The Twilight Zone: Strange Horse Stories

You are about to enter another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. Here you'll find horse stories both bizarre and grotesque. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone.

Highly disturbing, but apparently totally practical. This horse was pulled to safety from a muddy ditch, using a rope wrapped around his neck in exactly the right way so that he wouldn't strangle. Apparently, that's possible because of a horse's incredible neck muscles. Personally, I wouldn't try it at home. See the video here, including footage of the horse getting up.

Warriors of India used to dress up their horses in elephant trunks. The war elephants of their enemies would then refuse to attack the horses, believing them to be baby elephants. Article here. Read more about the incredible emotional intelligence of elephants here, including their death rituals.
 

Despite the complex rules governing the naming of Thoroughbreds in America, somehow a few racehorses managed to compete in the Kentucky Derby with names like "The Cock." Full list here.

So you think you've seen some weird costume class horses and riders? No you haven't. Visit this website for a big old gallery of costumed craziness.

This... this is hard to explain. Okay, so Prague is the capitol of the Czech Republic. Very famous city. In that city is a famous sculpture of a famous man, Saint Wenceslas, riding a horse. This statue is an Art Nouveau piece parodying that sculpture. It hangs in the ceiling of a nearby shopping mall. Why? How the hell do I know?! The creator is David Cerny, who did a lot of weird stuff (warning: mildly not safe for work). You can get a full 360 degree look at Saint W and his dead horse here.

 

How does a horse get down a well?! Well nobody seems to know, but they dug it out, and now he's well. BBC video here. My eyes are welling up with tears at this touching rescue. And if you like that, you can go check out this video of a horse being rescued by boat, after it had run/swum two miles into the ocean off of California. Maybe he wanted to be a sea horse.


That's all for now folks, but you can look forward to more of these once in a while!