Horses are a constant source of inspiration. Whether through the actions of our real-life equine partners, or how they are depicted in the pages of novels or on the silver screen, they have given rise to many inspirational horse quotes from famous faces. Here are just a few of our favourites for you to enjoy…
1. “Don’t give your son money. As far as you can afford it, give him horses. No one ever came to grief, except honourable grief, through riding horses” — Winston Churchill
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2. “I freely admit that the best of my fun I owe it to Horse and Hound” — Whyte Melville
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3. “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” — Shakespeare
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4. “Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined” — from the Ode to the Horse by Ronald Duncan, created for Horse of the Year Show
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5. “There’s something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man” — John Lubbock/Winston Churchill
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6. “I can make a General in five minutes, but a good horse is hard to replace” — Abraham Lincoln
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7. “The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other, still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back” — Amber Senti
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8. “A man on a horse is spiritually, as well as physically, bigger than a man on foot” — John Steinbeck
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9. “I’ve often said there’s nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse” — Ronald Reagan
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10. “My horses are my friends, not my slaves” — Reiner Klimke
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11. “When I bestride him, I soar. I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes” — Shakespeare
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12. “No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle” — Winston Churchill
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13. “The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never” — Yiddish proverb
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14. “A canter is a cure for every evil” — Benjamin Disraeli
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15. “A horse is worth more than riches” — Spanish proverb
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
