The road was quiet, with only forest around and a few dry, scattered trees. Suddenly, something strange leapt out in front of me. At the very last second, I hit the brakes, the tires screeched, and the car stopped just a few centimeters from the animal.

In front of me, reared up on its hind legs, stood the horse. It snorted, struck the asphalt with its hooves, and looked straight through the windshield as if it was trying to stop me. My heart was pounding so hard that I didn’t dare get out at first. But the horse clearly wasn’t going to run away — it was nervous and seemed to be trying to say something.