The Hindu Business Line : One way to stop a runaway horse is to bet on him

FOR obvious and urgent reasons, we need to come to terms with horses of all hues in our midst, especially when top politicians trade insults on profits and losses arising from the use of stallions to tilt the power balance.

Horse is a solid-hoofed plant-eating quadruped with a flowing mane and tail, domesticated for riding and as a draught animal, explains Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Horse as verb means to provide with a horse, or to move by brute force, informs Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. But `charley horse' is different; it is "a muscular pain, cramping, or stiffness especially of the quadriceps that results from a strain or bruise." Latin name is Equus caballus, one learns from Encarta.

Horse can refer to a gymnastic equipment "with four legs and a solid leather-covered oblong body, used for exercises and especially for vaulting over." It can be piece of furniture; kudirai in Tamil refers to a tall stool on four legs. "Poikkal Kudirai Aattam is the Dummy Horse Dance of Tamil Nadu where the dancer bears the dummy figure of a horse's body on his/her hips," states http://indiaimage.nic.in. How I wish a folk group dramatised the recent Bihar politics using such false-leg horses!

Greeks had a variation in the form of Centaur, sporting horse's body and a human head and torso. Hippodamia was a `horse' woman. Unicorn, a legendary animal, is depicted as a horse with a long, spiral, tapering horn growing from the middle of its forehead. "It is symbolic of holiness and chastity," states www.cswnet.com. Another legendary horse was the winged Pegasus in Greek mythology. "100 Legendary Horses," is a book by Myriam Baran. Who can forget fabled horses such as Chetak of Maharana Pratap of Mewar, and the Hero of Phantom?

"In comparison to our understanding of the development of most animals, evolutionists have a good grasp on the evolution of the horse from the very early (around 55 million years ago)," educates Wikipedia. There is democracy among horses, researchers have found: "If the majority of the herd wants to stop and eat, the whole herd follows suit." However, it is politically right to disown horses in democracy; for, the other members of the horse family include only zebras and donkeys, not tradable party loyalties. Sites such as www.pbs.org and www.talkorigins.org can enlighten you on the evolution of the horse.

As a geological term, horse is a block of rock interrupting a vein and containing no minerals, or a large block of displaced rock that is caught along a fault, explains http://dictionary.reference.com. "In the steppes, the horse was domesticated much later than cattle, sheep, and so on," according to Archaeology Wordsmith. "The first evidence for possible manipulation of horse by man occurs in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC in sites of the Tripolye culture and related cultures of the Ukraine."

Online Etymology Dictionary has an entry for horse that begins thus: "O.E. hors, from P.Gmc. khursa-, of unknown origin." Also connected are Greek hippos, Latin equus, Sanskrit açva-, all meaning horse.

The dictionary surmises that the root has been lost in many languages, in favour of synonyms, "probably via superstitious taboo on uttering the name of an animal so important in religion." Latin equinus, from equus `horse', is closer to equine, meaning horse or other member of the horse family.

Horse is defined in Webster's 1828 Dictionary as a wooden machine (or timber-mare) on which soldiers ride by way of punishment in. In seamen's language, it is "a rope extending from the middle of a yard to its extremity, to support the sailors while they loose, reef or furl the sails." Horse is slang for horsepower or hp, "a unit of power representing the power exerted by a horse in pulling," as defined by www.unc.edu. It was James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, who introduced this concept after observing that a horse, harnessed to an appropriate machine, can lift 550 pounds at the rate of 1 foot per second.

No discussion of horse is complete without racing. The first races were probably contested as early as 1500 BC in Egypt, hypothesises www.encyclopedia.com. "In the Roman era the chariot race became an entertainment for the masses; the Circus Maximus seated over 200,000 spectators." Mark Twain's quote on races is, "It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races." And race horses have interesting names.

To outrun the horses, there is a line in a sonnet of the Bard: "Then can no horse with my desire keep pace." In Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick wishes, "I would my horse had the speed of your tongue." A different type of trading emerges in King Richard III, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" But King Lear would ask, "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life?" Elsewhere in the same play Shakespeare pronounces, "He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath."

However, Winston Churchill may not agree on the health point: "Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon."

Try some offbeat analogy in King Henry IV: "O, he is as tedious as a tired horse, a railing wife." Also, hear the sepulchral lament of Calpurnia in Julius Caesar: "The noise of battle hurtled in the air, horses did neigh, and dying men did groan, and ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets."

Before letting the horse topic to go away, here is Jeffrey Bernard's remark — that one way to stop a runaway horse is to bet on him. In Patna, betting didn't probably help as much as dissolution, putting to death traders' dreams, who have a helpful financial counsel from Robert Frost: "Take care to sell your horse before he dies. The art of life is passing losses on."

With one more election coming up, with no guarantee of a clear mandate, what best fits the present politics of the meanwhile may be this saying of Ian L. Fleming: "A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle."

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

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