# Catherine the Great and her horse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 23, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150 "2010-12-23T04:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carly\_Corday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Carly\_Corday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carly_Corday)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150/1 "2010-12-23T04:17:06Z")
[SIZE=“2”]Cecil, it isn’t true that Catherine the Great died of a stroke while sitting on the commode, but gee, it obviously, TRULY comes from your HEART to put that out there for the curious to read and believe, along with your open scorn for the person who came here asking the question. Does this site differ from Snopes in that here, you clear up false rumors by submitting falser ones to whatever dummies will believe them? OK, good, I know the difference now. Check Snopes, or check The Straight Dope? No more indecision. Snopes it is. The Straight Dope is an intentionally silly site. For serious fact-checking, don’t look here.[/SIZE] ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150/2 "2010-12-23T04:48:38Z")
I’d say: [ul] [li][link to the page](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/100/is-it-true-about-catherine-the-great-and-the-horse)[/li][li]cite your sources for your claim it was not on the commode - since neither Cecil nor [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/risque/animals/catherine.asp) (who says she died of a brain hemmorage and was found in a closet adjacent to her bedroom) does, it may be lost to history. You may have more information than Cecil had to actually correct the information, but instead you choose to threadshit (in the OP at that! Not an easy task!)[/li][/ul] but, given your new view of the Dope, I doubt you’ll be back … ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150/3 "2010-12-23T04:51:07Z")
Snopes and Wikipedia both agree she didn’t die on the toilet. It’s possible that information came to light or became more widely known after 1978, which is when that column was written, but I have no idea. Perhaps it’s time for an update even though the legend itself is dead. And hello and goodbye to **Carly Corday**. I guess we’ll never know what we’re missing there. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150/4 "2010-12-23T05:13:16Z")
The column in question. [Is it true about Catherine the Great and the horse?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/100/is-it-true-about-catherine-the-great-and-the-horse). It is considered polite to provide a link to the column so that everybody can easily catch up. Newcomers often don’t understand this, so we try to start off with a polite reminder in response. You go to the Straight Dope for a snarky comment by Cecil. It is considered the same kind of honor that people received when Groucho Marx insulted them. They wouldn’t have it any other way. You find him lacking in truth. So what is the truth that you don’t quite bring us? [Wiki says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_of_Catherine_II_of_Russia): > [@](#): > > Another story, that she died on the toilet when her seat broke under her, is true only in small part: she did collapse in a bathroom from a stroke, but after that she died being cared for in her bed. A different [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_II_of_Russia#Death): > [@](#): > > Catherine suffered a stroke on 16 November [O.S. 5 November] 1796 and died in her bed at 9:20 the following evening without having regained consciousness. [About.com](http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/catherinethegreat/a/histmyths1.htm): > [@](#): > > Catherine died in bed of illness; there were no equines involved and a Catherine/horse nexus was never attempted. And the story about her dying on a toilet was made up to humiliate her. Note that no sources are given with any of these. Cecil didn’t give sources back then either. He may have goofed taking the toilet story as a real event, but the rest of the article was devoted to debunking the wilder rumors, not exactly a dastardly course to take. To be honest, your OP wasn’t coherent enough for us to know what your exact complaint was. Perhaps you should come back and explain it all for us. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catherine-the-great-and-her-horse/565150/5 "2010-12-23T05:22:09Z")
One of my ex-wives has a PhD in Russian History. Most all of the nasty stories against CtG were done by sources who hated her. There is almost no credible evidence of the horse story.