The villains and heroes of Disney are popular figures, but what would they be without their noble steeds? A lot of animals appear as characters inDisneymovies, and they range from the main character to sidekicks, and just like all of human history they’re often a source of companionship or transportation.
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It’s easy to forget how deeply connected human beings used to be to horses in everyday life, but many of these characters help to remind us. The cast of the best Disney horses is mostly animated but does have a small but important live-action section, and they’re all unforgettable characters.
8Phillipe, Beauty And The Beast
A Belgian, one of the heavy horses of northern Europe, Phillipe is more of a draft animal than a saddle horse or a pet but he still has a strong bond with his considerate owners. He’s the perfect horse for the climate and period in medieval France, in which draft horses were either pulling wagons or carrying knights in shining armor.
He starts as a “fraidy horse” at the beginning of the story, so to speak, but when it’stime to charge into the castlehe doesn’t hesitate.
7Khan, Mulan
The Fa family were a people of some noble means, so of course they would own some horses for their own private use. One of them was Khan, the loyal horse that was Mulan’s faithful plot armor time and time again.
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Khan is an example of a breed called the Ferghana horse, which was famous for its bold demeanour, but is sadly now extinct. He was initially fooled by Muan’s disguise, but after that, he was the perfect companion to hide her secret and help her on her quest.
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5Black Beauty
While Spirit was being forced to work on the transcontinental railroad, a horse named Black Beauty was a carriage horse in the mean streets of London. It was one of the first books ever made into a film, its first adaptation dating to 1917. Disney owned the rights for some time before making their own version, and this one was made fairly recently, in 2020.
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The full title of the original novel, written by Ana Sewell and published in 1877, is Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse.The Disney version modernizes the story by bringing Beauty to the American West as a former wild horse who becomes a companion animal to a troubled teenager.
4Frou Frou, The Aristocats
Frou Frou is one of the few talking horses in the Disney cartoon library, fortunate enough to live in a movie where most of the critters have the power of speech. She’s part of a happy extended family that includes Duchess and her three kittens, and like most of the horses of her time, she’s a working animal.
Frou Frou is a carriage horse like Black Beauty was historically, but she works in Paris as opposed to London. Her wealthy owner isn’t in any danger of having to sell or contract her out either, so she’s luckier than most horses of her time.
3Trigger, Pecos Bill
It’s an endearing story of a bond between a man and a horse that was born in the harsh desert of American mythology. Trigger was saved from desert vultures by Pecos Bill when he was just a colt, and the horse was attached to the infamous cowboy forever.
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The jealous and clever Trigger was always the brains of this partnership, and when Trigger saw his master doing something stupid, he was sure to interrupt him. He seems to be an older version of the wild mustangs of the West that resisted any kind of effort to break them, like the stallion Spirit.
2Achilles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
It’s a dark story that has a few funny moments, and some of them are provided by Achilles and his master, Phoebus. The latter is voiced by the often humorous but also serious actor Kevin Kline and the combination works well.
The running joke here is Achilles' most devastating attack is a simple sit command, which crushes anyone who happens to be standing behind him.
Achilles is an Andalusian, a breed of horses that are famously all white. He’s an interesting foilto villain Frollo’s black Friesian, who has the satirical name of Snowball.
1Gunpowder, The Adventures Of Ichabod Crane And Mr. Toad
He’s never named in the animated short film, but those who have read the original literary work know his name is Gunpowder. It’s intended to be a joke since the old fellow is clearly past his prime, but he can still move pretty fast when the Headless Horseman appears in his path at night, even after he and Ichabod share a laugh about it.
Another horse makes a dramatic appearance here, but he’s in disguise and is harder to recognize. Those of us who figure on Brom Bones being the real Headless Horseman should also recognize that his horse, Daredevil, had an important part to play in the ruse.
