List of historical horses

This list includes actual horses that exist in the historical record.

Acting and performing horses

See also: Wonder horses

• Bamboo Harvester, portrayed a talking horse in the title role of the television series Mister Ed
• Buttermilk, Dale Evans' horse used in films
• Champion the Wonder Horse, portrayed on film with Gene Autry
• Clever Hans, horse that performed math tricks
• Gunrock, mascot for the University of California, Davis
• Marocco or Bankes's Horse, a late 16th and early 17th-century English performing horse
• Muhamed, German horse allegedly capable of reading and performing arithmetic
• Popcorn Deelites, the horse actor in the film Seabiscuit
• Rex, Morgan stallion who starred in films and film serials in the 1920s and 1930s
• Trigger, palomino trick horse for films with Roy Rogers

Famous bloodlines

• Byerly Turk, a foundation sire of the Thoroughbred breed
• D'Arcy Yellow Turk, early foundation sire of the Thoroughbred breed
• Darley Arabian, a foundation sire of the Thoroughbred breed
• Figure, the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed
• Godolphin Arabian, a foundation sire of the Thoroughbred breed
• Hollywood Dun It, all-time leading reining sire and American Quarter Horse
• King, a foundation sire of the American Quarter Horse breed
• Zippo Pine Bar leading Western Pleasure sire of Quarter Horses, inducted into American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and National Snaffle Bit Association Hall of Fame

Famous owners

See also: Horses of Elizabeth II

• Burmese, favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II; a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Incitatus, favorite horse of Roman Emperor Caligula
• Matsukaze, personal horse of Maeda Keiji^[2]
• Old Bob, a driving horse of Abraham Lincoln

Military horses

See also: List of horses of the American Civil War

• Babieca, warhorse of El Cid
• Bill the Bastard, legendary Australian warhorse in World War I
• 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 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 during the American Civil War
• 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^[3]
• Dhūljānāḥ, the horse of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala
• Favorito, the personal horse of Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia, ridden during the campaigns of 1848
• Ikezuki, ridden by Sasaki Takatsuna throughout the Genpei War^[4]
• Kasztanka, mare that belonged to interwar Poland's leader, Marshal Józef Piłsudski, using during World War I
• Marengo, Napoleon's warhorse which was captured by the British, and outlived Napoleon by eight years
• Nelson, one of Washington's two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War
• Old Whitey, Zachary Taylor's horse during the Mexican–American War
• Palomo, main horse of Simón Bolívar during his campaigns of national liberation
• Reckless, became a decorated U.S. Marine for carrying supplies and ammunition into battle during the Korean War
• Red Hare [zh] (Chitu) horse owned by the warlord Lü Bu, who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China^[7]
• Sakarya, personal horse of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, named for the Battle of the Sakarya^[8]
• Saluzi, warhorse owned by Emperor Taizong of Tang
• Sefton, British Army horse that survived the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings in 1982
• Shadowless (Jue ying [zh]) of Cao Cao, attested by an annotator to the Book of Wei (5th cent.)^[10][11]
• Streiff, horse of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the Battle of Lützen (1632)
• Surusumi ("Ink-stick") of Yoritomo was bestowed to Kajiwara Kagesue^[4][a]
• Tencendur, warhorse of King Charlemagne^[b]
• Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse during the American Civil War and beyond
• Veillantif, horse of Roland (d. 778), a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne^[c]
• Warrior or Old Warrior, the mount of General Jack Seely in World War I; 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. After its death, the horse was mounted and is preserved at the Royal Stables in The Hague.^[16]

Non-racing competition horses

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

• Big Ben (1976–1999), Canadian international and Olympic-level show jumper
• Brentina (1991–2021), American international and Olympic-level dressage horse
• Halla (1945–1979), German show jumper that carried her injured rider to gold medals in the 1956 Summer Olympics
• Hickstead (1996–2011), Canadian international show jumper and Olympic individual show jumping gold medal winner
• Huaso (1933–1961), Chilean show jumper which set the high jump world record in 1949, one of the world's longest unbroken sport records^[d]
• Midnight (1916–1936), a bucking horse inducted into several halls of fame
• Milton (1977–1999), British showjumping gelding ridden by John Whitaker, won several world championships
• Noble Flaire (1984–2006), Morgan horse who was the first to win three park harness world championships at the American Morgan Horse World Championship Horse Show
• Rugged Lark, a very successful show competition quarter horse inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
• Scamper (1977–2012), a champion barrel racer that won the Women's Pro Rodeo world championship ten years in a row, and many other top competitions. Scamper, a gelding, was cloned and his offspring stood at stud.
• Seldom Seen (1970–1996), a small Thoroughbred-Connemara honored by the United States Dressage Federation in 2005 for its competition achievements, talent, and being an ambassador for the sport.
• Snowman (1948–1974), won the 1958 National Horse Show Open Jumper championship; twice named the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year; enormously popular with audiences, making television appearances and inspiring books
• Totilas (2000–2020), Dutch Warmblood stallion, first horse to score above a 90 in dressage (90.75 in 2009 and 92.3 in 2009)
• Touch of Class (1973–2001), Thoroughbred show jumper, won two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics
• Valegro (2002–), Dutch Warmblood gelding with four Olympic medals in dressage; broke Totilas' world records with a score of 93.975 in 2013, then 94.3 in 2014

Racehorse

See List of racehorses and List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses

Record setting horses

• Big Jake, world's tallest horse^[17]
• Brooklyn Supreme, said to be the largest horse in history
• Old Billy, longest-living horse verified ever^[18][19]
• Sampson, tallest horse, a Shire horse standing 21.25 hands (86.5 inches; 220 cm) high^[20]

Science and medicine

• Jim, a horse used to produce diphtheria antitoxin but which contracted tetanus, causing contamination of some of the samples and resulting in several human deaths, leading to the Biologics Control Act of 1902
• Occident, the trotting horse in the early motion photography study of 1878
• Prometea, the first cloned horse (2003) and the first to be carried to term by its genetic donor

See also

• American Horse of the Year
• Equine recipients of the Dickin Medal
• List of horses in mythology and folklore
• List of fictional horses
• Old Friends Equine § Notable residents

Notes

1. A third horse, Waka shirage/Waka shiraga/Waka shiroge (若白毛; "young white-coat") aka Machigimi (町君) is named alongside in Genpei Seisuiki.^{[12][13][14][15]}
2. Pseudo-historical. The horse Tencendur, like the king's sword Joyeuse appears in 12th century Song of Roland which is not a historical record attestation.
3. Pseudo-historical. The horse Veillantif, like the sword Durendal appears in 12th century Song of Roland which is not a historical record attestation.
4. As of 2025, this 76-year-old record has not been surpassed

References

1. Takimoto, Seiichi [in Japanese]; Mukai, Shikamatsu [in Japanese], eds. (1926). "Meiba kō" 名馬考 [Considerations on famed horses]. Nihon sangyō shiryō taikei 日本産業資料大系 第1巻 第一篇農林業. Chugai Shogyo Shinposha. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1020345/1/199.
2. Attested by Miura Jōshin [ja] (d. 1644) in Kenmonshū [ja].^[1]
3. "Atatürk'ün Atları Sakarya ve Çankaya - Binicilik Okulu" (in Turkish). June 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
4. Translated by Helen McCullough, Genji & Heike: Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike, Stanford University Press, 1994, p.372
5. Zhōngguó lìdài jīngdiǎn bǎokù 中國歴代經典寶庫 [A treasure trove of Chinese classics] (in Chinese). Vol. 27. Taipei: China Times Publishing Co. 1981. p. 260.
6. Wu Cheng'en (1977). Saiyūki 西遊記 [Journey to the West] (in Japanese). Vol. 1. Translated by Ono, Shinobu [in Japanese]. Iwanami Shoten. p. 294.
7. This man's biography: "Lü Bu dian 呂布傳", "Book of Wei", Records of the Three Kingdoms^[5][6]
8. "Turkish Military Academy". kho.msu.edu.tr. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
9. Qian Zhongshu (2007) [1979]. Guǎn zhuī biān 錢鍾書 [Limited Views] (in Chinese). Vol. 3. Zhao Xiuting. Iwanami Shoten. p. 1593. ISBN 978-7-108-02746-7.
10. Book of Wei, quoted in the annotation by Pei Songzhi to the "Annals of Emperor Wu", "Book of Wei", Records of the Three Kingdoms (3rd cent.).^[9]
11. Lai, C. M. (2003). "The Craft of Original Imitation: Lu Ji's Imitations of Han Old Poems". In Kroll, Paul W.; Knechtges, David R. . (eds.). Studies in Early Medieval Chinese Literature and Cultural History: In Honor of Richard B. Mather & Donald Holzman. Provo, Utah: Tʻang Studies Society. p. 138. ISBN 9780972925501.
12. Tetsuzō Tsukamoto ed. (1927).Genpei seisuiki [Book 34] Volume 2(下), p. 304. Yūhōdō Shoten, 1927
13. Read as Wakashirage (わかしらけ[゛]) in ibid. Book 34, Sano bunk manuscript, held by Niigata University Library
14. Read as Wakashiraga (わかしらが) in ibid. Enoki-no-maki Dai-34, Kōchu nihon bungaku taikei 16 (1925), p. 388.
15. Read Wakashiroge (わかしろげ) in Kōchū Genpei seisuiki, Hakubunkan, 1905, p. 898
16. "Wexy". Koninklijke Verzamelingen (in Dutch). Retrieved October 16, 2024.
17. "22 flabbergasting (and slightly bonkers) horsey world records". Horse & Hound. March 24, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
18. Bibby, Miriam. "Old Billy the Barge Horse". historic-uk.com.
19. "Crazy Horsey World Records". Equestrian Surfaces Ltd. September 7, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
20. "Tallest horse ever". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved August 13, 2025.