By Chris Cosci

Men tend to have a lot of questions about the behavior of women. Why do women always seem to go to the bathroom in groups? Why do women have to pack seven pairs of shoes when going away for the weekend? Why do women ask "do I look fat in this outfit?" when they know that only a man with suicidal tendencies would answer that question with anything but "No."

I will not claim to know the answers to any of these questions, but something else came to my mind the other day while I was watching music videos. A scene appeared where a girl was playing the piano while horses pranced on the beach behind her. It occurred to me that there is a general tendency for girls to be fascinated by horses.

At this point, I turned to my girlfriend and asked her if she ever wanted a horse. Sure enough, she said yes. Now, I know it's not true that every single girl wants a horse. If I believed that, then I might as well believe that everyone in San Francisco is gay.

However, it is fairly common that little girls tend to be fascinated by horses. I doubt that it has anything to do with their ability to attract flies (the horses - not the girls). I also doubt that it's just a precursor to a life filled with gambling away money at the racetrack.

To find the answer to my question, I turned to what could be the most reliable source of information in the world - the Internet. The Internet is filled with millions of people willing to share their opinion on any conceivable subject, whether or not their opinion is justified or even remotely plausible.

Needless to say, I found a wide variety of answers. These answers ranged from mundane to outrageous. A couple of people actually suggested that the attraction to horses is due to the pleasant feeling a woman can get when riding the horse. Basically, these (quite possibly disturbed) people consider horses to be the animal kingdom equivalent of a washing machine. I will discount this theory on the fact that I don't think this is high on the priority list of seven-year-olds. If it is on their priority list, I don't want to know about it.

Thankfully, there are a few people using the Internet who have some semblance of rational thought. One of the more widely accepted theories starts off with the fact that girls tend to mature faster than boys. Because boys are preoccupied with power, strength and destruction (hence their general fascination with dinosaurs), girls are unable to turn to them as a source of true strength and sensitivity.

The theory continues to say that horses are powerful creatures that meet girls' expectations for a strong companion. In addition to their strength, horses also have a sense of grace - a peaceful quality that can almost never been seen in boys. Horses tend to possess many of the qualities that women will eventually find attractive in the men they date. However, since boys tend not to have these qualities, girls temporarily transfer these emotions on to horses. Eventually, the boys will mature (well, maybe not all of them), and as they turn into men, they will finally be able to provide women with the support they need.

Remember, this is not my theory, nor do I believe this to be the absolute truth. For all I know, the answer is much simpler. I'm sure there are a lot of guys out there who would be insulted by this theory. All I can say is that it makes me feel more comfortable than the "gratification-by-horse" theory.