The Christmas Horse Treasury: Stories, Folklore and Art for the Festive Season - Paperback

by Elinor Hawthorn (Author)

A richly illustrated Christmas collection for horse lovers, history readers

and anyone who still listens for hoofbeats in the snow.

The Christmas Horse Treasury brings together original short stories, classic

and commissioned poetry, equestrian history, winter folklore, reflective essays

and beautiful works of art in one atmospheric gift book.

Travel the old coaching roads when every winter journey depended upon the

strength and judgment of horses. Enter a stable by lantern light on Christmas

Eve. Discover the traditions of the Welsh Mari Lwyd, the mysterious belief that

animals speak at midnight, the horse customs of St Stephen's Day and the

practical reason sleigh bells once rang across snowy roads.

At the heart of the collection are evocative new stories about courage,

hospitality, loss and responsibility. A riderless horse returns to an inn carrying

the secret of what happened on the road. Two sisters receive a troubling winter

visitor while sorting their father's possessions. A posting-house keeper

welcomes one final traveller as the age of horse-powered transport draws to a

close. During a difficult Christmas-night foaling, a young groom learns that

hope is inseparable from duty.

Alongside the fiction are intimate reflections on hoofprints, old stable rugs,

ageing ponies and the particular grief of remembering horses. Social and

cultural histories reveal the unseen labour behind romantic winter scenes, from

frozen water buckets and harness care to posting stations, sleigh racing and

Christmas race meetings.

Illustrated with historic paintings, prints and carefully chosen stable

photography, this handsome Christmas horse book celebrates the animals who

carried travellers, worked through winter and transformed ordinary acts of care

into lasting memories.

A distinctive equestrian Christmas gift for horse owners, riders, folklore

enthusiasts and lovers of beautifully illustrated books. It is a treasury to display,

revisit every winter and give to anyone who has ever paused at a stable door to

listen.