Horses

Horses are creatures and fictional creatures derived thereupon from Equus ferus. Horses have been an important creature in human history for an incredible amount of time and as such are well known are well portrayed throughout history. Humans have adored horses as vehicles to ride on. Humans like riding so much that it is used not just recreationally, but also for therapeutical purposes in modern times. Horses have also been eaten and used for milk in some cultures, but not all. In many cultures eating horses were taboo due to how people rode on them. Horses value as riding vessels and carriers of goods have protected them. In many cultures horses wear reins and saddles in order for humans to ride them. Ironically they are a symbol of freedom for their love of running (galloping). In American culture horses are loved by and associated strongly with cowboys and other country people like farmers; as well as little girls. While most preschool girls have been taught to love horses and some caught on, only a fragment of them were able to learn to ride them. Despite people's love of horse riding, it is not as common of a sport as other kinds. However, it is still very popular. Horses are often portrayed on little girl's and country items. The unicorn and pegasus are horse-derived mythological creatures that are well-known in America, where everyone knows them, and they are often on girls and seldomly women's items (especially the latter). Horses, being associated with cowboys, are also connected to Native Americans. They are one trait of colonialism that Indians do not often disfavor or look upon with much sadness. Having horses in America is still a sign of rank, with rich people not necessarily needing to own them (as it makes them look more country or British or medieval) but can nonetheless show such. At the same time it can also be attributed as a poor farmer's animal, depending on the person. Thus owning a horse can be looked up for, but also looked down for. A rich person able to have a stable and the people to take care of them and the skill to ride, but also the dirtiness of a farm and the necessity of needing a horse to work an ungainly, unproper ranch. It does take quite a bit of money these days to own horses as they need acres, stables, riding gear, cleaning gear, friends, and lots of feed. In the past, Americans may have been expected to own horses as a cultural necessity, in a similar way to how we expect people to own cars today.

Wild horses were introduced to the Americas during European immigration. Mustangs have remained a controversial figure in America for their rights to live. On the one hand forcing animals to die or to be ridden, their role in the ecosystem which lacks the proper herbivores and may help a little in supplementing cougar and bear diets, and their role in paleolithic rewilding; but also because they are technically an invasive species. There was a mass capturing in the early 2000s that stirred controversey, and recently Colorado rounded up all of their wild horses, causes more upset. According to rumor, it seems that they rounded them up simply because they were tired of managing them.

## Media

Horses have appeared in various media as steeds for English, medieval, cowboys, Native Americans, and others in English media. Due to the need of ancient people riding horses, they are more likely to appear in historical-based movies and TV shows. They appear as carriage pullers and war horses as well.

Epona is a horse character from the Legend of Zelda games. She is portrayed as a red taffy or chocolate palomino mare (not sure). She is the steed for Link in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. She is also an amino for The Breath Of The Wild, and is apparently of an extinct horse breed in that era. She is also a steed in Twilight Princess, though you can name her (and, technically, he wasn't Link either in most of those games). She also has appearances as Malon's horse, such as in the Minish Cap.

Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimmaron is an animated movie about a dun horse that cannot be tamed

The My Little Pony toy franchise has spurred several television shows. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was in particular influential, changing fandom culture and American males forever. Twilight Sparkle in particular pushed out the vampire Twilight association of the word, freeing it from sparkly vampires and moving it to her, until eventually it became a somewhat normal word again. I think.

## Religion

Horses are featured in religion around the world.

In Norse Polytheism and related religions, the Svaldifari is a stallion owned by a giant. He was an amazing giant horse who could pull seemingly anything. This allowed the giant who owned him to almost fulfill his deal to build the walls of Asgard on time. This would have let him have Freya as his wife. However Loki, under threat of death by Odin, was told to stop him. Loki transformed into a gorgeous white mare in heat, who led Svaldifari away for the rest of the day, forcing his master to lose his deal, wife, and life. He had gone into a rage and revealed his heritage, resulting in the gods choosing to kill him instead. Loki became pregnant and then gave birth to the eight legged god-horse Sleipnir. Sleipnir, in modern times, is prayed to as a god by some Pagans and Polytheists.

The Gauls honored a horse goddess named Epona. She is one of the few Celtic goddesses adopted by the Romans mostly as is, with less Roman modifications than other gods.

The monkey god Sun Wukong was once offered by the Jade Emperor to became the leading horseman in an effort to curb his wild antics. When he found out the position held almost no rank he went back home to his island where he was a king. Angry, the Jade Emperor started a war against him, leading to the rest of the novel of Journey To The West. Due to this reason he might be seen as a horse god by some, though it might be seen as offensive to him by others. Additionally, the Red Buttocks Horse Monkey is mentioned as one of the four major apes in the book. It appears that ancient China associated macaques with horses as occasionally the monkeys visited their stables and might even have been trained to work with them, though the history is unclear to me in the English world, and perhaps the Chinese world as well (though I'm not sure). One of the individuals in Sun Wukong's party was a dragon who was forced to become a white horse after he ate the original one that they had and became the monk Tripitaka's steed. He was seen as too important by Tripitaka and Sun Wukong in his role to hold other weight of objects or the other members. He pretended to be a real horse and for the most part did not speak or go back into dragon form.