In books and films, often a character’s horse is much more than a means of transport or pet or prop. They are often portrayed as their own character. Mr Ed from the tv show of the same name certainly was, he even had his own lines to speak. The famous horse names from fiction that stick in our minds are the ones where the horse had its own personality.
25 Famous Horse Names from Novels, Tv, and Film
Some of the famous horse names in the list below come from books, but the majority come from television shows and films. There were too many horses in the Lord of the Rings franchise so we only included the more memorable ones. Read on to see if you agree with our choices.
- Boxer Along with Mollie and Clover, from George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm.
- Black Beauty From Anna Sewell’s book, Black Beauty
- Trigger Roy Rogers’ famous horse partner
- Silver Horse rescued and adopted by the Lone Ranger
- Mister Ed The first famous talking horse from the tv show, Mr Ed.
- Fury A horse in a story, and film, written by comedian, Norman Krasna
- Arod Legolas’s horse from Lord of the Rings
- Shadowfax Horse ridden by Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings
- Beau John Wayne’s horse in True Grit
- Smiler Theon Greyjoy’s war horse in A Song of Fire and Ice
- Pilgrim From Nicholas Evans’ book The Horse Whisperer
- Faran Sparhawks’ horse in David Eddings book series, The Elenium and The Tamuli
- Denny A Buckskin Gelding from The Man from Snowy River
- Cochise John Wayne’s horse in El Dorado
- Phillip Edmund’s horse from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Bumpkin Merry Brandybuck’s Horse
- Gunpowder Ichabod Crane’s horse from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
- Argo From Xena Warrior Princess
- Binky Death’s horse in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
- Chestnut From the tv show, 2 Broke Girls
- Brego Aragorn’s Horse in Lord of the Rings
- Sophie Colonel Potter’s horse in the tv show, MASH
- Cadoc From Eragon by Christopher Paolini
- Flicka From Mary O’Hara’s book My Friend Flicka
- Glue-boy Cuthbert Allgood’s horse in The Dark Tower by Stephen King
25 Famous Horse Names from the Track
If you think the famous fictional horse names were memorable, you’re going to love the famous racehorse names. Racehorses are known for having outrageous titles that make sense to no-one other than the owner but some of these horses are known for not just their names.
Shergar, for example, won the 1981 Epsom Derby by 10 lengths, but was more famous for being kidnapped by the IRA. We’ve also included a horse that was famous for not winning a race. As he lost 100 times, we thought he’d earned the right to be on a list with other famous horse names.
- Phar Lap Horse from New Zealand that won 37 of 51 career starts
- Zabeel New Zealand sire of Octagonal and Vengeance of Rain
- Twenty Grand Horse of the year in 1931
- War Admiral U.S. Triple Crown winner in 1937
- Ruthless 1st winner of the Belmont Stakes
- Hyperion Top sire for 6 years in the United Kingdom
- Eclipse Horse that won 18 races in 18 starts
- Flying Fox Horse that won the 1899 English Triple Crown races
- Smarty Jones The 1st unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since 1977
- Cardigan Bay New Zealand horse that appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
- Barbaro Horse that won the 2006 Kentucky Derby
- Flyingbolt 2nd best steeplechaser of all time
- Citation 1st horse to win $1 million
- Secretariat Won the U. S. Triple Crown in 1973
- Seabiscuit Beat War Admiral in a race during the Depression
- Shergar Kidnapped by the IRA in 1983 and was never found
- Kelso U. S. Horse of the year five times
- Black Caviar Won 25 career starts
- Aristides Won the 1st Kentucky Derby
- Overdose Horse from Hungary and winner of 14 races in a row
- Queensway Winner of the Canadian Triple Crown
- The Duke 1st and 2nd winner of the Grand National
- Makybe Diva Won the Melbourne Cup 3 times
- Tanya 2nd filly to win the Belmont Stakes
- Zippy Chippy Famous for losing 100 races in a row
The Famous Horse Names of the Future
If you’re thinking of adopting one of these famous horse names for your own horse, you might want to be a bit careful about which ones you use, particularly if you want to race your horse. Jockey clubs are very strict about horse names and you are not able to use a name that has been previously used within the last five years. But if you’re not the proud owner of a racing thoroughbred, what would be the harm in having a Phar Lap in your back paddock.