Summary

In Austria in 1946, Alois Podhajsky endeavours to re-establish the Spanish Riding School. He knows that "the pre-war world [is] gone, and with it the infrastructure that had supported the school" (266). However, now that the war is over, he no longer has to think about daily survival and can focus on the future of the horses and the school.

The same year, in America, Witez is moved to Pomona, California after the Virginia parade. He immediately attracts attention and becomes a successful sire. One local rancher is keen to buy him, but the army insists that their horses are not for sale. However, at the same time, the army's commitment to horse breeding is wavering and Witez's future is not as certain as it may appear. The pedigrees of many of the captured horses are in constant question, despite multiple...