"The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion" Comes to the Hampton Library

[caption id="attachment_49093" align="alignnone" width="800"] Three mustang stallions at McCulloch Peaks, not far from Cody, Wyoming. (Greg Auger photo)[/caption]

By Dawn Watson

[caption id="attachment_49096" align="alignleft" width="200"] Wendy Williams[/caption]

Wendy Williams has loved horses since she was a small girl growing up in Vermont.

Ms. Williams’ personal history with horses began with a small half-Morgan palomino gelding named Whisper. It was this beloved pet—patient, kind and extremely savvy—who taught her that equines are more than dumb animals; they are sentient and highly intelligent beings deserving of our utmost respect, she says.

“I was born on a horse, as far as I know,” the author of “The Horse: The Epic History Of Our Noble Companion” joked during a telephone interview from her home on Cape Cod last week. On Saturday, March 19, she will travel to the East End to discuss her book during a “Can Horses Read?” talk at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton from 2 to 4 p.m. The presentation and book signing will be sponsored by the Southampton Trails Preservation Society, which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary and nearly 300 miles of public trails this year.

In her early 20s, Ms. Williams realized that Whisper was an “equine Einstein,” she says in the beginning pages of her New York Times bestselling book. Her “horse of hidden talents” demonstrated many uncanny abilities when he needed to, such as learning how to turn a water spigot on with his lips, opening his stall door and maneuvering around the electric fence. Even more impressive, he did so after waiting until the coast was clear and his so-called master was away before he performed these secretive feats.

Over the years, Whisper’s behavior got Ms. Williams to thinking about what goes on in the mind of an equine, among other things. It was, in effect, not just the scientific journalist’s catalyst for a journey that led her to write what would become one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Books of 2015, but also to take a deeper look into herself, and the connection between horses and humans.

“The more I thought about Whisper, the longer my list of questions grew,” she writes in the book’s prologue. “Where do horses come from? Why do they have hoofs and not, like us, fingers and toes? Why are they willing to share their lives with us? What biological roots, laid down in deep time, created the foundation for our mutual partnership? How does this shared ancestry allow us to understand each other?”

She set out to find the answers to her many questions. The author of “Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid” and “Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound” travelled the world in search of information. She conducted interviews with more than a hundred scientists. And she began to piece together for herself the story of the evolution of the horse-human relationship.

“The more I learned, it seemed, the more I wanted to know,” she says.

So she continued to dig and dig, eventually tracing the 56-million-year journey of the equine’s evolutionary triumph, uncovering the science behind how horses think and act, and delving deeper into uncovering the mysteries of the bond that unites horses and humans.

“I wanted to produce a science-based book that talked about behavior,” says the equestrienne and lifelong horse enthusiast. “It’s about the relationship between horses and humans, but it’s also about tectonics, climate, evolution and the world’s ecosystems over time.”

The book manages to cover a lot of heavy-reading bases, yet it’s still entertaining and interesting, says Dai Dayton of the Southampton Trails Society. Simply put, it’s a must-read for horse lovers.

But “The Horse” is not about how to train, ride or feed your horse, Ms. Williams is quick to point out. There are already enough books like that written by people who are far more expert in the field of horse care. Instead, this weighty tome is a meditation of the evolutionary journey taken by both man and beast and a celebration of the wonders of the equine.

“It’s the book I imagined I would like to be able to read,” she explains. “And I’m glad to see that I haven’t been alone in that.”

On Saturday, March 19, Wendy Williams will discuss “The Horse, The Epic History Of Our Noble Companion” during a “Can Horses Read?” talk at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton from 2 to 4 p.m. To learn more, visit southamptontrails.org or call 631-745-0689.