When he began his search that led to “Shakespeare” Identified in 1920, J. Thomas Looney listed eighteen characteristics (based on the poems, plays and sonnets) that the great author – whoever he was – must have possessed. Among these features he named, for example, “an enthusiast for Italy; a follower of sport (including falconry); a lover of music” and so on; but much later, after discovering Oxford, he realized it was “a grave omission” to have neglected horses and horsemanship.
“We find there is more in Shakespeare about horses than upon almost any subject outside human nature,” he wrote. “Indeed we feel tempted to say that Shakespeare brings them within the sphere of human nature.”
BENEDICK: “Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily.” (Much Ado About Nothing, 5.1)
ROSALIND: “Time travels in divers paces, with divers persons: I’ll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.” (As You Like It, 3.2)
“There is, of course,” Looney continued, “his intimate knowledge of different kinds of horses, their physical peculiarities, all the details which go to form a good or a bad specimen of a given variety, almost a veterinary’s knowledge of their diseases and their treatment. But over and above all this there is a peculiar handling of the theme which raises a horse almost to the level of a being with a moral nature…
“Not only did Oxford learn to ride, but, in those days when horsemanship was much more in vogue than it will probably ever be again, and when great skill was attained in horse-management, he was among those who excelled, particularly in tilts and tourneys, receiving special marks of royal appreciation of his skill. Horsemanship was, therefore, a very pronounced interest of his.”
His father John de Vere, the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, had been the owner of valuable horses in the stable of Castle Hedingham; in his first will, of 1552, he listed “ten geldings & nags with saddles, bridles and all things pertaining to them.” (In Henry IV, Part One: “I pray thee lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding in the stable.”) In his final will, of 1562, he bequeathed “one of my great horses” to each of several friends such as Nicholas Bacon and William Cecil. The Great Horse was the old English war-horse used for tournaments and service; it was undoubtedly the model in Julius Caesar for Antony’s horse:
It is a creature that I teach to fight, To wind, to stop, to run directly on, His corporal motion govern’d by my spirit. (4.1)
In September that year, twelve-year-old Edward “came riding out of Essex” from his father’s funeral “with seven score horse all in black; through London and Chepe and Ludgate, and so to Temple Bar.” (Machyn’s Diary, 1848)
There were about a dozen distinct breeds of horses in England during Oxford’s lifetime, the most popular riding horses being the Turkey, the Barb, the Neapolitan and the Spanish Jennet. Of all of them, the Barbary horse or Barb “was undoubtedly the great author’s favorite,” writes A. Forbes Sieverking in Shakespeare’s England, adding, “With such affection and intimacy does he dwell upon its merits that it is probable that the poet at one time possessed a roan Barb [usually Chestnut colored, sprinkled with white or gray].”
It may well be probable that the poet had owned a roan Barb, especially if the poet was the Earl of Oxford! After all, the Barbary horse was a special breed from northern Africa, an expensive riding horse known for its fiery temperament and stamina – highly prized by the Italians, whose noble families had established large racing stables – a horse for kings!