Myth and Horses

In Indo-European folklore fairy women ride mortals whose dead bodies are found the next day;

 In some myths they put bridles in the mouths of sleeping men, though a cunning man may in retaliation capture an equine witch by flinging a bridle over her head and forcing the bit between her teeth. A man may also subdue a mare demon by having her shod: when she returns to human form, she has horseshoes on her hands and feet.

With stories like this coursing through Indo-European blood (or Indo-European unconscious, or even Indo-European consciousness), a sexually troubled man might well mutilate a mare

These myths,  mare’s nest of emotions, is precisely what drives the people who commit crimes on horses; what makes us recoil is what makes them strike. 'Hippophilia' and 'hippophobia' are two sides of the same coin; they make us crazy
about horses, one way or another.

 

source London Reveiw of Books