History’s Ten Most Heroic Horses

Horses are some of the most fascinating and wonderful animals humans work alongside. They aren’t quite as endearing as dogs, but they’re just as meaningful to those who love and work with them. Throughout the centuries, people have come to rely on horses for all kinds of important tasks, too. There’s a reason the term “workhorse” exists in the English lexicon, after all. Be it for transportation, farming, other agricultural pursuits, or something else entirely, horses helped build countless civilizations and societies over the past few thousand years.

Sure, in the modern era, we don’t need them like we did way back when. Nowadays, we have cars, trains, planes, vans, trucks, drones, and everything else. But society still has all the respect in the world for horses. We repeatedly fall in love with their beauty, grace, kindness, and gentle natures. And more often than not, we tend to bestow human traits like bravery and heroism upon them.

That’s why we’re here today, in fact. This list will tell the amazing stories of ten incredibly heroic horses from history. Some are warhorses who did genuinely incredible things in battle. Some are racehorses who blitzed their competition on the track and then transcended the sport in the unlikeliest of ways. And some are random horses from history who deserve to be much better known than they are. Enjoy!

Related: Top 10 Most Intelligent Animal Species on Earth

10 Seabiscuit

If you know anything about Seabiscuit, it may be due to the 1999 non-fiction book written about him by author Laura Hillenbrand. Or perhaps you saw the blockbuster movie of the same name that came out a few years later. But the real Seabiscuit, on which the book and movie are based, is much more interesting.

He was a racehorse born in the middle of the Great Depression, and for a while, he couldn’t win. He had a small body, stocky legs, a lazy work ethic, and an inability to win races. But against all odds, he eventually found his way to the barn of a patient owner named Charles Howard and a capable trainer named Tom Smith.

And then, like a true underdog—while America continued to suffer through the worst years of the Great Depression—Seabiscuit took off. Under jockey Red Pollard (and later, after Pollard got injured, George Woolf), Seabiscuit started beating the best horses in the world.

He defeated the Argentinian champion Ligaroti. He beat another incredible Argentinian horse named Kayak. He took down the legendary War Admiral, who many people considered the greatest racehorse of all time, in what is still remembered as the most amazing match race in history. And to end his unlikely rags-to-riches career, Seabiscuit then won 1940’s Santa Anita Handicap and its at-the-time-unprecedented $100,000 purse.

What makes Seabiscuit so great, though? Sure, he turned into an amazing racehorse. But the heroism came in his life story. He was a low-level claiming horse who rose to the heights of his sport through the worst economic depression in American history. Through it, he inspired millions of Americans to pick themselves up and get back to work.

Hundreds of thousands of people watched every one of his races in person. Tens of thousands of people would show up at his morning workouts! He was an icon of resilience and toughness during the worst years of America’s Great Depression. Along the way, he became a symbol of the American people’s determination to survive—and thrive. For that, he is still remembered warmly today.^[1]

9 Secretariat

Let’s continue with another racehorse, shall we? While Seabiscuit may be the most heroic underdog of all time, Secretariat is undoubtedly the most talented racehorse ever. Born in 1970 in Virginia, he raced throughout the middle of that decade and utterly dominated all of his opponents. He was the best horse on the track, and he knew it. He was cocky and powerful and had an attitude and a swagger in the barn. Nobody could touch him when he got out onto the track, either.

Known by his fans and handlers alike as “Big Red,” he smashed all kinds of race records. In fact, he still holds the fastest race times in all three of the American Triple Crown races—the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. And in 1973’s Belmont Stakes, against the rest of the best three-year-old horses in the world, he won by an incredible 31 lengths.

Because he was so dominant, Secretariat quickly became one of the most popular sports stars (across all species!) in the 1970s. He appeared on the covers of dozens of magazines, including Time, Sports Illustrated, and Newsweek. His timing was critical, too. The era was consumed with negative news related to both the Vietnam War and Watergate. Plus, horse racing as a popular sport was beginning what would be a half-century decline. Secretariat changed all that and allowed new generations of Americans to fall in love with horses and horse racing.

After his racing career was finished, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. He enjoyed a long and peaceful life standing at stud and breeding successful runners, following in his footsteps before dying in 1989. Then, to really crystallize just how impactful his life and career were on sports in general, ESPN named him one of the 50 greatest athletes of the 20th century. He was the only non-human athlete included in that impressive list.^[2]

8 The Godolphin Arabian

The thoroughbred breed of horses is best known in America and Europe as being the powerful sub-species of racers and runners. But if you trace the breed back to its inception, it all began with three specific horses very early in the 18th century: the Darley Arabian, the Byerley Turk, and the Godolphin Arabian. Of the three, the Godolphin Arabian has the most fascinating lineage.

First foaled in the late 1720s in Tunisia, or perhaps somewhere else in North Africa, the stallion was gifted to French king Louis XV in 1730. However, the king was unimpressed with him and eventually re-gifted the Arabian horse to England’s Earl of Godolphin. Immediately, and thankfully, the Earl understood what he had.

Right from the start, the Earl was aggressive in breeding his new Arabian horse so that he could sire a great line of powerful runners. And that’s exactly what happened. Nearly immediately, his first crop of foals produced a bevy of great runners. From there until his death in 1753, the Godolphin Arabian had an incredible impact on the entire breed.

The first 76 winning horses of the British Classic race could trace their pedigrees back to him directly. Modern American superstar horses like Seabiscuit and Man O’ War can, too. If you enjoy horse racing now, you have the Godolphin Arabian to thank for it—and the Earl of Godolphin, too, for recognizing the horse’s potential.^[3]

7 Beautiful Jim Key

There are far more heroic horses out there than the ones you might find on race tracks. Take the infamous Beautiful Jim Key as the prime example of that. He was a performing horse famous at the beginning of the 20th century. He could do so many different things that he became known as the smartest horse on Earth. He could count, spell words by selecting letters out of the alphabet, tell time, cite verses in the Bible, and even take cash to a cash register to purchase something!

If it sounds too insane to be true, we assure you it was very much real. Beautiful Jim Key and his trainer, Dr. William Key, were a very popular traveling act in the last few years of the 19th century and the first few years of the next. In fact, they were the biggest act in attendance at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. By the end of their tours together in 1906, it was estimated that more than ten million people had seen Beautiful Jim Key’s impressive act.

So, what makes Beautiful Jim Key so heroic? After all, intelligence is very cool—but not necessarily “heroic” alone, right? Well, here’s the impressive part: Dr. Key was a Black man and a former slave who taught himself to become a veterinarian. To that end, he was one of the foremost (and first!) advocates for the kind and gentle treatment of animals across the entire Western world.

The entire time he trained Beautiful Jim, he never once used a cross word or a whip. The man and beast proved they could work together without fighting. It was absolutely groundbreaking at the time to see such a well-trained horse who hadn’t been broken down and verbally (if not physically) abused. And it was doubly shocking to see a freed slave be the one in charge of such a majestic and intelligent animal.

Everywhere they went, Beautiful Jim Key and his beloved trainer, Dr. William, turned heads, changed minds, and helped bring America into the modern age when it came to animal training.^[4]

6 Comanche

Comanche was a bay gelding often cited as the lone survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Technically, that’s not true, as more than 100 other horses survived Custer’s Last Stand—though all the rest were captured by the victors. As for Comanche, who belonged to Captain Myles Keogh, he was seriously wounded during the battle. Struck by seven bullets, he went off to die in a nearby ravine. But two days later, he was still alive, and soldiers found him wounded but breathing. They rescued him, cared for him, and eventually helped him make a full recovery from the assault.

Amazingly, that was far from the first time Comanche was wounded in battle. During a battle against the Comanche Indian tribe a few years before the Little Bighorn battle, the horse was shot by an arrow. However, he continued right along with Keogh on his back. In honor of his toughness (and survival) on that day in 1868, he was officially christened “Comanche.” In total, legend has it that he was wounded more than a dozen times in various battles. And the severe gunshot wounds at the Little Bighorn would be his last.

Following that massacre, U.S. Army Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis issued an order stating Comanche deserved to be retired from active equine duty. As Colonel Sturgis saw it, the horse was “the only living representative of the bloody tragedy of the Little Bighorn, June 25, 1876, [and] his kind treatment and comfort shall be a matter of special pride and solicitude on the part of every member of the Seventh Cavalry to the end that his life be preserved to the utmost limit.”

Sturgis wasn’t kidding about that, either. He ordered the military to supply Comanche with a large, comfortable stable. Nobody was ever allowed to ride him again. And he was never required to put in another day’s work. He had done enough!

Comanche lived for a very long time—another 15 years—and enjoyed retirement as the favorite pet of the troops at Fort Riley in Kansas. When he died at the ripe old age of 29 in 1891, he was given an official military funeral with full honors. To this day, he remains one of only two horses to be honored by the American military in such a way.^[5]

5 Sergeant Reckless

If you thought Comanche was an impressive war horse, wait until you hear about the story of Sergeant Reckless. The mare was first sent off to join the U.S. Marines in 1952 during the Korean War after a Lieutenant named Eric Pedersen purchased her from a local Korean man.

Quickly, she came to be known as Sergeant Reckless. And just as quickly, she became the greatest pack horse the American military has ever seen. Her duty was to carry massive loads of ammunition to Marines fighting high on hilltops during the war. And though she was small, she was mighty.

During one particularly intense five-day battle, she made 51 round trips up a steep hill to various Marine firing sites. Nearly every one of those times, she went completely alone. She knew where to go to get the ammunition, she knew where to take it up to the Marines in the firefight, and she knew how to keep herself alive despite falling under heavy fire.

At the end of that five-day battle alone, she had carried up 386 rounds of long-distance ammunition. Total weight? More than 9,000 pounds (4,082 kg). Think about that—the unassuming little mare singlehandedly supplied the Marines in her area with nearly five tons of weaponry. Oh, and she’d carry wounded Marines down the hill to safety on her way back to the ammunition depot, too. A true hero!

Sergeant Reckless was known for something other than her bravery, though; she was also infamous among Marines during the Korean War for her appetite. She would eat literally anything the Marines ate. That included scrambled eggs, coffee, bacon, buttered toast, beer, and whatever else happened to be in the galley tent at various points during the war. Thankfully, neither her wild diet nor the craziness of war claimed her. Sergeant Reckless returned to the United States after the fighting as healthy as a… well, horse.

After returning home for good in 1954, she was cared for by the Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, and was eventually promoted to Staff Sergeant. In 1960, she was retired with full military honors. Through the final years of her life, she was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Korean Service Medal, a United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation, and a Good Conduct medal. And all the human food she could eat, too.^[6]

4 Copenhagen

There once was an ornery stallion named Copenhagen who served bravely alongside his master—none other than the Duke of Wellington—for more than 17 consecutive hours in one single battle. The fight was the infamous Battle of Waterloo. The horse was a 15-hand-high thoroughbred with some Arabian blood. The duke needed the horse to ride through battle for no less than 17 straight hours in the foremost fight of the early 19th century.

As the story goes, the duke finally dismounted Copenhagen after the marathon fight and patted him on the shoulder to thank the horse. Copenhagen promptly tried to take the duke’s head off with a sharp kick. Perhaps he was exhausted after the battle and mad at the duke for making him work tirelessly for so many hours. Or perhaps he was mad that the battle was over and wanted to fight a little bit more? Copenhagen was such a fierce and brave warhorse that it’s honestly kind of difficult to know for sure now, more than 200 years later.

Ultimately, the horse’s groom led him away for a rubdown and a long rest. And while the duke earned great acclaim for his heroics during the 1815 battle, Copenhagen became notorious over time for his toughness. Sure, the duke took down Napoleon, but ask any horse historian about the battle, and they’ll be able to tell you only about Copenhagen’s brilliant and unusual stamina.

Years later, at the old age of 28, the horse finally died. As he was being buried, the duke noticed something was amiss: One of Copenhagen’s hooves had been cut off. The poor old duke flew into a rage and demanded that the hoof be returned. Eventually, years later, somebody found the cut-off and stolen hoof. And in the end, the duke’s son eventually turned the hoof into an inkstand. Now, that’s one great way to honor a great horse!^[7]

3 Bucephalus

The most famous horse in history is undoubtedly Bucephalus. He was the favorite steed of Alexander the Great, and his exploits on the battlefield were so incredible that they eventually named an entire city after him. As the legend goes, Bucephalus was a massive black stallion who had previously been untameable until Alexander came across him.

Finally, after a painstakingly long time working on breaking the wild horse, Alexander turned him directly toward the sun. In doing so, he put all the shadows—which had been Bucephalus’s biggest fears—behind the horse. It was all smooth sailing from there. Once Alexander returned to the arena with Bucephalus, the great King Phillip supposedly noticed immediately just how powerful the pair looked together. The royal is rumored to have said: “O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.”

The taming of the wild and powerful Bucephalus immediately became a turning point in Alexander’s life. The confidence he built from there allowed him to run roughshod in a conquest of Asia. And, of course, Bucephalus was with him the entire time. From there, Bucephalus immediately became Alexander’s favorite horse. The conqueror regularly rode him in nearly every major battle.

At one point, the stallion was even stolen from the ruler. In response, Alexander promptly issued an ultimatum: Return the horse, or he would destroy every town, village, and farm he came across as he raced across the region searching for him. Wouldn’t you know it? Bucephalus was returned immediately.

In the end, Bucephalus died in 326 BC, not long after the Battle of Hydaspes. Alexander was so sad about his trusted horse’s death that he eventually named the city of Bucephala in the horse’s honor. And in the modern era, even though the horse lived so many centuries ago, historians and equine lovers alike still debate his legacy, memory, and importance to the ancient world.^[8]

2 Figure

You may have heard of the Morgan horse breed, but chances are you’ve never heard of the horse who started it all. That would be Figure, a small bay stallion only 14 hands high—very short for a male horse. But even though he was small, he was both strong and fast. As a three-year-old in the last decade of the 18th century, he was given to a music teacher named Justin Morgan.

A local man in New England, where Morgan lived, had owed the musician and teacher a debt, so he paid him back with the horse. As it turned out, it would be the best kind of payment Morgan could have ever been given. At first, Figure gained some local fame as an indefatigable workhorse. Then, after another couple of years under Morgan’s care, he became an incredible local racehorse.

Most famously, during a sweepstakes race in 1796, Figure beat two legendary New York racehorses to the finish line. From there, the little bay stallion went by a new name: the Justin Morgan horse. Morgan painstakingly taught Figure how to do everything. He could out-walk, out-trot, out-run, and even out-pull other horses—even those much bigger than him.

Over the years, Figure proved to be such an incredible worker and so well-trained that everybody in the Connecticut River Valley and all across Vermont begged Morgan to let them breed their mares to him. Thankfully for us, and just as thankfully for the future horse breed that would bear Figure’s characteristics, Morgan acquiesced. For the next couple of decades, Figure sired plenty of local horses and continued to prove himself as a capable steed.

Figure died in 1821 after he was retired out to pasture in the last few years of his life after a long time at work. His legacy continued to be felt for well over a century after that. It helped that he was the sire of an entirely new breed of horses. But there was a very famous book written about him, too: Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry. And there was even a 1972 movie produced by Disney with the same name! More than 150 years after his death, people still thought about Figure.^[9]

1 Black Beauty

When author Anna Sewell published Black Beauty in 1877, it instantly became a hit. And now, even though the horse for whom the book was named is a figment of Sewell’s imagination, Black Beauty’s legacy is so solid that he has to be listed in this rundown.

The novel follows the tale of a young horse named Black Beauty as he goes through his life. In the book, Sewell makes clear just how harsh horses (and other animals) were treated by humans during the middle of the 19th century. And Sewell did one critical thing that really made a difference for readers: She wrote the story from the horse’s perspective.

By doing that, Sewell gave a new voice to ending all kinds of disturbing animal cruelty practices that were commonplace in the 19th century. Thankfully for Sewell, the book was an immediate hit. And thankful for horses, it quickly led to major changes in animal husbandry practices. Readers were so moved by Black Beauty’s tale that they began openly questioning things like the then-common use of the bearing rein on horses. And it didn’t stop there.

The novel quickly influenced government officials and those in the policy sector too. Over time, Black Beauty inspired the formation of a host of animal welfare organizations. Unlike before, people became seriously concerned with the welfare of the horses they relied on for work and transport. It should have happened much sooner than that, but we’re just thankful it happened. For that, even though he was merely a fictional creation dreamed up by a novelist, Black Beauty is one of the most heroic horses to ever “live.”^[10]