About That Horse

I’ve always had a thing about Percherons. There was a 6 hand team at the State Fair every year. The youngest one John had a flirty relationship. I go see him and he would come over for pets, like he knew me. So when I needed to create warhorses for my knights, I knew one would be modeled after John.

Percherons are from Western France in the Huisne River Valley. They have undercoat markings that become more distinct as the horse ages and darkens. They are known for their gentle temperament, so for Callum’s horse to be a biter, we can assume he was rough handled as a colt and learned to distrust humans. He was named Fells Star Rider which tells us he was bred in the Fells, not France. He would be sought out for his strength, courage and gentleness with his people. In Star’s case 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. Nobody wanted a biter so Callum bought him cheap. We can infer Callum excels in handling horses since Star has accepted him and begrudgingly Alec. Of course, my horse crush John was nothing like that. But they look alike.

The picture I found of what appears to me to be a young Percheron lacked the star, but I published the snippet without it. My media guru was able to add one, so I’m sharing a picture of my favorite horse again, just because. This is closer to what Star looks like. You can imagine the star is a blaze that runs a little farther down his nose.

Happy New Year readers, from all the folks in Cumberland and the horse they rode in on too.