Helene (horse)
| Helene | |
 Helene in front of Monrepos Castle . Painting of Johann Baptist Seele |
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| Father: | |
| Mother: | |
| Mother, father: | |
| Gender: | mare |
| Year of birth: | 1785 |
| Year of death: | 1812 |
| Country: | Württemberg |
| Colour: | Mould |
| Owner: | Friedrich I. (Württemberg) |
| Equestrian: | Friedrich I. (Württemberg) |
Helene (* 1785 in Dobel ; † May 20, 1812 ) was the favorite horse of King Friedrich I of Württemberg .
Life
Helene is said not only to have been strong enough to carry the plump sovereign, but also to have been trained to kneel down so that Frederick I could sit up after another climbing aid could no longer be used .
The already quite old mare suddenly fell ill in the spring of 1812 and died quickly despite the best efforts of the veterinarians. Allegedly, Frederick I had threatened the person who would bring him the news of the horse's death, which is why a gardener only told him that the horse would eat, drink and no longer breathe, and the king concluded that it would then be dead must be left to yourself.
Two days later the mare was buried in the Freudental Forest with military honors and in the presence of the entire court servants . The tombstone that Friedrich I had erected for Helene was removed from the mare's grave and sold under his successor Wilhelm I. Until 1961 it served as a goal post at the entrance to a farm in Löchgau . After it had been bought back and restored by the Freudental community, it was installed in the Stutenweg in Freudental.
The stone bears a larger inscription with some dates of the horse's life and a smaller one, apparently added later, in which its former owner is mocked:
Oh, mold,
you won't go to heaven.
Will a question be: will
your master come in?
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Braves Ross and his high rider ( memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), in: Kornwestheimer Zeitung, August 4, 2009