January special offer! The Horse Who Would Be Emperor * only 99p *
Enjoyed Bucephalas' story of Alexander the Great in "I am the Great Horse"? Want to meet another proud stallion from history? Allow me to introduce you to Emperor Caligula's favourite racehorse, Incitatus the Swift, who has 18 slaves to look after him, wears jewelled headcollars, attends the Senate, and eats golden flakes - and sometimes his grooms - for breakfast. Here, his stylist Livia risks her fingers for a few of those golden flakes... Thinking of the vital medicine it would buy for her mother, Livia grabbed the largest flakes from the manger and slipped them into her pouch. Her mistake was feeling under the oats for more gold, just as Incitatus opened his mouth and chomped his strong teeth together. The pain came a heartbeat later, when the emperor's favourite racehorse spat out the tip of her forefinger and curled his upper lip at the taste of her blood. Livia bit off her scream, snatched the fingertip out of the stallion's feed before he could eat it