“The noblest conquest that man has ever made is that of this proud, fiery animal, which shares with him the pains of war and the glory of battle; it also shares his pleasures, in hunting, in tournaments, in racing, it shines, it sparkles.”

The memorable opening of Buffon’s great text celebrates the intimate and enduring communion between horse and man. Supporting the diverse evolutions of occidental civilization, but also its imagination, the horse is, in all eras, a mirror of its Time, a double of man whom it accompanies in his conquest of the world.

Bringing together seventy-four leading international authors in each discipline, this book explores the subject in all its multiple dimensions : political, diplomatic, academic, artistic, military, scientific, spectacular, real or mythical. It highlights the extraordinary richness of equestrian civilization in Europe, from the dawn of the Modern Age, when the place and uses of the horse in civil and military society underwent profound upheaval, to the eve of the First World War.

Coedition: Liénart – château de Versailles

Publication: octobre 2024

Dimensions: 23 x 29 cm

Number of pages: 584

500 illustrations

ISBN : 978-2-35906-443-8

French only