what I care most for is that these horses of my old friend, who thought they would find a good home with me, are ruined.”

“I, with my noble master, went into many actions together without a wound; and though I saw horses shot down with bullets, pierced through with lances, and gashed with fearful saber-cuts; though we left them dead on the field, or dying in the agony of their wounds, I don’t think I feared for myself. My master’s cheery voice, as he encouraged his men, made me feel as if he and I could not be killed.”

“I am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly so fast.”

“You know that’s true, and if the horses don’t work we must starve, and I and my children have known what that is before now.”

“You that have your own horses and cabs, or drive for good masters, have a chance of getting on and a chance of doing right; I haven’t.”