History and a Famous Horse

This week I continued my new campaign of reading my magazines the first week of each month.  I finished American Heritage, and then Smithsonian, and finally Colonial Williamsburg magazine.  As you can see, most of my magazines are history-centric.  I learned a number of things, but I can't remember them too vividly at the moment, so I'll just say that they proved to be interesting reading and reminded me that there is a great deal of good writing being published out there.

Following my magazine interlude, I started reading Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand.  It is a very interesting and well written story of the fabled horse who achieved fame in the 1930s. It's filled with details about horse racing, horses, jockeys, and the era.  I've already learned quite a bit and I've barely begun the book!

One of the things I've learned so far is that Seabiscuit was the son of a horse called Hardtack, which is what people call the rock-like biscuits given to soldiers and sailors to carry with them on long campaigns or voyages.  Seabiscuit, incidentally, is another name for such difficult-to-eat fare. Hardtack was an unruly horse, apparently. (Seabiscuit was just the opposite, however.)

Oddly, one of the magazine stories I read this week told of how much Civil War soldiers hated hardtack, to the point that a song was penned, "Hardtack, Come Again No More," sung to the tune of Stephen Foster's "Hard Times, Come Again No More," a popular song of the times.  Interestingly enough, that song, sung by James Taylor, is on the album Appalachian Journey (featuring Yo Yo Ma) that I've lately been using for my morning dance exercise. 

From Seabiscuit I've also learned about the transition from horse transportation to automobile transportation, and how that impacted horse racing.  Hillenbrand also details the grueling life of the jockey, especially those who worked the lesser known races for smaller purses.  Jockeys put up with a great deal of abuse, it seems, from the trainers and the horses as well as the other jockeys during the race.

So, I'm looking forward to finishing this one.  I've seen the movie, and I'm trying to remember how close it was to the book.  I may have to see it again once I finish Seabiscuit.

Tune in next week for more about the famous horse!