There was a horse, it looked something like this

The horse has appeared in visual art since the very beginnings of human expression, on cave walls some 40,000 years ago. Before its domestication 5,000 years ago, the horse was an important game animal. Later, once people settled, it became a means of work and transport. Throughout the ages, the symbolic value of the horse has remained high: it was, is, and will continue to be a symbol of wealth, freedom, and power – from the horse-drawn carriage to horsepower.

Erik Hõim’s family has been involved with horseback riding for several generations. The hobby, passed down through the paternal line, did not take hold with Erik, but it did give him direct experience of handling these large and powerful animals. You cannot talk an animal into anything – it looks you straight in the eye and sees right through you. Unless you outwit it, you cannot simply mask your awe with a show of courage. Courage and strength are important qualities, but so are sensitivity and perceptiveness.

In research, triangulation means using at least three sources. Here we see an enlarged life-sized photograph of a plastic toy horse, three schematic drawings of stunted riding horses made with a tentative hand, and a papier-mâché foal – still wet behind the drooping ears, seemingly wavering under the gaze of a larger horse. If we had only the materials presented by Hõim to define the essence of the horse, what conclusions would we draw? What would the horse symbolise then? What do we really know about horses at all?