More than two decades before the events of Helen of Sparta... As a baby, Hippodamia would have died of exposure on the mountain had it not been for Centaurus. The king of the centaurs saved her, raised her as his own, and in exchange asks for only one thing: she must marry the future king of the Lapiths, Pirithous, son of Zeus, and forge a lasting peace between their peoples by giving him an heir. It would be a fine match if Pirithous weren't more pirate than king and insufferably conceited, besides. But Hippodamia can hardly refuse to marry him without betraying every hope her people have for peace. After the death of Dia, queen of the Lapiths, tensions are running high. The oaths and promises which protected the Lapith people from the Myrmidons have lapsed, and the last thing Pirithous needs is to begin his kingship by making new enemies. But not everyone wants peace on the mountain. There are some among the centaurs who feel it comes at too high a price, and Peleus, King of the Myrmidons, lusts for the lush valley of the Lapiths and the horses which graze within it. Pirithous needs a strong queen at his side, and Hippodamia will certainly be that-if he can win her loyalties. But no matter what strife lay between them, neither Hippodamia nor Pirithous expected their wedding banquet to be the first battle in a war.

While waiting for a delayed airplane, old Henry Dailey, the Black's trainer, tells young Alec Ramsay a story of his own youth, travelling with his brother, Bill. Bill Dailey's talent as a horse-whisperer was unmatched in the days before the automobile and young Henry tells of an unscrupulous con-man who mistreats horses into behaving temporarily. Bill is determined to show that the man is a fraud, but can he unmask the con without getting hurt?Walter Farley experimented with many genres of writing and here, in his only foray into historical fiction, he weaves a fascinating tale of life when horses were the primary means of transportation.

In thirteenth-century China, a Daoist monk named Gao Daokuan (1195-1277) composed a series of illustrated poems and accompanying verse commentary known as the Daoist Horse Taming Pictures. In this annotated translation and study, Louis Komjathy argues that this virtually unknown text offers unique insights into the transformative effects of Daoist contemplative practice. Taming the Wild Horse examines Gao's illustrated poems in terms of monasticism and contemplative practice, as well as the multivalent meaning of the "horse" in traditional Chinese culture and the consequences for both human and nonhuman animals. The Horse Taming Pictures consist of twelve poems, ten of which are equine-centered. They develop the metaphor of a "wild" or "untamed" horse to represent ordinary consciousness, which must be reined in and harnessed through sustained self-cultivation, especially meditation. The compositions describe stages on the Daoist contemplative path. Komjathy provides opportunities for reflection on contemplative practice in general and Daoist meditation in particular, which may lead to a transpersonal way of perceiving and being.

Before Secretariat and Seabiscuit, Man o’ War set the standard for horse racing. Walter Farley, the creator of the Black Stallion, chronicles the mightiest racer ever seen on an American racetrack from his surging power and blistering speed to his overwhelming desire to run! Here is the unofficial biography of the “red giant,” from the moment he was foaled through all of his racing triumphs. Winning an astonishing 20 of his 21 starts, Man o’ War became a legend, and captured the heart of a nation before he retired in 1920 to sire Hard Tack, the father of Seabiscuit, and Triple Crown winner War Admiral. With his seamless storytelling, Farley tells the life story of the horse most horse lovers continue to regard as America’s greatest thoroughbred. Told through the eyes of a fictional stableboy, Danny Ryan, Farley makes the intricate world of the “Sport of Kings” accessible and exciting to horse lovers and racing fans of all ages.

Pirithous is back! But after 3000 years trapped in Hades, what does he have left to live for? Pirithous, son of Zeus, stumbles out of the Underworld into Upstate New York, a land nothing like the one he left behind so long ago. The price of his freedom: revive the worship of his gods and build Persephone a temple for her help in his escape. But the world is so changed, Pirithous, once a wealthy and honored king, doesn't know where to begin. Raised in a strict Greek Orthodox family, Thalia has always been something of a wild child. Wild enough to pick up an attractive man off the side of the road in exchange for his help, no questions asked. When he claims he's a son of Zeus, she gives him the benefit of the doubt. But Pirithous is more pirate than anything else, and an interstate road sign isn't the only thing he's happy to steal... Hunted by centaurs sent by Hades himself, Pirithous is a danger to more than the woman who's taken him in, and even for love and the help he needs to repay his debts, it's hard to justify the risk. Pirithous must find a way to work around the threat of his gods and the complications of the modern world to become the man and the hero Thalia deserves. Unless he'd prefer to return to the Underworld-without any hope of coming back. A fan-favorite hero in Helen of Sparta and Tamer of Horses, Pirithous returns for another adventure, set in the world you know.

"A young, sheltered son of a preacher finds his idylic life cast into turmoil as he struggles to survive the atrocities imposed upon him by three Civil War deserters who kidnap him, tether him about the neck with a rawhide lace, and then use him as a hostage to futher their unclear, but dark mission. Matthew embraces the violence he despises in his captors and begins the downward spiral that he believes has cost him his soul. His salvation comes down to an old Indian horse trainer and a small band of unbroke horses."--Amazon.com.

When Alec receives the Black Stallion’s first son as a gift, he believes his dreams have come true, but Satan’s savage arrogance makes him dangerous and unpredictable. Still, Alec is resolved to gain the fiery colt’s trust, even if he must risk his life to do it.

“A unique and intriguing point of entry into the dialogues and a variety of concerns from metaphysics and epistemology to ethics, politics, and aesthetics.” —Eric Sanday, University of Kentucky Plato’s Animals examines the crucial role played by animal images, metaphors, allusions, and analogies in Plato’s dialogues. These fourteen lively essays demonstrate that the gadflies, snakes, stingrays, swans, dogs, horses, and other animals that populate Plato’s work are not just rhetorical embellishments. Animals are central to Plato’s understanding of the hierarchy between animals, humans, and gods and are crucial to his ideas about education, sexuality, politics, aesthetics, the afterlife, the nature of the soul, and philosophy itself. The volume includes a comprehensive annotated index to Plato’s bestiary in both Greek and English. “Plato’s Animals is a strong volume of beautifully written paeans to postmodern themes found in premodern thought.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews “Shows readers of Plato that he remains significant to issues currently pursued in Continental thought and especially in relation to Derrida and Heidegger.” —Robert Metcalf, University of Colorado, Denver “Will provide fertile ground for future work in this area.” —Jill Gordon, author of Plato’s Erotic World