History Main / VirileStallion

--> '''John Oliver''': ""Witnesses never wearied of being astonished by the steed-and-human intercourse brought to full perfection..." Which I'm hoping is a mistranslation but probably isn't"

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'': Played with, the Ranyhyn are a herd of wild horses that possess phenomenal strength and endurance. The Lords who rule The Land regularly present themselves to the Ranyhyn, to see if the Ranyhyn deem them worthy. If a Ranyhyn horse deems a Lord worthy, it will rear to them and become that Lord's servant by staying close, coming when they whistle, and allowing Lord to ride him wherever he goes. If a Lord presents himself or herself to the Ranyhn and a Ranyhyn does ''not'' choose them, there is nothing preventing that Lord from continuing as a Lord, but there is still a question of why they were rejected. One Lord who was rejected and therefore has to ride an ordinary horse cannot keep up with other Lords who ride Ranyhyn with far greater speed and endurance. Even the Lords were confused as to why he was rejected, as he was a good and noble Lord. When Thomas Covenant came to the Land, over ''one hundred'' Ranyhyn reared to him, which astonished the Ramen whose work was to serve and care for the Ranyhyn, because on one had ever had more than one Ranyhyn accept them. However, it's made clear the Ranyhyn did so not out of respect, but because they were terrified of the power of the White Gold ring Covenant carried.

* ''Series/LastWeekTonight'': Parodied in the episode about Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan associates himself with horses (specifically Akhal-Tekes) and John makes funs of this by implying that his love for horses borders on beastiality. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has written books about horses, wrote poems about horses, enters horse competitions, made it illegal to rename horses, and calls himself the "People's horse breeder".

* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'': EU4 uses a horses (presumably stallions used as warhorses) as symbols for how willing the enemy is to continue fighting a war. Indicator (located in the lower right corner of enemy's coat of arms) has thee versions:

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': ''Rickdependence Spray'' has a lot of sexual imagery and horses have a strong presence in the episode. Morty causes the invasion of giant mutant sperm by using a horse breeding mount to masturbate, the episode introduces the Chuds, a species of cannibalistic horses that have been at war with humans, and Rick drunkenly got one of their princesses pregnant and she orders a truce to save his life. The princess is called Poñeta, a Spanish term for masturbation, and one of the chuds proclaim that the pregnancy was all part of the prophecy that would unite the chuds and humans.

* In some European languages this association has led to call a sexually successful man "stallion" (e.g. Italian "stallone" and Russian "žerebec"). In a twist of irony, the word "stud" itself is related to several Germanic cognates (e.g. German "die Stute", Swedish "sto") sharing the meaning "mare".

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar2'': As the son of Poseidon, Theseus has a horse motif and this version of the character portrays Theseus as an old man whose glory days are far behind him. He proudly serves the Sisters of Fate for the glory of Zeus by looking after the steeds of time and he fights Kratos after deeming him weak for losing the fight against Zeus.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': Immortan Joe has this as his [[AnimalMotif motif]]. His gas mask is decorated with horse teeth, his car is named the Gigahorse, carries a pair of western-style revolvers of the type used by 19th-century cavalrymen, as well as his attempts to breed the perfect heir which bears a very uncomfortable similarity to equine husbandry.

It can go with CoolHorse, OurCentaursAreDifferent varies in application because they are mythological half-man, half-horse creatures. The original centaurs of Greek mythology, however, were very much subject to this trope. [[CockyRooster The rooster]] and [[BrutishBull the bull]] are other animals with similar connotations about masculinity and virility. Compare AlphaAndBetaWolves, a similar misunderstanding of animal "dominance" and group dynamics. Contrast AllGirlsLikePonies for when horses are seen as feminine. Compare DiligentDraftAnimal, where the draft horses' strength is emphasized in the context of work endurance rather than masculinity.

Since horse riding and horse caring were once associated with nobility, horse ownership was once seen as a symbol of wealth. When ranchers in the Wild West rode horses as they rounded up cattle, it became associated with the manly art of tending the land and being self-reliant in their craft.

Due to their association with virility and masculinity, this trope is more associated with men than women since men have to be providers and are known to be more competitive against other men. Like horses, if a man is deemed too weak to work or too old to do their job then he'll be made redundant and therefore emasculated by the public for being weak and frail. Of course, this was before technological improvements, workplace health and safety regulations, and anti-prejudice laws were brought in to improve the workplace.

In a crude sense of symbolism, the association with sexuality is believed to be associated with a horse's genitals as they are famously well endowed, which correlates with the masculine insecurity about the size of their manhood. However, when horse-riding became associated with [[AllGirlsLikePonies femininity]], it's common for [[BrutishBulls bulls]] to be associated with unbridled masculinity instead.

It can go with CoolHorse, OurCentaursAreDifferent varies in application because they are mythological half-man, half-horse creatures. The original centaurs of Greek mythology, however, were very much subject to this trope. [[CockyRooster The rooster]] is another farm animal with similar connotations about masculinity and virility. Compare AlphaAndBetaWolves, a similar misunderstanding of animal "dominance" and group dynamics. Contrast AllGirlsLikePonies for when horses are seen as feminine. Compare DiligentDraftAnimal, where the draft horses' strength is emphasized in the context of work endurance rather than masculinity.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ranma Saotome has the meaningful name "Wild Horse", has quite a lot of pride in his manliness (he's [[TheAce a top-notch martial artist]]) and any kind of questioning about it is a BerserkButton. Which of course makes it quite ironic that he has a curse [[GenderBender that turns him into a woman]] and he comes to embrace it because it allows him to do things like eating ice cream without shame. It also turns out to be enforced because his father made an oath to his mother that Ranma would be a "man among men" courtesy of his martial arts training under threat of {{Seppuku}} if they failed.

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': The Storm Lord's male pegasi are overly concerned with becoming the 'Sire,' a stallion specifically chosen to breed with the mares of the farm and who lives in special quarters apart from the rest. Haara gets each member of the flock to help her fight the skyswimmer by convincing them the Storm Lord would value them more after defeating such a powerful foe in battle.

** Centaurs were originally characterised as amorous warriors who were seen as wild, lawless, and inhospitable beings who were slaves to their "animal passions".

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Deconstructed, Bojack is a washed-up Hollywood celebrity who [[ReallyGetsAround has sex with a lot of women]], but he does so to compensate for his loneliness and depression. It also bites him in the back, as he not only [[spoiler:has a serious fallout with his ex-girlfriend Charlotte due to seemingly sleeping with her teenage daughter Penny]], but also [[spoiler:his relationship with his former co-star Sarah Lynn leads to her drug-induced death, which also ruins his entire career]].

* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': Centaurs were originally characterised as amorous warriors who were seen as wild, lawless, and inhospitable beings who were slaves to their "animal passions".

* Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan associates himself with horses as he has written books about horses, wrote poems about horses, enters horse competitions, made it illegal to rename horses, and calls himself the "People's horse breeder".

* Series/ParksAndRecreation: As the uber-celebrity of Pawnee Lil' Sebastian occupies this spot in a few of his memorial pictures since several people insist on using pictures of him ''fully erect''.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': ''Rickdependence Spray'' has a lot of sexual imagery and horses have a strong presence in the episode. Morty causes the invasion of giant mutant sperm by using a horse breeding mount to masturbate, the episode introduces the Chuds, a species of cannibalistic horses that have been at war with humans, and Rick drunkenly got one of their princesses pregnant and she orders a truce to save his life. The princess is called Poñeta, a Spanish term for masturbation.

In the wild, horse herds are led by their oldest mare, who is the one to direct the herd's movements, guide it to food and water sources, and otherwise control its direction and routine. In reality, the herd's stallion has the primary role of breeding with the mares and defending the herd by fighting predators and rival males. This lionisation of male horses led to the belief that stallions were the leaders of the herd through Darwinian rights, which led to the masculinisation of horses in symbolism and cultural depictions.

Since horse riding and horse caring was once associated with nobility, horse ownership was once seen as a symbol of wealth. When ranchers in the Wild West rode horses as they rounded up cattle, it became associated with the manly art of tending the land and being self-reliant in their craft.

It can go with CoolHorse, OurCentaursAreDifferent varies in application because they are mythological half-man, half-horse creatures. The original centaurs of Greek mythology, however, were very much subject to this trope. Compare AlphaAndBetaWolves, a similar misunderstanding of animal "dominance" and group dynamics. Contrast AllGirlsLikePonies for when horses are seen as feminine. Compare DiligentDraftAnimal, where the draft horses' strength is emphasized in the context of work endurance rather than masculinity.

* ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'': Jin Guangyao compares his father disparagingly to a stallion for his philandering ways.

* Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire: The Dothraki are horse-worshipping nomads with a very macho culture and a prophecy about a "stallion who mounts the world". "Mounting" in this case meaning "have sex with".

* Modern stallions, particularly Thoroughbreds, have been deprived of the natural act of reproduction, though not of their vaunted virility. As depicted in an older episode of the reality show Dirty Jobs, the stud deposits his seed into an artificial vagina, from which it is extracted into vials and frozen for later use. Both the stallion and mare are too valuable to allow them to actually touch each other.

This trope is when horses are portrayed as symbols of masculinity, sexuality, and virility.

In a crude sense of symbolism, the association with sexuality is believed to be associated with a horse's genitals as they are famously well endowed, which correlates with the masculine insecurity about the size of their manhood. However, when horse-riding became associated with [[AllGirlsLikePonies feminity]], it's common for [[BrutishBulls bulls]] to be associated with unbridled masculinity instead.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ranma Saotome has the meaningful name "Wild Horse", is quite a lot of pride in his manliness (he's [[TheAce a top-notch martial artist]]) and any kind of questioning about it is a BerserkButton. Which of course makes it quite ironic that he has a curse [[GenderBender that turns him into a woman]] and he comes to embrace it because it allows him to do things like eating ice cream without shame. It also turns out to be enforced because his father made an oath to his mother that Ranma would be a "man among men" courtesy of his martial arts training under threat of {{Seppuku}} if they failed.

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* In some European languages this association has led to call a sexually successful man "stallion" (e.g. Italian "stallone" and Russian "?erebec"). In a twist of irony, the word "stud" itself is related to several Germanic cognates (e.g. German "die Stute", Swedish "sto") sharing the meaning "mare".