QotD: Horses

[. . .] There were two police horses present, Wrangler and Oliver; the latter had been a racehorse before assuming constabulary duty. Gnat was duly awed; nothing about horse toys prepares you for the total horsitude of a real life example. They're among the densest looking animals around, for example. Cows look like they're retaining water; pigs are overinflated, and chickens are just bones and noise. But a horse? Solid flesh. Their hair is made out of muscle.

As much as I admire the art of the motorcycle, I understand why the derogatory term "hog" fits — it has a brash & grinning implication, it fits because it doesn't. Calling a motorcycle "Dog" would seem silly; horse would seem just wrong. (Calling a motorcyclist "Dog," however, is perfectly fine.) [. . .] The only word that synthesizes animals and humans is "horseman," and that makes perfect sense to anyone who's slid into the saddle and felt himself to be some chimerical hybrid. For the moment, anyway. Until the horse reminds you otherwise.

James Lileks, The Bleat, 2006-08-02