All The King's Horsemen

Once in a while an idea comes to mind almost fully formed when it arrives. All The King's Horsemen is such an idea. After years in Equine Theatre I have always envisioned the kind of quality horse entertainment I would be proud to be the author of. I first imagined this writing as a live show featuring well trained horses and sympathetic riders and the words to this "almost fairy tale" flowed easily from there to my computer. The where and when this show or pieces of it will become live is still to be determined but we are currently training horses for all of these parts so before too long the words can truly come to life.

Here are some excerpts from the story.... Enjoy!

Not so very long ago, in a land seldom heard of, a great and respected King had a most worrisome situation. He was a good man, well known for making wise and thoughtful choices about how his kingdom should be governed, and he was very content in all but one regard. He and the Queen, his devoted wife of over twenty years, did not have any children of their own. Therefore, there would be no royal heir to the throne, or to his kingdom, once he was gone. This was a truly unfortunate situation. The Royal couple both really loved children and were genuinely interested in, and truly deserving of them. Those who had known the King and Queen the longest, agreed that they would have been great; in fact, they would have been "storybook" parents, regardless of their wealth, title, and privilege, if only they had been given the chance...

...The king had poured his passion and interest in another direction. He had dedicated much of his energy and over a decade of his life into collecting and raising many different breeds of the most magnificent horses to be found anywhere in the world. The only travelling he did these days was to look at new horses. The king collected horses for the most noble of reasons. He was not interested in races or contests or prestigious awards although the royal horses were certainly of such a fine quality that they would have excelled at any venture for which they were prepared. But that is not why the king had purchased them. No, the king collected and kept his wonderful horses because he loved them, and each individual horse appealed to him in its own way before he made them his own. To him, all of his horses were beautiful both inside and out...

...He had found no luck in the village when he had tried to secure a trainer. Someone passionate and dedicated about horses who would be willing to bring each member of his equine family to their fullest potential whatever it may be. All of the locals thought of horses as farm animals and could not connect with them in any way that would make the horses behave in any way other than just that. As farm animals. Beasts, to be ridden or driven, told what to do, but not interacted with. They didn't understand when the king tried to explain all the wondrous acts that he had seen horses do, just for the bidding of their trainers. They simply had no imagination for such things. "Teach a farm animal to dance," they laughed. "Why would you want to do that"? "Oh aye his herd is beautiful to look at, but they are still just farm animals". They laughed some more. "Farm animals that don't even work"!

...There was, however, a certain young girl named Isabel who lived in the nearby village. She found herself constantly and almost magnetically drawn to the beautiful horses that lived in the kingdom. Horses were not often handled by girls or women in these parts and Isabel had no prior experience with animals at all. She had wandered out to the stables some months ago by chance and had been captivated ever since....