Horses in Russia were necessary for so many things, it's no wonder they were presented in literature so often. They have a significant presence as far as the story line is concerned, due to the fact that most traveling is done with a horse or horses, horses are used for work, and, in Kasbich's case, they act as friends who will never share your secrets. Their significant presence hence lends itself to an even greater role. Since they were already an integral part of the tale, Russian authors gave more importance to their roles, and it only makes sense for horses to act as symbols and metaphors for all sorts of things, such as livelihood, an important character's personality, or allusions to the current events of Russia.

In A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov uses the horse as a symbol for two different things. In particular, Kasbich's...