Features:

WILD, NOT WILD: by Becki Bell
This is not the Nevada desert or the open spaces of South Dakota. There is no BLM here, no annual roundups, and no wild horse adoption programs. It is not really the sort of place at all where you would expect to find 3,000 free ranging equines, but here they are—wandering in little groups across the narrow country roads, foraging through backyards and parking lots, and generally tolerating the unremitting presence of tourists and their cameras. These are New Forest Ponies, and the live here as British common law has dictated for nearly a thousand years.

WALK, TROT, CHARGE: by Charles Sullivan
In days of old, two steeds were the rule: one for everyday use—prancing and making the rider look knightly—and the other for the rigors of battle. No spindle-legged prancer need apply. Required here was a mountain of a horse, much like a dray, who could hold his own in a heated battle. The horse was as much a weapon as the lance or sword.

The only similarity between ancient knight and modern day cavalry trooper was the mount. But with the development of repeating rifles, the maneuver of the cavalry saber charge became pageantry. Thrilling, but useless. In spite of this, the horse remained an integral weapon in the army arsenal during WWI, and until 1940.

MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE: by Becki Bell
William Shakespeare pondered the question half a millennium ago, and had the narrator of his historical play Henry V issue apologetic instructions to his audience: "Think when we talk of horses, that you see them," he advised. "Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth; for 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings ..."

The question hasn't really gotten any simpler for theater since Shakespeare's time. Movie producers have the luxury of space, but theater is confined within a limited physical location and must rely largely on props and the power of suggestion for some of the more complicated elements of its stories. This is especially true when scenes are supposed to depict horses.

WILD HORSE ANNIE: by Mary Anne Donovan-Wright
Diminutive and with a body twisted by a childhood bought with polio, Velma Johnston single-handedly advocated for the wild horses and burros of the western ranges.

Johnston, later dubbed "Wild Horse Annie" by an adversary in her cause to protect wild horses, grew up on a ranch surrounded by horses and animals. She contracted polio at the age of 11, and spent six months in a body cast. She suffered from the aftereffects of her battle with the disease for the rest of her life.

Around the same time, the horses who were once vital to farm operations were replaced by tractors. As their practical use diminished, the number of feral animals continued to swell, and some people were beginning to view them as a nuisance. Others, federally-employed hunters called "mustangers," saw them as potential for financial gain.