“Sometimes a wild horse needs to feel that his rider is just a little bit wilder.”

“A horse must be a bit mad to be a good cavalry mount, and its rider must be completely so.”

“A little neglect may breed mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want a horse the rider was lost; for want of the rider the battle was lost.”

“There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse.”

“But talent—if you don't encourage it, if you don't train it, it dies. It might run wild for a little while, but it will never mean anything. Like a wild horse. If you don't tame it and teach it to run on track, to pace itself and bear a rider, it doesn't matter how fast it is. It's useless.”

“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.”