A horse has been the central character in many stories. Classic examples are the ones by Marguerite Henry. Most of these novels are about horses and told in the third person, but some of them have been written from the horse’s point of view. They are told by the horse in the first person. The classic example is Black Beauty. A Marvelous Mustang is a memoir and one of the first non-fiction books to be told from the horse’s point of view.

Whether a horse story is told in the first or third person, the horse is always well described physically, but generally has little personality and shows no emotions. My Spanish Mustang, Skan, is a real character and has many problems to face and resolve. A Marvelous Mustang could well be described as the story of his coming of age.

As I worked with him, I tried to identify the thoughts and feelings behind everything that he did. Extensive research has now been done on wild horses. My study of it really helped me understand what was going on inside his head. I believe that horses can and do communicate with each other. They can also learn to communicate with humans. Their language is mainly non-audible. To understand it, I have spent years watching and studying them. This experience also helped me understand Skan’s behavior.

In writing his memoir, several techniques have been used to describe communication between horses. At times, a horse’s actions and body cues have been translated into English quotations. Such communication has also occasionally been described as a mental contact in the form of pictures. Some of the research on autistic people suggests that animal communication may take this form. To explain instinctive behavior, racial memories have been presented in the form of dreams.

Language is used for communication and does not stay static over time. Traditionally, grammatical rules do not allow references to animals to be personalized. This rule is changing and has been ignored in this memoir. In my opinion, sire and dam are depersonalizing terms and I choose not to use them. Skan often vividly describes himself as “marvelous me”, “frightened me”, “lonely me”, etc. Despite the use of “me”, these phrases have been used as subjects of a sentence.

More information on this memoir can be found on my website, www.jladendorf.com.