Solomon

"He's beautiful!" I exclaimed. The horse-a large, bay stallion with intelligent brown eyes-turned toward us. And I could swear he laughed.

When Tennessee grad student Barbara Dickerson first meets the reclusive Doc Grand, she isn't sure what to expect: the retired professor of animal sciences has a reputation for being eccentric. And brilliant. But it's only when she agrees to work with him that she learns just how brilliant he is, and how far he's come in his work on animal intelligence. Or rather, how far his intelligent animals have come...

Solomon is a remarkable horse. Bred by Doc Grand and trained to think for himself, he's a Tennessee Walking Horse with a difference. And with the help of some molecular genetics and a little AI, he can tell you exactly why.

For Barb and Solomon, it's love at first sight. But just as Barb is settling in to life on the farm, she learns that Doc is sick. And finishing his research will require time and money he just doesn't have. Desperate to help Doc, Barb and Solomon hatch a crazy plan: if they can enlist the help of a local riding legend and convince him to show Solomon in the World's Grand Championship, they may just be able to save the farm and keep Doc's research alive.

But what Barb and Solomon have yet to learn is that nothing ever goes according to plan, especially when a horse is holding the reins.