Ambitious Horse Books by Katherine Roberts

Twenty years ago, I wrote a rather long novel about Alexander the Great from the point of view of his famous warhorse Bucephalus. At the time, I had a brilliant children's publisher (Chicken House) keen to publish my book in hardcover for the 10+ market who already enjoyed my fantasy novels. Unfortunately, bookshops did not share the same view and rejected the hardcover, so publication was delayed while a more suitable format was found for the book that would please everyone - which, as everyone knows, is impossible. In the end, "I am the Great Horse" (edited down from its original 200,000 words to a modest 150,000) enjoyed its scheduled hardcover publication in the US with Chicken House's partner Scholastic, and hit the UK shelves a year later than planned in paperback. Having missed its publicity slot over here, it sold averagely. Or perhaps my novel, being rather long, historical and written by a horse, was just too quirky for the children's market? Anyway, the rights quickly reverted to me, and my book has since been republished online in digital format (ebook and print-on-demand paperback), where it continues to find new readers of all ages, possibly because Bucephalas is no longer restricted to a single shelf in a physical bookstore and can gallop through the virtual shelves wherever he sees fit.

I am the Great Horse

Since then, I have toyed with the idea of writing more books about famous horses from history, yet felt a little daunted by the task because I knew these were likely to be compared to "I am the Great Horse" (as indeed "I am the Great Horse" has been compared to Michael Morpurgo's "War Horse", even though the battles the two horses fought were more than 2000 years apart, and the books very different in length, style and readership). Then I realised such comparisons were bound to happen anyway, and my new book based on the sketchy history we know about Caligula was unlikely to please every reader. Who would even notice it, anyway, if I published it myself without any kind of publicity budget? But having no agent or publisher meant I wasn't writing to a deadline and the story could evolve naturally in its own time. So I allowed another famous horse from history to trot into my life.

Allow me to introduce you to the Roman Emperor Caligula's favourite racehorse, Incitatus the Swift, who has eighteen slaves to look after him, wears a jewelled headcollar, attends the Senate and eats gold - and sometimes his grooms! - for breakfast.

Caligula and Incitatus at a banquet.
(drawing by Victor Adam, public domain)

Although Bucephalas narrated the whole of "I am the Great Horse", to avoid direct comparison with that book I decided to have two young humans help me tell Incitatus' story: Livia, one of his slave-grooms; and Marcus, his young charioteer... although I couldn't entirely stop Incitatus getting in a word or two between chapters. Well, he was apparently a Senator, and rumour has it that Caligula wanted his favourite horse promoted to Consul, which is where history stops and fiction takes over.

Here, Incitatus' stylist Livia risks her fingers for a few of the golden flakes in the horse's oats...

Thinking of the vital medicine it would buy for her mother, Livia grabbed the largest flakes from the manger and slipped them into her pouch. Her mistake was feeling under the oats for more gold, just as Incitatus opened his mouth and chomped his strong teeth together. The pain came a heartbeat later, when the emperor's favourite racehorse spat out the tip of her forefinger and curled his upper lip at the taste of her blood. Livia bit off her scream, snatched the fingertip out of the stallion's feed before he could eat it too, and stumbled to the door. It was a long way to safety, because Incitatus slept in the largest stable in Rome. Her stomach heaved, and she threw up over the thick mat of fresh straw waiting beside the door to make Incitatus' bed.

"What in Jove's name is going on here?" The Head Groom, a wizened old charioteer called Cornelius who had been luckier in his career than most, pushed through the curious stable boys crowded around the door.

"Nothing, sir," Livia mumbled, trying to hide the end of her finger under her tunic along with her pouch of stolen gold.

But Cornelius had already seen the bloodstained oats in Incitatus' manger and assumed the worst. "What have you done to the Emperor's horse?" he gasped, opening the door to see better, and then quickly closing it again when Incitatus' hooves crashed into the wall near his head sending chips of marble flying across the corridor.

The boys hanging around outside scattered.

"He's still eating, sir!" warned the lad responsible for the horse's bed. "You told us never to go in there while the Little Pig's eating!"

"I also told you not to call this horse 'Little Pig' in my hearing!" Cornelius snapped. "If the emperor hears, you'll be breaking rocks in the quarry tomorrow, and Incitatus will have a new slave to make his bed."

Even through her pain, Livia smiled. The stallion's official name was engraved above the entrance to his stable in golden letters: INCITATUS IMPERATOR. But the eighteen slaves appointed by the emperor to tend his favourite racehorse's every whim called the horse by his stable name of 'Little Pig', which suited him a lot better. There could be only one emperor of Rome, anyway, and that was currently Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or (to everyone else) 'Little Boots' Caligula. The matching nicknames were just too perfect to resist.

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"The Horse Who Would be Emperor" is on special offer for Kindle until January 31st.

The Horse Who Would Be Emperor
* only 99p/99c until Jan 31st *

And if you prefer 'real' books, you can get it in paperback too!

Katherine Roberts writes fantasy and historical fiction based on legend and myth for young readers. Find out more on her website www.katherineroberts.co.uk

Note: A version of this post originally appeared on this blog in January 2024.