List of historical horses

This list includes actual horses that exist in the historical record. Racehorses are listed at List of racehorses.

Racehorse
See List of racehorses and List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses

Famous horses

 * Bamboo Harvester, portrayed a talking horse in the title role of the TV series Mister Ed, retired in Shasta County
 * Benjamin, a Belgian Warmblood who portrayed the King's horse, Maximus, ridden by Lee Min-ho in the TV series The King: Eternal Monarch
 * Brooklyn Supreme, said to be the largest horse in history
 * Burmese, favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II; a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
 * Buttermilk, Dale Evans' horse
 * Champion, Gene Autry's horse
 * Clever Hans, reputedly smart horse
 * D'Arcy Yellow Turk, early foundation stallion with at least 4 lines of descent each to the three foundation sire champion racehorses of Thoroughbreds: Eclipse, Herod, and Matchem
 * Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerly Turk, stallions from whom all Thoroughbreds are descended
 * Figure (also known by the name of one of his owners, Justin Morgan), the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed
 * Gunrock, used in the 1920s at UC Davis to breed horses for the U.S. Army Cavalry
 * Hollywood Dun It, all-time leading reining sire and Quarter Horse
 * Incitatus, Emperor Caligula's favorite horse; may have been proposed as a senator
 * Jim, former milk cart horse used to produce diphtheria antitoxin; contamination of this antitoxin inspired the Biologics Control Act of 1902
 * King, a foundation sire of the Quarter Horse breed
 * Marocco or Bankes's Horse, a late 16th- and early 17th-century English performing horse
 * Muhamed, German horse allegedly capable of solving cubic roots
 * Occident: a brown pacing gelding owned by Leland Stanford used in The Horse in Motion
 * Old Bob, Abraham Lincoln's horse
 * Popcorn Deelites, the main horse who played Seabiscuit in the Oscar Nominated film Seabiscuit
 * Prometea, born May 28, 2003, the first cloned horse and the first to be born from and carried by its cloning mother
 * Rugged Lark, famous quarter horse owned by Carol Harris, in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
 * Sampson, the tallest horse ever recorded; a Shire; stood 21.25 hand high
 * Spanker was a 17th century sire of many important horses.
 * Thunder, Red Ryder's horse
 * Traveler, mascot of the University of Southern California
 * Trigger, Roy Rogers' Palomino
 * Warpaint, mascot of the NFL Kansas City Chiefs
 * Zippo Pine Bar Inducted into American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and National Snaffle Bit Association Hall of Fame

Military horses

 * Babieca, horse of El Cid
 * Bill the Bastard, legendary Australian war horse
 * Black Jack, the last Quartermaster-issued U.S. Army horse, died February 6, 1976
 * Blueskin, one of Washington's two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War
 * Bucephalus, favorite horse of Alexander the Great; one of the most famous horses of antiquity; following his death after the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BCE, Alexander promptly founded the city of Bucephala upon the spot in his memory
 * Chetak, war horse of Maharana Pratap of Mewar in India; died defending its master in 1576 during the Battle of Haldighati
 * Cincinnati, one of Ulysses S. Grant's horses
 * Comanche, only documented survivor of General Custer's 7th Cavalry detachment at the Battle of Little Big Horn
 * Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington's favourite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Waterloo
 * Çankaya, one of the two personal horses of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey
 * Dhūljānāḥ, the horse of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala
 * Favorito, the personal horse of Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia from 1831 to the king's death in 1849
 * Kasztanka, mare that belonged to interwar Poland's leader, Marshal Józef Piłsudski
 * Llamrei, horse of King Arthur
 * Marengo, Napoleon's horse which was captured by the British, and outlived Napoleon by eight years
 * Matsukaze, personal horse of Maeda Keiji
 * Nelson, one of Washington's two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War
 * Palomo, main horse of Simón Bolívar
 * Reckless, became a decorated Marine for carrying supplies and ammunition into battle for the US Marine platoon in the Korean War
 * Red Hare, also known as Chitu, Lü Bu's horse from the Three Kingdoms; inspired the phrase "Among men: Lü Bu. Among horses: Red Hare"
 * Sakarya, One of the two personal horses of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, inspired by the battle which he commanded of the same name
 * Sefton, survivor of the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings in 1982
 * Streiff, horse of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the battle of Lützen (1632)
 * Tencendur, warhorse of King Charlemagne
 * Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse
 * Veillantif, horse of Roland, a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne
 * Warrior, "Old Warrior", the mount of General Jack Seely in the First World War from 1914 to 1918; awarded the Dickin Medal in 2014
 * Wexy, the war horse of the then Prince of Orange, Prince Willem Frederik of Orange, the later King William II of the Netherlands which he rode during the Battle of Waterloo. He horse was wounded during the battle as was the Prince. After it's dead the horse was mounted and till this day is one of the oldest mounted horses in Europe which is still being preserved at the Royal Stables in The Hague.

Competition horses
For racehorses, such as Secretariat and Man o' War, see List of racehorses.


 * Big Ben, Canadian international show jumper and Olympian owned and ridden by Ian Millar
 * Brentina, American international dressage horse and Olympian ridden by Debbie McDonald
 * Halla (1945-1979), German show jumper that carried an injured rider to Individual and Team Gold medals in the 1956 Summer Olympics
 * Hickstead, Canadian international show jumper and Olympic individual show jumping gold medal winner
 * Huaso, famous Chilean show jumper; holder of the high jump world record, one of the world's longest unbroken sport records
 * Midnight inducted into five different halls of fame, this bucking horse famously bucked at the best rodeos throughout the West and Canada
 * Midnight Sun, two-time Grand Champion and leading foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed
 * Milton: 20th-century showjumping gelding that competed for British with John Whitaker, winning several championships
 * Noble Flaire, Morgan horse who was the first to win three Park Harness World Championships at the American Morgan Horse World Championship Horse Show
 * Peppermint Grove, ridden by Australian Gillian Rolton
 * Radium, outstanding campdrafter; influential sire in Australia
 * Rafalca, American international dressage horse and Olympian co-owned by Jan Ebeling and Ann Romney
 * Scamper, ProRodeo Hall of Fame horse in barrel racing for hall of fame rider Charmayne James. They won the National Finals Rodeo a consecutive 10 times in a row, a record that still stands today.
 * Seldom Seen, pony who successfully competed in dressage despite being unusually small
 * Snowman, former plough horse rescued by rider Harry de Lyer from being butchered; won the 1958 National Horse Show Open Jumper championship against professional and Olympic level competition; twice named the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year
 * Totilas, first horse to score above a 90 in dressage
 * Touch of Class, bay Thoroughbred mare, ridden by Joe Fargis, won two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics
 * Valegro, current world record holder in dressage with 94.3% Royal Dutch Sport Horse, ridden by Charlotte Dujardin