You may be surprised at some of the myths and facts about our four-hoofed friends.
Most likely, myth. Laura Hillenbrand made this claim in her book Seabiscuit: An American Legend, which was later made into a movie. She wrote that in 1938, as the Great Depression raged and World War II was brewing, more inches of newspaper column space were devoted to Seabiscuit than to President Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, or Benito Mussolini. “It’s astonishing,” Hillenbrand said in a PBS interview. “I don’t think any athlete in history has ever come close to achieving that. And this is a horse.”
However, some people—like Ralph E. Shaffer, professor emeritus in history at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona—have challenged her assertion. Shaffer could not trace Hillenbrand’s claim to its original source. Furthermore, neither a listing in the San Francisco News of more than 100 top headlines of 1938 nor Gallup’s public opinion poll of the year’s top 10 stories made any reference to Seabiscuit. The New York Times Index and The Britannica Yearbook for 1938 contain few mentions of the racehorse, and these certainly don’t compare in number to the entries about President Roosevelt. But even if Seabiscuit wasn’t the top-reported news that year, his story inspired people at a time when they needed it. And he certainly could have been the most discussed topic of casual conversation.
Myth. This is based on something that’s true, though: gelatin is derived from the bones and hides of cattle and pigs. Because the ingredients are boiled, filtered, and processed heavily, the final product is not classified as a meat or animal product. But horses are not used in the process.
Fact. In this case, looking a horse in the mouth has advantages. How many teeth a horse has, the markings and signs of wear on them, and their shape and length all point to a horse’s age. A horse is still a foal (under a year old) if it has baby teeth, which are smaller and whiter with a rounded gum line. These start falling out when a foal hits six months. If a horse has a full set of permanent teeth, it’s at least four years old. In some horses, a groove appears in their upper corner tooth. Depending on how far down the groove runs, this signifies that a horse is 10, 15, or 20 years old.
For more “believe it or not,” turn to page 134.