The People’s Champion
You all know I’m a bit soft in the head when it comes to horses. I grew up on a diet of Anna Sewell, Marguerite Henry and Elyne Mitchell. I graduated to Walter Farley, Mary O’Hara and Dick Francis. The stories may have varied a little, but the horses were always big and brave. The best ones had fire in their hearts and ran like sheet lightning. The horsey movies of my youth had wonderful slow-motion footage of the hero eating up the turf, or galloping across a beautiful English meadow. The best I’ve ever seen is Francis Ford Cuppola’s The Black Stallion where Alec Ramsay and The Black gallop on the beach. Suddenly the music fades and you are caught up in the rhythmic movement of the legs, those perfect hooves striking the ground, The Black’s mane flowing in the breeze. Alec lets go and throws his hands out, flying aboard his horse….
