Parris asks Abigail about what had happened in the woods that night. He asks if there was witchcraft involved and if there was somebody naked dancing in the woods.
He tells Percy the story about the tree and a girl named Thalia. The story was that Thalia, Annabeth and other half bloods where exploring outside of the half blood camp. But then monsters came out of nowhere and started fighting them. They tried to fight the monsters but they weren’t strong enough. So Thalia protected them and risked her own life to save them. But thalia died and Zeus her father grew a tree in her honor, and the tree provided a barrier for the camp to keep them safe. :-)
The horse is the direct object
I would say that the intended meaning of that hyperbole is that the speaker thinks that the colonists are being unfairly treated by the British government.
