"I look at horses as improbable art."

—Keith Carter

Haunting in their mystery and beauty, Keith Carter's horses fill the frame like spirits in a dream—but without ever ceasing to be real horses. Whether he's photographing thoroughbreds preparing for the elaborate maneuvers of dressage or a farm nag grazing in a field, Carter meets horses on their terms, not his. Looking into their enigmatic eyes in these photographs, you wonder, "What are these creatures thinking?" until you realize that Keith Carter's horses never really give up their secrets.

This volume collects some 75 duotone images of horses and riders, most of them never before published. Accompanying the pictures is a photographer's statement, in which Keith Carter describes the genesis of this project and muses on what it is about horses that draws him to them as photographic subjects. Distinguished art and photography critic John Wood places Carter's equine photos within the wider Western tradition of painting and photographing animals, while praising Carter's rare ability to portray animal subjects without producing kitsch. In his words, "Carter is probably photography's first truly great master of the animal photograph, and none of his other animal photographs are more powerful than his photographs of horses."