According to legend, the queen, a talented horsewoman, died from bonking a stallion. This rumor, which appeared soon after her death in 1796, claimed the empress while in flagrante delicto with a horsey stud ended up flat as pancake when the massive creature fell on her!
The mechanics of this tryst (and you know this would have had to have been well-planned to actually work) had depended on her servants using pulleys to lower the horse onto the frisky queen. Unfortunately, the ropes broke, sending the 67 year-old to her untimely death. Or, so the story went...
Perrottet claims the whole incident was made-up bullshit born out of myogynistic jealousy of a strong-willed woman who refused to stay in her place. Supposedly, she really died in a far less impressive manner -- by a stroke (some say on the toilet, which the rather overweight queen allegedly broke on her way out, but that's a rumor Perrottet doesn't mention).
But the rumors continued to swirl even after her death, and they were nothing new. The beautiful, feisty queen had scandalized Europe since her twenties when she made no secret of her enjoyment of virile young men. And apparently she went through them like some of us change our underwear. The queen would have her ladies-in-waiting test out potential lovers and pick an appropriate candidate to be the empress's new vremenshchiki which translates into "men of the moment". Old Catherine continued to be a champion "manizer" well into her later years - wearing out studs right and left.
The horsey part of this story seems to be mostly connected to her talents as an equestrian, and some English travel writer's tawdry claim that Russian peasants liked horse sodomy. Also, some allege that Catherine referred to her harem of available beefcake as "studs", hence, "the equine fable".
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