As soon as Alexander the Great of Macedonia turned 13, his father Philippus gave him a horse. Of course, this was no ordinary horse, an animal that no one had yet succeeded in taming. However, Alexander was not discouraged by the slightest fall, and always treated the horse with humility but firmness. But even after long months, he could not keep the saddle. One day at noon, he noticed that the horse was hiding its head between its forelegs, as if to shield itself from the sun.
So he jumped on the horse and forced it to turn its head to the sky and look directly at the sun. At that moment, the horse stopped thrashing, picked up Alexander, and they set off on their first ride, and they have been an inseparable duo ever since . Alexander loved horses and cared very much for them. During one of his battles, his weakened enemies stole his horse and dragged him into their camp, intending to scare him into retreating, but their actions had the exact opposite effect. Alexander became so enraged that he had them declare that they would burn all his opponent\’s cities if he did not return their horses. Alexander\’s opponents were frightened and immediately returned the horses; around 326 B.C., Alexander the Great set out on an expedition to India, and while crossing the river Hydaspes, Buchephorus was shot and wounded by an arrow, and with all his might he brought his master to the shore, where he landed.
According to historians, the horse was then nearly 30 years old. In honor of the horse, Alexander the Great built a city in the West Indies and named it Bukefalia. Its location corresponds to the current city of Kabul in Afghanistan. Alexander the Great never returned home from this expedition. He wanted to proceed deeper into India, but his soldiers had already disobeyed him, so he returned to his wife in Babylon, where he contracted a fever and died at the age of 33.