Pride indeed is manifest in every movement of the horse. The arched necks of this Russian 

 troika are redolent of strength and beauty. The troika is essentially a Russian form of driving 

 and the word derives from the number of horses involved, namely, three. A troika can draw 

 either a wheeled vehicle or a sleigh and readers of Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' will remember 



Natasha's exciting ride when she went to visit the Melyukovs. 'Bang, bang! went the first 

 sledge over a cradle-hole in the snow of the road, and each of the other sledges jolted in the 

 same way, and rudely breaking the frostbound stillness the troikas began to speed along the 

 road one after the other.' 



