Thoughts about horses and deadlines

May 9th is another slow day on the medieval history front. So here is a link to a heartwarming story about a rescue group that saves thoroughbred horses in need.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/03/living/... We owe horses so much; think how differently the history of mankind would have been if we’d not been able to tame horses. They truly were indispensable to the spread of civilization. Sadly, we did not repay them well. Over the centuries they have been ill-treated; I always felt regretful whenever I had to write about the deaths of horses on the battlefield. Being able to write about the Lionheart’s cherished stallion Fauvel was a rare bright spot; horses rarely were mentioned in the medieval chronicles and so I was happy to give Fauvel his time in the sun, standing in for all his brethren forgotten, ignored, or abused.
We do not know Fauvel’s fate. A minstrel’s tale a hundred years after Richard’s death had him dying at the battle of Jaffa, resulting in Saladin’s sending another horse to Richard under a flag of truce. That never happened, of course. The legend had its roots in the action of Saladin’s brother, Al-Malik al-Adil, who gave Richard two magnificent Arab stallions after the battle to honor the courage he’d displayed at Jaffa. This was a remarkable, generous gesture to make to an enemy, so it is not surprising that it would give rise to later legends and myths. But just as Saladin did not offer Richard a horse in the midst of the battle, nor did Fauvel die then. Richard had not taken any horses with him when his galleys had sailed to Jaffa’s rescue; he and his knights only had eleven horses at the second battle of Jaffa, those they’d either found in the city or captured from the Saracens.
So we do not know Fauvel’s fate. Richard would certainly have sent him home on a horse transport with his two Arab stallions. Since we do not know otherwise, my Fauvel will make it safely to his master’s domains. With so much death and sorrow hovering over the ending of Ransom, it was a small relief to offer this one glimmer of light.
So my gratitude to horse rescue groups comes in part from my reluctance to see these magnificent animals suffer and in part from my appreciation of all the human race owes them. It was sickening that the Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand eventually ended up in a slaughter house in Japan once his owners had decided he was of no further use to them. I realize that not all agree with me, but I feel very strongly that it is as barbaric to eat horses as it would be to eat dogs or cats.
If I disappear from time to time in the coming weeks, it is simply because that accursed deadline has me cornered. I will do my best to give it the slip when I can. Most people daydream of winning the lottery or meeting star athletes, famous actors, or rock stars. I daydream of writing at my own pace, having no deadline but my own. Of course that might mean that I’d take five years to get a book done, so maybe deadlines are not entirely evil!