Horsing around at the AMNH
Opening day of the American Museum of Natural History's special exhibit "The Horse" was chaotic to say the least. What would you expect with live horses in the garden (including 17-inch Thumbelina, a miniature dwarf horse)?
Horses are the childhood fascination of many, it seems. And so, I walked though the crowded galleries with the mindset of a child. Thanks to the many interactive features tracing the history of the horse's relationship to man, it was easy. Here's a little of what the child in me learned:
-- I am but 14 hands high, horsespeak for height.
-- I rock a 0.15 on the horsepower lever; Scott Rosenberg: a 0.32.
-- Prehistoric horses were the size of dogs. How cute!
-- Horses in battle wore gas masks during World War II.
-- There were folks in history that drank the milk of horses.
Adults, too, would enjoy this extraordinary look at the dependency between animal and man. More than the companion a dog is, the horse is an instrument. Check it out. "The Horse" runs until January.
— Emily Ngo
