[Aaron Henkin] Hi, Aaron Hankin here from WYPR Public Radio, looking at this horse sculpture with someone who is fascinated by horses and who also happens to be the senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eleanor Harvey. [Eleanor Harvey] What I love about this is the energy. It's standing stock still. You wouldn't think that there's any energy here, but look at how lively the head is. The open, expressive lips, look at the way that it has its eyebrows arched over its eyes. The Mongols were known as great horsemen. They cultivated horse breeding projects. The Mongols, who ended up overtaking China and really cross-breeding with the horses that were already there, gave us a pony type body, which is short in the back, heavily muscled in the rump and in the chest, with short, stocky legs. Not the tall, slim aesthetic thoroughbreds that we are used to seeing here in the United States, but really a short, spunky, chunky endurance-based animal that can go long distances and has a tremendous amount of inherent strength. This artist knew his horses. He knew that he was dealing with a horse with well-developed muscles, strong hooves, a high set tail, a thin mane that was usually roached or cut short, so that in military combat it couldn't be grabbed by an enemy. And I think that is one of the things that comes through in the sculpture is a tremendous sense of pride in the grace and the strength and the energy of the mounts that they used in the Chinese army.

[Miles Yu] Hello, my name is Miles Yu, I’m a Professor of East Asia and Military History at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. This type of horse, in Chinese history, is known as “大宛馬”, which literally means ‘sweat blood horse.’ These horses, “大宛馬” is said to have originated in what is today’s Turkmenistan. Through war… or through diplomacy, China did get, in Han Dynasty, according to Chinese text, about one thousand of this… “sweat blood” horses. These horses are relatively small. They average about 5 feet tall. It’s very significant because… it makes the riding much… more stable. They are known for speed, and endurance. Before the invention of the stirrup, horses like this would be perfect, because relatively low…it’s easier to mount and dismount. They have a very beautiful sheen in their skin and…some high officials, particularly Emperor, would just keep them to look at them. It’s like having a Rolls Royce in your garage: ultimate symbol of your status.

[Aaron Henkin] We asked Professor Yu why these prized horses came to have such a name. It’s not a metaphor; it actually describes what happens when they run. [Miles Yu] They sweat like blood, really red blood, because they have some parasites that go into their skin, and cause bleeding.