Breaking The Code To The Catcher In The Rye: Horses

[Cosmic]

I am reading Don Quixote.
I am also listening to http://oyc.yale.edu/spanish-and-portu...
Since there are many references to horses i thought this was relevant, because it makes the case that the horse represents war:

"Well, William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings, the invasion of England by the French, and all of that which you learned in elementary school or high school, and the fact that French is one of these sources of modern English. But the horse was more than just a form of transportation. It was an instrument of warfare, a prized possession with each having a sonorous name if at all possible. The horse was part of the knight's identity; hence, the whole business about naming his horse at the beginning of the Quixote — now you understand that. Part of the culture of horses was a kind of courtesy, so we have in English also 'chivalrous,' for instance. Horses have always spawned a whole culture of their own and have left a large imprint on languages because they were the principle mode of transportation until part of the twentieth century, you can imagine. So technically, etymologically 'chivalric romance' is a horse romance or, more appropriately, romances about horsemen. In Spanish the etymology is clearer as the romances of chivalry are simply called 'novelas de caballerías' and 'caballo' is the word for horse in Spanish."

Maybe there are other classics that we can add here to expand on the symbol of horse.

[Cosmic]

From The Mythology of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome

Zeus came up with a contest for Poseidon and Athena. Who ever could come up with the most beautiful and useful thing would win. Poseidon hit the ground with his trident and up came an animal with a black mane, pawing the ground. It was strong fast and editable, it was in fact the first horse.

The gods thought the contest was over but Athena smiled.

Up from the ground there rose a plant with gray greenish leaves and a round fruit called an olive. Athena explained that the olive provided fruit for humans and oil to be burned sacrifices for the gods.

The tree would be hearty even in barren ground and would be green all year round. what was more important was that the Olive tree represents peace where the horse represents war.

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So horses represents WAR.

[Cosmic]

Idyom: bet on the wrong horse
bet on the wrong horse
1. To support a person or thing that ultimately fails. I truly believed our candidate would win this election, but it looks like I bet on the wrong horse. I know you're confident about the success of this product, I'm just worried you might be betting on the wrong horse.
2. To anticipate some future event incorrectly. When I was a kid, I thought by the time I grew up we'd have walking, talking robots doing everything for us. Looks like I bet on the wrong horse.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/b...

Going to Pency Prep hedged your bet to be on a winning hores. Compare that to the horse Phoebe picked.

I heard this idiom being used in connection to those that believed Hilary was going to win the presidential race. They netted on the wrong candidate.