Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Thursday Extracts: Douglas Adams on the nature of horses

Although it was certainly a handsome and well-built example of its species, it was none the less a perfectly ordinary horse, such as convergent evolution has produced in many of the places that life is to be found. They have always understood a great deal more than they let on. It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion about them.
On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to sit all day, every day, on top of another creature and not have the slightest thought about them whatsoever.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency 1987

2 comments:

snafu said...

I would imagine Douglas Adams upset a lot of horse riders with that statement. Most horse riding people I have ever known, both professional riders and otherwise, hold a great affection for their mounts and certainly think about them as personalities.

MorningAJ said...

Well he would have done if they misread it. It says it's possible - not that all horse riders do!