Look At This Horse, This Horse Is Amazing: Marengo
Never though I’d be using this blog to post pictures like this.
Above is the preserved and nearly complete (a hoof is missing) skeleton of Napoleon’s favorite horse, Marengo. You probably know the horse as the emperor’s vehicle of choice in the endlessly badass David painting. He was named after the Battle of Marengo, through which he carried Napoleon.
Marengo was truly a horse worthy of its amazing master. The horse was small (like Napoleon! you’d say, but you’d be wrong), only 14.1 hands high (that’s 56.4 inches), but he served Napoleon well through four battles, including his last stand at Waterloo. When Napoleon was defeated, Marengo was captured.
One interesting thing about this horse is that he was an Arabian, a dainty breed that was an odd choice for a war horse when sturdier Throroughbreds were available. I guess Napoleon just refused to go along with the crowd. Hipster.
(Additional source: Wikipedia)
(Source: napoleon-series.org)
