Thereby Hangs a Tail: Famous Horses

Question: Which 19th-century children’s classic by Anna Sewell features a horse?

Answer: Anna Sewell published Black Beauty in 1877.

Question: The Norse god Odin rode a magical horse with eight legs. What was the horse’s name?

Answer: Sleipnir possessed teeth inscribed with runes and could gallop through the air and over the sea.

Question: A mustang known as Comanche was the mount of which well-known commander?

Answer: George Custer’s horse Comanche survived Custer’s Last Stand.

Question: The winged horse Pegasus belongs to the mythology of which culture?

Answer: In Greek mythology Pegasus sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa as she was beheaded by the hero Perseus.

Question: The Lone Ranger’s Potawatomi sidekick, Tonto, had a horse named what?

Answer: Tonto’s horse was named Scout.

Question: Which one of the following was not a horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm?

Answer: Clover, Boxer, and Mollie all figure in Animal Farm.

Question: Which of the following famous racehorses does not have a biopic?

Answer: Seabiscuit was released in 2003, Ruffian in 2007 (made for TV), and Secretariat in 2010.

Question: About which horse did Jimmy Driftwood write a song, popularized first by Eddy Arnold and later by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?

Answer: Jimmy Driftwood wrote “Tennessee Stud,” among some 6,000 other songs.

Question: What’s the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s best-known horse?

Answer: Lee purchased Traveller (then named Greenbrier) in 1862. Traveller walked behind the general’s funeral cortege in 1870.

Question: What’s the name of a mid-20th-century TV show that featured a talking horse?

Answer: In the show, Mr. Ed shared the screen with a human named Wilbur.