“Why do you like show jumping?""... Beauty and excitement. The elements of trust, talent, training, love, and danger make show jumping a thrilling and aesthetic experience. It's really the ultimate test of two nervous systems--the kinetic transfer of the rider's muscle to the horse's muscle enables them to clear those jumps. And there's nothing like it--horse and rider forming an arc of beauty, efficiency, and power, like a double helix.""DNA,""Yes, DNA, the code to life.”

“A horse which stops dead just before a jump and thus propels its rider into a graceful arc provides a splendid excuse for general merriment.”

“If that's true why did it jump into the swamp?" Alex asks. "No normal horse would do that. Jump into a lake for a swim maybe, but not a swamp, unless it was a suicidal horse.”

“It's a lot like nuts and bolts - if the rider's nuts, the horse bolts! ”

“There is a lot of folklore about equestrian statues, especially the ones with riders on them. There is said to be a code in the number and placement of the horse's hooves: If one of the horse's hooves is in the air, the rider was wounded in battle; two legs in the air means that the rider was killed in battle; three legs in the air indicates that the rider got lost on the way to the battle; and four legs in the air means that the sculptor was very, very clever. Five legs in the air means that there's probably at least one other horse standing behind the horse you're looking at; and the rider lying on the ground with his horse lying on top of him with all four legs in the air means that the rider was either a very incompetent horseman or owned a very bad-tempered horse.”

“For the firat time saw the court as an animal with its own independent life and strengths. My father... our family... merely rode it for the time. Like a well-schooled horse, it colluded, allowing the rider to determine when to go, to stop. To choose direction and speed. Like a horse, it was more powerful than its rider and might choose at any time to disobey.”