The title “wonder horse” has been claimed by numerous equines over several centuries. The earliest in Europe was Marocco (ca. 1586-1606), also known as “the dancing horse,” “the thinking horse,” “the politic horse” and “Bankes’s horse” after his owner William Bankes.
Marocco, an English Hobby (see “The World’s Most Important Horse Breed,” EQUUS 446) performed many feats, such as climbing more than a thousand steps to the flat roof of the top tower of St. Paul’s cathedral in London, and there giving a performance. He would urinate on command, could count coins by tapping a hoof, lie down on request and sit up. When ordered to bow to the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, he would bow; but when ordered to bow to the King of Spain, Philip II, he would bare his teeth, whinny,
