Horses

Horses in the novel are at once military resources, subjects of specialist knowledge, and animals whose physical vulnerability shapes human experience. They link the practical demands of wartime transport and cavalry to the risks of riding: one horse falls with Richard Ellsworth Savage near Ostia, while another breaks its leg after being taken over a stone wall and is shot.

Military Knowledge and Use

Aboard ship, Major Thompson’s interest in Richard Ellsworth Savage grows through their shared subjects. Thompson, a Westpointer and expert on mules and horseflesh, had written a monograph titled The Spanish Horse. He questions Richard about the donkeys used by French forces to carry ammunition through the trenches, Italian cavalry horses, and Rudyard Kipling. The animals enter the conversation as part of the practical knowledge required by wartime service: different kinds of equines are associated with distinct military tasks, from carrying ammunition to cavalry work.

Riding in Italy

Richard rides Italian cavalry horses while in Italy. When asked how he was hurt, he explains that a horse fell with him at Ostia; he also describes the cavalry horses as willing to take on difficult ground. His riding is one of the experiences that connects him to the landscape and military life of Italy, but the account supplies no further detail about the horse involved in his fall or its fate.

The Fall and Its Consequences

A separate riding accident involves Lieutenant Grassi’s horse. His companion takes the animal over a stone wall; it falls and breaks its leg, and it has to be shot. The episode turns a horseback ride into an irreversible loss for the horse. The rider is left sore all over, and the riding has not changed her predicament. She is also angered by Lieutenant Grassi’s response, which she regards as horrid, and generalizes from it that foreigners eventually show a mean streak.

Narrative Significance

The horses’ roles differ across these episodes. In Major Thompson’s conversation they belong to military expertise, classified by use and discussed alongside mules and ammunition transport; in Italy they are mounts that carry riders through demanding terrain. The broken-legged horse brings that practical view into contact with an animal’s bodily vulnerability: once its injury makes it impossible to continue, it is shot. The novel gives no account from the horses’ perspective, but the contrast between their value as working animals and the finality of the injured horse’s fate remains visible in the events surrounding them.