History Main / HorsingAround

* ''Film/TrueLies'' has a wonderful example when the police horse Arnie is using to chase a terrorist flat out refuses to jump a gap between skyscrapers, almost dumping him over the edge.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', when Link is reunited with Epona in Kakariko village she is seen bucking off several bokoglins, and Link has to capture her and stay in the saddle for a while until she calms down and recognizes him.

* At least three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PinkPanther'' feature a stubborn horse that cruelly laughs at Pink's misfortune. In one episode Pink is a knight on a mission to rescue a princes but his horse absolutely refuses to be ridden. After several failed mounting attempts he decides to exchange the horse for a dragon. Another has him as Paul Revere looking for a horse, and the only one available is on the British side. This time he is a bit more successful with riding the horse.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', Joseph gets kicked, thrown off, and spit on by a grumpy camel while unsuccessfully attempting to ride it.

* ''WesternAnimation/HaileysOnIt'': In "The Wild, Wild Mess", Hailey requires the assistance of a horse call Bitter Bertha who refuses to let anyone ride her after her previous owner abandoned her for a motorbike. After Bertha learns she and Hailey have a [[EnemyMine common enemy]] against a motorbike gang, she allows Hailey to ride her.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': Scrooge [=McDuck=] had a horse like this in his youth.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', the titular character has been invited to a dude ranch by [[LoveInterest Patty.]] So, wanting to impress her, he claims to have better equestrian skills than he actually does. He gets [[{{Pun}} saddled]] with a mean black horse ironically named Sugar.
* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' had a black horse named Certain Death on Cactus Jake's Dude Ranch in "Polecat Flats" who was so ferocious it had to be kept behind a four-rail fence and could beat it hooves on its chest like an angry gorilla when sufficiently enraged. He appears again in "Cactus Jake Rides Again", where a Champion cowboy is scheduled to ride Certain Death and must be thrown so that Cactus Jake can get a cash bonus. Unfortunately, due to eating four pans of Garfield's lasagna, Certain Death becomes drowzy and tired until Garfield feeds him Cactus Jake's special deluxe chilli, turning him ferocious again and winning the rodeo.

* The Dutch comic ''Te Paard'' [[note]]Mounted[[/note]] has the perpetually ill-tempered pony Bijou, who earned himself the nickname "The Ejection Seat" for regularly tossing his riders when they annoy him.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', there's an item known as the Obsidian Steed. If the rider is good-aligned, they must roll to control the beast or it goes to the Lower Planes and dumps them there.

** Juggernauts of [[WarGod Khorne]] from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' are all but untameable, goring and crushing any unworthy mortal or daemon with the impudence to attempt to ride them. Even those who succeed in getting a Juggernaut to accept them as a rider have little control over their monstrous mount, merely clinging to the beast�s back as the Juggernaut itself decides when an where it will attack.

* Among horsey people, chestnut mares are said to be prone to this behavior, similar to the concept of "tortitude" among tortoiseshell cats.

* Several novels in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series include (usually humorous) antics from horses, such as the infamously ugly and ill-tempered Grey Stud in ''The Last Herald-Mage'', a beautiful but stupid horse in ''Oathbreakers,'' and an entire stable full of misbehaving horses in the short story "Spring Plowing at Forst Reach" in ''Oathblood''.

* Rurune in ''Literature/TheFruitOfEvolution'' is introduced as a combination of a donkey from hell and a RoyalBrat, possessing a fiery temper, an inflated ego, and the raw physical prowess to back up her bluster. Her owner kept her in his heaviest stall, ''caged in with iron bars''... which [[BarrierBurstingBlow failed to stop her]] from kicking her way out and giving him a beating just as protagonist Seichi was visiting looking for a mount. Seichi [[AllWomenWantHercules earned her undying loyalty and love]] by having the SuperStrength needed to NoSell her attempt to beat him senseless before dragging her back to her cage. Even after she [[HumanityEnsues turned into a human girl]] thanks to the titular PowerUpFood, she is still incredibly arrogant and domineering; the only person she respects is Seichi... and even ''he' gets looked down upon sometimes.

* Ponyta and Rapidash from ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' are both described as being wild-natured and burning anyone whom they don't trust if said person attempts to ride them. In one early episode, Ash Ketchum has to train a Ponyta for a race after its own trainer is injured and has a very hard time of it. About halfway through, though, things get better and Ash gains the trust of the Ponyta, which goes on to win the race - after evolving into Rapidash.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' the demise of Ward's father is brought about by his stallion. Ward is not particularly sad about this, rather relieved, as his father was a violent man, who beat him nearly to death more than once. Ward endeavours to tame the stallion, who he is convinced is only so fierce because of mistreatment. He is right, and acquires a CoolHorse.

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* ''Series/MisterEd'': What do you expect? The show stars a talking horse!

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* Examples from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':

** in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', when Link is reunited with Epona in Kakariko village she is seen bucking off several bokoglins, and Link has to capture her and stay in the saddle for a while until she calms down and recognizes him.

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* WesternAnimation/{{Donald Duck}}'s steed in "WesternAnimation/DudeDuck". He'd rather have one of the other beautiful women at the dude ranch ride him instead of this cantankerous duck.

* Donkeys, the close relative of horses and ponies are well known for their stubborn nature and tend to be less trusting towards humans. Likewise, mules (a cross between a male donkey and a female horse) and the rarer hinnys (a cross between a female donkey and a male horse), who tend to inherit the stubborn streak of their donkey parents, hence the phrase "[[StubbornMule stubborn as a mule]]". However, once you get along with them, they are quite dependable, hardy, and intelligent, mules even more so then either parent. Ticking them off is not wise, either: they can strike with their hooves in any direction, even sideways.
* Camels are also known for behaving badly; they'll spit, bite [[note]]and keep in mind that unlike horses, camels have ''fangs''![[/note]], refuse to move, or run out of control for seemingly no reason. Balanced by the fact that in the desert you'd still rather have a live camel with you than a dead horse.
* Famous racehorse Seabiscuit's quirks were actually toned down for the movie, and he was a notorious bad actor until he was just lucky enough to get an owner, trainer and jockey who understood him. The race instructions "... never hit him with the whip, only touch him with it on the left side, and never more than three times..." were taken word for word from an interview with the real Red Pollard.

* There was an attempt to domesticate zebras during the colonial era due to them being immune to diseases that were decimating horses. They proved to be too prone to panicking and, being wild animals, were much more unpredictable than horses. A few people had succeeded after multiple cases of trial and error with a few individual zebras that could be ridden, but generally it was considered too much effort and the project was abandoned. This is also why, over the course of human history, zebras have ''never'' been successfully domesticated as a whole, with the only successes being in taming individuals, with any subsequent offspring inevitably being just as wild and aggressive toward humans as the offspring of non-tamed individuals. It's presumed that because they evolved alongside humans, their instinctive fear and aggression against humans has simply been too hardwired into their DNA to be overcome conventionally.

* And of course, there is Creator/ChristopherReeve's accident as an example: he was competing at a horse trial when his horse Eastern Express suddenly slammed on the brakes one or two strides from a jump, something known as a "dirty stop" in equestrian circles. Reeves flew over his horse's head and struck the solid cross country obstacle head first; the impact approximated a fall from a three-story window. Reeves' head was saved by his helmet but the impact crushed the vertebrae in his neck. No one knows why the horse stopped, as he had never done anything like that before. He only had to do it once.
* One of the most famous of horses that taken to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI was [[http://beersheba100.com.au/stories/bill.html Bill The Bastard]] - a notoriously bad tempered horse, known for throwing and injuring anyone who attempted to ride him, until he met Major Michael Shanahan who befriended him. Bill then was famous for several exploits, including helping Shanahan rescue four Australian soldiers - galloping away with all five men on him. Bill also saved Shanahan when Shanahan was shot during the charge at the Battle of Beersheba, very carefully carrying him to the nearest medical station that Bill knew - a veterinary facility.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', the titular character has been invited to a dude ranch by [[LoveInterest Patty.]] So, wanting to impress her, he claims to have better equestrian skills than he actually does. He gets [[IncrediblyLamePun saddled]] with a mean black horse ironically named Sugar.

* The riding accident that nearly cost Creator/KaleyCuoco her foot is only one of many, many textbook examples of how dangerous horses can be without even trying or intending to do their rider any harm. Imagine having one actually pissed off and hellbent on destroying you, which there are also numerous cases of.

* The horse girls of ''Anime/UmaMusume'' are known to do this, with many quirks based on their real life counterparts. Seiun Sky, for instance, is seen [[https://pasteboard.co/HmzHmc8.png needing a push]] to get into the starting gate like her real life version did, and the real Gold Ship's stubborn and capricious nature is shown by his horse girl version being a CloudcuckooLander.

* Creator/DavidNiven recounted an amusing Horsing Around anecdote that happened to him while he was filming ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' in his memoir ''The Moon's A Balloon'': The director wanted all of his stars mounted on fiery, flashy horses for the royal procession scene. Niven, being an experienced rider, wanted no part of that and bribed the wrangler to give him a nice, safe, gentle mare instead... only to be nearly killed when his nice, safe, gentle mare was [[CoitusEnsues mounted]] by Ronald Colman's stallion.

* Horses can be sneaky devils as well. A common one is them inhaling as you fasten their saddles, so that when they exhale again, the saddle becomes loose and you end up riding upside down. They have lots of tricks beyond this, like getting the bit anywhere it's not supposed to be (between their teeth, beneath their tongue, back in their mouth, etc.) and flat out refusing to follow any of the rider's bidding.

* ''Runaway Radish'' from the children's book of the same name is described as a ''good'' bad pony, because he teaches his riders to make ''sure'' they check their girths, latch his stall, close all gates, plug in the electric fence, tie tight knots... ''and hold on tight!''

* The riding accident that nearly cost Creator/KaleyCuoco her foot is only one of many, many textbook examples of how dangerous horses can be without even trying. Imagine having one actually pissed off and hellbent on destroying you, which there are also numerous cases of.