ABSTRACT
Only recently has history acknowledged the role horses and other nonhumans play in human history or, conversely, the role the human animal plays in the lives of other animals. It still ignores the possibility that horses or a horse might have a history. A corollary of that myopia is the assumption that it is impossible for a horse to have a biography or communicate the details of his or her life to another animal of the same or diff erent speciesimpossible, then, that a horse might to keep a diary or write a memoir or autobiography. Recent scientifi c evidence pointing to the complexity of the horse’s brain lends verity to Anna Sewell’s claim that in Black Beauty she transcribed just such a story told her by a horse of her acquaintance. In turn, the interspecies exchange counters the obvious fact that horses lack the manual dexterity to write anything other than hoofprints.
