The American television series Mister Ed, the talking horse , very popular in the 1960s, recounted Wilbur’s misadventures caused by his horse. The horse had the ability to express itself with great sarcasm. Like the series, this narrative trick is not new, whether for a humorous text, for young people, or for a novel, it allows to convey a message, like the fabulist Jean de la Fontaine. Many authors have been inspired by this possibility:

Leon Tolstoy is one of the best known. In his story The Horse (1885), he has an old charming flirty horse tell his own cruel story to a group of young mares.

More recently, the Intimate Diary of the Crack horse (2 volumes published by Belin in 2001-2009), allowed the editorial director of a women’s newspaper, Sylvie Overnoy, to put herself in the shoes of a club horse who discovers concerns and small joys in the life of a horse confined in a stall.

More surprising still, the rider François Baucher imagined, with the help of his friend Pellier, a curious dialogue between a rider, a horse and the great Hippo-Theo, god of the quadrupeds… The text deals with the classic misunderstandings between a horse and its rider, and the god Hippo-Theo acts as referee. He gave the gift of speech to a horse, and also allowed a God to agree with the horse in the face of the incompetence of its rider… The latter promises to learn the lessons.

Know more:

• Equine autobiographies
• Baucher’s book