History Main / DiligentDraftAnimal

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': In Metal Slug 6, a new unit in the second level is called the Donkey Slug, which serves as a steed to players. The donkey will give the player a lift for miles from early in the level to the boss' arena, while carrying a mini-gun containing thousands of rounds, and even willingly pulls behind a donkey cart mounted with a Vulcan cannon while carrying its owner.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Mudsdale is the "Draft Horse Pokémon" that made its first appearance in ''Pokémon Sun and Moon''. While it was obviously based on cart horses, the Pokémon Shield entries show that this Pokémon has been used for manual labor.
-->'''Pokémon Shield:''' Mudsdale has so much stamina that it could carry over 10 tons across the Galar region without rest or sleep.

It can go with CoolHorse but that horse trope is more about warhorses than workhorses. StubbornMule is about donkeys and mules being seen as stubborn and stupid, which may or may not overlap with this trope.

->''"I will work harder."''
-->-- '''Boxer''', ''Literature/AnimalFarm''

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'': While Tevye from the original Sholem Aleichem short stories has horses to help him deliver milk, in order to get around using horses on stage, Tevye is shown pulling his own cart throughout the stage musical because his only horse is lame. He also often carries a yoke with two buckets, not unlike a workhorse. This highlights the poor, put-upon, hardworking nature of the character.
[[/folder]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser Budweiser]] has long used Clydesdale draft horses as their primary mascot, and most all commercials involving them have them pulling a delivery wagon. The horses are kept in St. Louis Missouri and tour the country, often showing up in parades such as the Mobile Alabama Mardis Gras parade. Also, when prohibition was ended in 1933 the Clydesdales delivered beer to the White House in celebration.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser]] has long used Clydesdale draft horses as their primary mascot, and most all commercials involving them have them pulling a delivery wagon. The horses are kept in St. Louis Missouri and tour the country, often showing up in parades such as the Mobile Alabama Mardis Gras parade. Also, when prohibition was ended in 1933 the Clydesdales delivered beer to the White House in celebration.

* ''Literature/HannibalRising'': There is Cesar the draft horse. He is owned by the Lector family and lives on their estate shortly before World War II in Lithuania. After the war the Soviets confiscate and convert the old castle into an orphanage. Cesar is kept on hand and serves his new owners. Hannibal returns as a young adult to sift through a bombed out hunting lodge nearby in an effort to see if he can find anything that would identify the men who murdered his young sister during the war. He sneaks Cesar out of the orphanage grounds and uses him to remove heavy debris in his search.

For other entries on hardworking animals, see MoleMiner and VirtuousBees.

It can go with CoolHorse but that horse trope is more about warhorses than workhorses, StubbornMule is about donkeys and mules being seen as stubborn and stupid, HellishHorse is about demonic, monstrous horses, WhiteStallion is about a horse being ridden by the leader, and MechanicalHorse is for robotic horses. See OurCentaursAreDifferent for the depictions of centaurs, {{Unicorn}} and WingedUnicorn for unicorns, OurHippocampsAreDifferent for hippocampi, and {{Pegasus}} for pegasus entries.

** In another myth, a Swedish king named Gylfi promised a beggar woman the gift of all the land she could play in a single day, not realizing that [[AngelUnaware she was actually]] Gefjon, the goddess of the plow. Gefjon rallied her sons together in the form of gigantic oxen, and took a lot more land than Gylfi had intended to give, dragging it out into the Baltic Sea, where it became the isle of Zealand. In 1897, the Danish sculptor Anders Bundgaard began a spectacular statue of Gefjon and her ox-sons, which now sits as part of an elaborate fountain display on the waterfront of Copenhagen, the largest city on Zealand.

[[folder: Films - Live Action]]
* ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'': The animated sequence features Clyde, a [[TalkingAnimal talking]] but otherwise non-anthropomorphic horse who [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] about the fact that he does the majority of work in pulling the carriage belonging to his master Sheamus [[FurryConfusion the anthropomorphic dog]].

[[folder: Films - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Invoked, Luisa Madrigal is associated with donkeys because of her super strength and how she's relied on by the public to do heavy lifting and hard work.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTripletsOfBelleville'': Invoked, Champion, a bicyclist, is [[AnimalMotif drawn to resemble a horse]], with an elongated face and nose, droopy eyes, and long and skinny, but muscular, limbs. He regularly goes through TrainingFromHell to compete in bicycle races. However, he is suddenly kidnapped by TheMafia, who force him and other kidnapped bikers to ride mechanical bicycles until they run out of energy, at which point [[spoiler: they shoot the tired bikers like a farmer putting down a horse]].

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Mythology]]

* ''Main/EasternZodiac'': The second sign of the Chinese and Vietnamese zodiacs, the ox and the water buffalo (respectively), signify hard work, practicality, and down-to-earth people.

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Mudsdale is the "Draft Horse Pokemon" that made its first appearance in Pokemon Sun and Moon. While it was obviously based on cart horses, the Pokemon Shield entries show that this Pokemon has been used for manual labor.
-->'''Pokemon Shield''': "Mudsdale has so much stamina that it could carry over 10 tons across the Galar region without rest or sleep"

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' In the novel, Boxer the draft horse represents the working-class men of Russia during the rise of Communism. Despite Boxer's low intelligence, he's a hard worker and dismissive of the threats the pigs impose since he believes the other animals aren't working hard enough. [[spoiler: Which makes it rather tragic that he's [[MoralEventHorizon sent to the knacker by Napoleon]] halfway through the story after overworking himself to the point of injury.]]

* ''Myth/NorseMythology'': Svadilfari was the horse that belonged to the master builder who agreed to make the walls of Asgard and made a deal that if he could build the walls before winter, he could take Freyja as his bride as well as the sun and moon. However, the builder neglected to mention that Svadilfari was magical and was able to move so swiftly that the builder could finish the walls within a few days. Fearing the outcome, the Aesir gods demanded Loki fix the problem, which he did by transforming into a mare and [[DistractedByTheSexy distracting Svadilfari]]. When Loki finally reappeared and returned to Asgard, [[MisterSeahorse he was accompanied by a foal]]. This magical horse was named Sleipnir, and ended up as Odin's favourite steed.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Invoked by the Steed Stone, which increases the player's carrying capacity by 100 points, removes all movement penalties from heavy armor, and makes armor weightless when worn by the player.

* ''VideoGame/{{Northgard}}'': Invoked with the Svadilfari clan, which themes itself around horses. The horse clan are quiet, sturdy, and graceful people ruled by a brother and sister duo, renowned for their remarkable craftsmanship and especially metalwork. They are the "technology" clan, forging tools and upgrades to make their units more effective.

* ''Myth/NorseMythology'': Svadilfari was the horse that belonged to the master builder who agreed to make the walls of Asgard and made a deal that if he could build the walls before winter, he could take Freyja as his bride as well as the sun and moon. However, the builder neglected to mention that Svadilfari was magical and was able to move so swiftly that the builder could finish the walls within a few days. Fearing the outcome, the Asgardians forced Loki to fix the problem and Loki did so by transforming into a mare and [[DistractedByTheSexy distracting Svadilfari]], defeating the builder and [[ChildByRape producing Sleipnir]].

For this trope to apply, it must involve donkeys, horses, mules, and oxen, either as an animal, a motif, or possess physical features akin to the animal. A straightforward example of the trope would be where they must be in an environment that shows their [[{{Workaholic}} compulsion to work]] or shows their strength and hardiness with manual labour (like farm work or an industrial setting)

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mulepacking.jpg]]

Draught animals (donkeys, horses, mules, and oxen) are seen as symbols of determination, endurance, and servitude. This trope is when donkeys, horses, mules, and oxen are portrayed as hardworking animals that do a majority of the manual labor or use their strength to outplay their competitors.

* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' In the novel, Boxer the draft horse represents the working-class men of Russia during the rise of Communism. Despite Boxer's low intelligence, he's a hard worker and dismissive of the threats the pigs impose since he believes the other animals aren't working hard enough. [[spoiler: Which makes it rather tragic that he's euthanised halfway through the story after overworking himself to a point of injury.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTripletsOfBelleville'': Invoked, Champion, a bicyclist, is [[AnimalMotif drawn to resemble a horse]], with an elongated face and nose, droopy eyes, and long and skinny, but muscular, limbs. He regularly goes through TrainingFromHell to compete in bicycle races. However, he is suddenly kidnapped by TheMafia, who force him and other kidnapped bikers to ride mechanical bicycles until they run out of energy, at which point [[spoiler: they shoot the tired bikers like a farmer putting down a horse]].

For this trope to apply, it must involve donkeys, horses, mules and oxen, either as an animal, a motif, or possess physical features akin to the animal. A straightforward example of the trope would be where they must be in an environment that shows their [[{{Workaholic}} compulsion to work]] or shows their strength and hardiness with manual labour (like farm work or an industrial setting)

* ''VideoGame/{{Northgard}}'': Invoked with the Svadilfari clan, which themes itself around horses. The horse clan are quiet, sturdy and graceful people ruled by a brother and sister duo, renowned for their remarkable craftsmanship and especially metalwork. They are the "technology" clan, forging tools and upgrades to make their units more effective.

[[/folder]]