List of historical horses

Racehorses

• Adios, leading sire of harness racehorses
• Adios Butler, famous harness racer
• Affirmed, last horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown (1978)
• Ajax, 18 consecutive race wins, before he was defeated at 1/40.
• Albatross, harness racer who won 59 of 71 races, and as a sire produced winners of over $130 million, including Niatross
• Allez France, French Arc winner and first filly to win a million dollars
• Alydar, finished second to Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races, and one of the great sires in North American history
• Aristides, winner of the first Kentucky Derby
• Arkle, reckoned the greatest steeplechaser of all time
• Assault, U.S. Triple Crown winner (1946)
• Bernborough, Australian racehorse and winner of 15 consecutive races at big weights. Sold to Louis B. Mayer, US film producer.
• Best Mate, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, often given title 'Greatest Steeplechaser' since Arkle, and an equal to him
• Big Brown, 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, first horse since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby from the 20th post position
• Barbaro
• Bret Hanover one of only nine pacers to win the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and he had 62 wins from 69 starts. The only horse to have even been made Harness Horse of the Year three times.
• Brigadier Gerard, winner of 17 of 18 races in England including the 2000 Guineas and 11 other Group I races. Joint highest Timeform flat rating of all time.
• Buckpasser, won 15 consecutive races, and one of the greatest broodmare sires in history
• Bulle Rock in 1730 was the first Thoroughbred imported into America.
• Carbine, outstanding racehorse and sire. Winner of the Melbourne Cup
• Cardigan Bay, New Zealand's "million dollar pacer", the first to win a million in the US; appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show
• Cigar, a great champion in the 1990s who won 16 consecutive races
• Citation, U.S. Triple Crown winner (1948)
• Crisp, remembered for his epic race in the Grand National with Red Rum
• Curlin, the richest North American-based horse of all time
• Dan Patch, America's greatest pacer
• Dawn Run, great racemare and the only horse ever to complete Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup double
• Deep Impact, Japanese horse who smashed the world record over 3200 metres
• Desert Gold, racemare who won 19 races successive races during World War I. Often raced against Gloaming.
• Desert Orchid, won King George four times and Cheltenham Gold Cup; national icon and beautiful grey loved by children
• Dr. Fager, "the Doctor": this remarkable animal set the world record at 1 mile on any surface, 1:32 1/5, and held it for more than 20 years.
• Easy Goer, Hall of Fame champion who ran the fastest mile of all time on dirt by any three year old thoroughbred in 1:32.2, and ran the second fastest Belmont Stakes of all time behind Secretariat. Great rivalry with Sunday Silence
• Eight Belles, the first filly to win the Martha Washington Stakes, by a record 13½ lengths.
• Eclipse, celebrated 18th century racehorse that won 18 races in 18 starts and was a very influential sire
• Exterminator exceedingly popular, "iron horse" of American racing history
• Funny Cide, first gelding since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby
• Gainsborough, winner of the English Triple Crown and leading sire
• Genuine Risk, the second filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1980)
• Gloaming, won 19 successive races in New Zealand and Australia. Record was 67 starts for 57 wins and 9 seconds.
• Goldsmith Maid, famous harness racing mare of the 19th century
• Go Man Go, a Champion Running Quarter Horse
• Greyhound, named trotting horse of the century in the US
• Hambletonian 10, known as the "father of American trotting"
• Hyperion, winner of the Epsom Derby and the St Leger Stakes, and the top sire for six years in the UK
• Iroquois was the first American-bred racehorse to win the prestigious Epsom Derby
• John Henry, U.S. Champion Turf Horse (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984)
• Kelso, only five-time winner of U.S. Horse of the Year
• Kincsem, Hungarian racemare and most successful racehorse ever, winning all 54 starts in five countries
• Kindergarten, weighted more than Phar Lap in the Melbourne Cup
• Kingston Town, "the King", won three Cox Plates. First Australian horse to top $1million in stakes earnings.
• Kissin George one of America's premier sprinting Thoroughbred racehorses.
• Lady Suffolk, the "old gray mare", the first horse to beat the 2.5 minute mile
• La Troienne, most important broodmare of the twentieth century
• Lexington, America's leading 19th Century sire
• Longfellow, 19th century's great runner and great stallion
• Lottery, winner of the Grand National steeplechase in 1839
• Makybe Diva, won Melbourne Cup three successive times
• Master Charlie, winner 1924 Remsen Stakes, Tijuana Futurity, Hopeful Stakes, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, awarded 1924 American Champion Two-Year-Old-Male/Colt
• Man o' War, often considered America's greatest racehorse; won 20 of 21 career starts
• Might and Power World Champion Stayer (1997); Australian Horse of the Year (1998, 1999)
• Mr. Prospector, one of the great U.S. sires of the late 20th century
• Nasrullah, one of the great Thoroughbred sires of the 20th century
• Native Dancer,won 21 of 22 career races, with only loss in the Kentucky Derby, and sire whose descendants have come to dominate modern Triple Crown racing
• Niatross, pacer who won 37 of his 39 races and broke many records, considered to be one of the greatest harness racers of all time
• Nijinsky II, last horse to win the English Triple Crown (1970)
• Northern Dancer, Canada's champion on the racetrack; most successful sire of the 20th Century
• Phar Lap, Australia and New Zealand's most famed thoroughbred racehorse; won 37 of his 51 career starts
• Rachel Alexandra, filly and winner of the 2009 Preakness Stakes.
• Red Rum, only horse in the history of the Aintree Grand National to win the race three times (and place second on two other occasions)
• Regret, the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1915)
• Rock Sand, English Triple Crown winner (1903) and sire of the dam of Man o' War
• Ruffian, the great filly champion who won every race she started until her final (and fatal) race
• Sadler's Wells, one of Europe's greatest sires of the late 20th century
• Sea Bird II, highest ever Timeform rated horse (rated 145)
• Sea the Stars, first horse ever to win the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, and Arc de Triomphe in the same year (2009)
• Seabiscuit, beat War Admiral in a match race; like Phar Lap, raced during the Depression.
• Seattle Slew, U.S. Triple Crown winner (1977), one of the greatest sires in history
• Secretariat, U.S. Triple Crown winner (1973), and one of North America's greatest broodmare sires of all time
• Shergar, the kidnapped winner of the 1981 Epsom Derby
• Silky Sullivan, arguably the fastest closer of all time
• Smarty Jones became the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
• Spectacular Bid, Hall of Fame champion who went undefeated as a four year old, and won 26 of 30 career starts.
• Steel Dust, 19th Century quarter-mile racing horse
• Skewball, (sometimes called "Stewball") immortalized in 18th century poetry as a sku-ball winning against a Thoroughbred
• Storm Cat, one of the great U.S. sires of the late 20th century
• Sunday Silence, big winner in the US and champion sire in Japan
• Sunline, first Southern Hemisphere horse to top $10million in stakes earnings. 3 time Australian (2000-2002) and 4 time New Zealand (1999-2002) horse of the year. 13 time Group 1 winner.
• Varenne Italy most famous harness horse
• War Admiral, the fourth U.S. Triple Crown winner (1937)
• Winning Colors, the third (and currently last) filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1988)
• Zenyatta, undefeated in 19 starts and the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic (2009), plus the first to win two different Breeders' Cup races (2008, 2009).

Competition horses

• Arko, an Olympic level show jumping horse
• Big Ben, a Canadian international show jumper and Olympian
• Hickstead, a Canadian international show jumper and Olympic individual show jumping gold medal winner.
• Milton, a British international show jumper and Olympian ridden by John Whitaker
• Noble Flaire, a Morgan horse who was the first to win three Park Harness World Championships at the American Morgan Horse World Championship Horse Show
• Radium, outstanding campdrafter and a very influential sire in Australia.
• Seldom Seen, a pony who successfully competed in dressage despite being unusually small.
• The Golden Machine, also called "Medicine Man", Owned by Heather Parish – Vernon was the first Palomino Quarter Horse to compete at the Olympics. Ridden by Richard Phelps of Great Brittan Modern Pentathlon 1996 Olympics . The Golden Machine was featured with Phelps on the cover of the August 1996 issue of the Quarter Horse Journal.

Military horses

See also: List of horses of the American Civil War

• Babieca, horse of El Cid
• Bijou, horse of Count Johan Augustus Sandels, Swedish Fieldmarshall, Finnish War 1808-1809
• Black Jack, the last Quartermaster-issued U.S. Army horse, died February 6, 1976
• Blackie, belonged to Chief Sitting Bull
• Blueskin, one of General Washington's horses
• Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse
• Chetak, war horse of Rana Pratap of Mewar in India
• 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
• Dhūljānāḥ, the horse of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala
• Dilu, the personal steed of Liu Bei which was said to have a hex and marking on his face which would bring misfortune upon its rider
• Gazala, horse of Baldwin I of Jerusalem
• Kasztanka, horse of Józef Piłsudski, likely the most famous Polish horse
• Kitty, horse belonging to Marshal of Finland Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
• Little Sorrel, Stonewall Jackson's horse
• Llamrei, steed of King Arthur
• Magnolia, one of General Washington's horses
• Marengo, Napoleon's horse which was captured by the British, and outlived Napoleon by eight years
• Matsukaze, personal horse of Maeda Keiji
• (Old) Nelson, one of General Washington's horses
• Ogeltez, hero of the Soviet Union. Died in the early battle for Stalingrad on the 28th of August 1942.
• Palomo, the main horse of Simon Bolivar
• Reckless was a small mare that became a decorated Marine for carrying ammunition into battle for the US Marine platoon
• Red Hare, also known as Chitu, was Lü Bu's horse from the Three Kingdoms; inspired the phrase "Among men: Lü Bu. Among horses: Red Hare."
• Shadowless, the personal steed of Cao Cao
• Rienzi, Philip H. Sheridan's horse
• Roger Leo, one of General Washington's horses at Valley Forge
• Streiff, the horse of Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Lützen 1632. The hide was mounted on a wooden frame and can still today be seen at the Royal Armoury in Stockholm.
• Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse
• Warrior, called "Old Warrior", the mount of General Jack Seely which led many charges "over the top" in WW1.

Horses of various other fames

• Black Bess, highwayman Dick Turpin's horse
• Brown Beauty, the horse Paul Revere borrowed for his famous ride.
• Burmese, the favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II, which was a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• Buttermilk, Dale Evans' horse
• Champion, Gene Autrey's horse
• Chetak, horse of Rana Pratap Rana Pratap
• Clever Hans, a smart horse
• Cloud, the wild mustang stallion documented from birth for a PBS Nature series
• Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerly Turk, stallions from whom all Thoroughbreds are descended
• Diablo, The Cisco Kid's horse
• Figure (also known by the name of one of his owners, Justin Morgan) – the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed
• Fritz, Bill Hart's famous pinto pony in many silent movies
• Grated Coconut Calgary Stampede’s six-time world champion bucking horse
• Gun Rock, the offspring of Man O' War used in the 1920s at UC Davis to breed horses for the U.S. Army Cavalry
• Halla, the famed show jumping champion, with two world championships (1954 and 1955) and three Olympic gold medals (1956 and 1960)
• Hollywood Dun It, the all-time leading reining sire and Quarter Horse
• Huaso, Chilean bred horse, holder of the high jump world record set in Chile on February 5 of 1949, one of the world's longest unbroken sport records.
• Incitatus, Emperor Caligula's favorite horse, may have been made a Senator
• Jim Key, "Smartest Horse in the World," a star attraction at 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis
• Jim, a 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, the German horse allegedly capable of solving cubic roots
• Papoose, Little Beaver's horse Red Ryder's Navajo Ward Sidekick
• Prince and Lady, Almanzo Wilder's Morgan horse driving team of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books
• Prometea, born May 28, 2003, the first cloned horse and the first to be born from and carried by its cloning mother
• Red Buck, the horse of Emmett Dalton
• Red Fox, a horse of Jesse James
• Sampson, the tallest horse ever recorded; he was a Shire and stood 21.2½ hands high
• Sportsman, John Mytton's horse, died when forced to drink a bottle of port wine
• Tarzan, white stallion of actor Ken Maynard
• Thunder, Red Ryder's horse
• Tony, horse of actor Tom Mix
• Traveler, Mascot of the University of Southern California
• Trigger, Roy Rogers' Palomino
• Zippo Pine Bar

See also

• List of fictional horses
• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses
• Wonder Horses