The Bible consistently equates the horse with power and fury. If you've ever watched a herd of mustangs run through the red Southwest dust, flanks glistening in sweat and rippling with exertion and freedom, tails and manes like battle standards lapping behind them, you'll know it's an apt comparison—few animals are as awe-inspiring or downright terrifying as untamed horses.
Yet the Scripture also points out that putting reins on a horse allows a man to control him, to lead the horse where he wants him to go. There's a mutual respect between horse and rider through which they can work together. It's the kind of relationship that helps us remember there's no virtue in worshipping God's creation, only in worshipping God.
Horses, after all, can be tamed. Mankind has been breaking horses since the dawn of time, riding them, using them to haul loads too big for people to carry, showing them off, putting them in circuses. They've been an integral element of the progress of civilization in the East and West, and humans owe many debts to the horse.
Not least of these debts is the horse's ability to help win wars. Whether horses were used to mount cavalry, pull chariots, cart supplies, or simply to run rampant on the battlefield, the number of battles they've determined is countless. They might be obsolete in modern warfare, but soldiers themselves are almost obsolete themselves these days.
There's a less ferocious aspect to horses as well. Horses can be gentle creatures, beloved companions and even pets, almost like dogs in their loyalty and docility toward their owners. Our selection is meant to celebrate all these aspects of horses, as well as to provide factual information. We hope you enjoy the books, and that your appreciation of one of God's noblest animals deepens and grows.
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Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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