Why aren't there any werehorses?

[pjthompson]

All kinds of creatures go were, but when you see a run like Barbaro's and the joy he takes in running, I can't think of any creature I'd rather be.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Kelpies.

And phoukas?

[pjthompson]

Oh yeah. But kelpies are kind of evil and phoukas, too. You don't see any paranormal romances with phoukas, unless you count The War for the Oaks. Maybe I'll create a new subgenre. :-)

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

There have been a few tales with people turned into horses. I have one downstairs. . .title escapes me, something by Esther Friesner? Or, wait - A Wind in Cairo, I think - and something called The Hex Witch of Seldom.

It isn't quite were like werewolves; there doesn't seem to be regular swapping back and forth, either by the person's will or by such as moon's rule.

I wonder: wolves are predators, vampires are predators. Norton had weres who became great cats such as leopards. All predators.

I have a short on my shelves somewhere that has werewolf and a were that is an animal that hunts werewolves.

Selkies, seal people, I suppose are predators as well, being consumers of fish. They also have the benefit if being sea creatures, belonging to a world man can't entirely know.

Horses are not predators. Significant?

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I suspect that being a prey animal is not sexy.

[pjthompson]

It would have to be an alpha stallion, I guess, and his herd of were-mares. And then you could have a big stallion fight like those wild horse movies from the 50s. :-) If you wanted to do the alpha thing.

[pjthompson]

Yeah, I'd have to say them being a predator is significant. I guess in story-terms it leads to an easy means of conflict--that is, a readily-identifiable means of conflict. It takes more imagination to use something non-predatory, I think. Or maybe just a different kind of imagination.

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

Different imagination, yes. Because why is it going to be important that MickySam can turn into a horse? How many times in one novel can MickySam's ability to turn into a horse and run really fast, or eat grass to save on rations, save the day without losing the reader? There's no real angst in "I turned into a horse and ran around the pasture really fast!" as there is in "I turned into a wolf and ate the neighbor's pet!"

It might work for a children's story, too.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Not evil! Just very much what they are.

The narrator of my Gypsy Cab is a kelpie. *g*

[pjthompson]

oops! I've got to stop listening to the anti-kelpie propogandists. :-)