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. :-)

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

What would a werehorse be like? Beautiful, strong, runs fast, somewhat on the touchy side but can be calmed by stroking, speaking kindly and offering food treats and rather dim? (Hmmm....)

[pjthompson]

The horses I have known have mostly been kind-hearted souls, though I'd occasionally run into a biter. I think most mean horses are made, though, by ill-treatment. Well, okay, stallions aren't always so nice.

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

I think that a were horse would have to come out of an entirely different tradition than currently recognized weres. What would be the gain, what the danger? A horse does more than run, but what if you the kind of were you are is determined by what happens to you when you first change?

Say, in a culture that lives close to the earth, at adolescence the magic rises, so they go out to a spirit journey. Somebody gets scared spitless, has to run like mad, and ends up turning into a horse. Why a horse and not a deer, elk, horned antelope, etc.? Have to be somewhere where horses are known? Can you only become a creature you're familiar with?

Or are there meddling gods/spirits that choose the horse form simply because there aren't horses around?

There is a fairy tale tradition of a horse that has to be kept on an iron bit to keep it from changing back into a person, and some associated story that involves selling someone a horse that gets free and runs off.

It's an interesting idea you have here. :)

[pjthompson]

I think that a were horse would have to come out of an entirely different tradition than currently recognized weres.

Yeah, if you used the current model you'd have to have big, bad alpha stallions fighting it out for herd dominance. Meh. I get a little tired of that in werewolf fiction. I just finished Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (thanks, Hannah!) and I liked it a lot--a very good example of werewolf fiction. Even so, the alpha posturing starts to wear thin after awhile.

When I was a kid, I was always pretending to be a horse. In fact, we had a group of little horse-pretenders that I hung out with. We had horses when I was a kid and I couldn't imagine anything more splendid.

Say, in a culture that lives close to the earth, at adolescence the magic rises, so they go out to a spirit journey.

What a fabulous idea! You should write this. It's great.

It's an interesting idea you have here. :)
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You've fleshed it out beautifully.

Maybe I should try recapturing some of those childhood games. When the novel is finished, I want to write some short stories, and I've got a couple started that involved horses.

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

Ah, you'll have some good thoughts for those stories at this rate.