by JenBurdoo » Fri May 22, 2020 4:56 am
Did he use the word "horses" in reference to the men? Yes. Was he using a particular metaphor? Or idiom? This. Literary reference?
SPOILER
"Horse" is a general term for cavalry, seen in literature up to the 20th century, and clearest in the phrase "horse, foot and guns" to refer to the three parts of an army. The other two terms - "foot" for foot soldiers or infantry, and "guns" for artillery or cannon, are also easily confusing to the uninitiated.
Frederick, using this idiom, ordered the Cossacks to capture the enemy horse, meaning a unit of cavalrymen; the Cossacks, taking him literally, surrounded the enemy cavalrymen, turned them off their mounts, then left with the captured horses, leaving their confused riders standing in the road.