The teenage Alexander once accompanied his father Philip on a horse-buying expedition. There was one magnificent stallion that Philip was interested in, but none of his expert horsemen could stay on the horse. Each was bucked off as soon as he got in the saddle. Alexander was watching all this keenly. His father was forced to tell the horse trader that even though the horse was the best he had ever seen, it was too wild to be ridden. At this point, Alexander interrupted the conversation and told his father he could ride the horse. Everyone, including Philip, broke into laughter. Alexander did not back down and insisted that he be allowed to try. His father, probably thinking his son could use a good knock on the head, agreed to let him try. Alexander, seeing an opening, demanded his father gift him the horse if he was able to ride it. Philip said sure, with a smile on his face. Alexander approached the fearsome animal and grasping the reins, turned the horse’s head toward the sun and then mounted him with no trouble. Alexander proceeded to ride off into the sunlight and returned with a tamed horse. His secret was that he had noticed that the horse was not so much wild as he was scared of his enlarged shadow when a man got on his back. By pointing the horse toward the sun, he was able to keep the horse calm by having the shadow fall behind the horse. True to his word, Philip bought the horse for his son and supposedly proclaimed: “Seek another kingdom that may be worthy of your abilities, for Macedonia is too small for you.” Alexander named his horse Bucephalus which means “ox-head” because he had a white mark on his head that looked like an ox-head. He rode the horse in all of his great battles.
– maroon 34
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