The book's introduction and first chapter trace the early history of the horse in art in all its many guises, ranging from charming archaic bronzes and handsome Chinese and Japanese terra-cotta figures to richly detailed manuscript illuminations - both Arabic and European - and grand equestrian paintings by Renaissance and Baroque artists.

The mid-eighteenth century master George Stubbs, with his astonishingly precise anatomical studies made under the most grueling circumstances, achieved an unprecedented realism that marked a turning point in the history of equestrian art; his accuracy was surpassed only after the photographic experiments of Eadweard Muybridge revealed new truths about the horse in motion.

The balance of the book is organized by theme, with chapters devoted to The Sporting Horse, The Western Horse, The Hunter, The Working Horse, The Warhorse, and Nightmares and Fantasies. It features both well-known masterpieces and unfamiliar discoveries by artists as diverse as John Wootton, Theodore Gericault, Edgar Degas, Frederic Remington, Rosa Bonheur, Alfred Munnings, and Elizabeth Frink.

Written with affectionate wit and an insider's knowledge, this lively volume illuminates the art of the horse in unexpected ways, bringing back to exuberant life these engaging mares and stallions, hunters and racehorses and broncos. This is a book that will capture any horse-lover's heart.