History WesternAnimation / SpiritRidingFree

** “Lucky and the Big Goodbye” has the [=PALs=] leave the circus and return home to Miradeo. Lucky reunites with her father. Then she embraces Miss Flores and breaks down crying before walking into the house with them.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Butch [=LePrey=] returns and hijacks a train, Grayson actually tries to [[EnemyMine help Lucky take her down]]. Soon after, during a confrontation with Butch, Grayson drops hints to her, revealing his last name and his relation to Judge Grayson, his father whom Butch killed while breaking out of prison in another town. Butch simply responds that she can’t be bothered to remember everyone who got in her way, implying that Judge Grayson was not the only person who tried to bring her to justice and wound up paying the price.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In “Lucky and the Wayward Wedding,” Jim returns home to see what’s holding Lucky up. As Jim approach’s his house, Spirit frantically gallops around it worried and upset. Spirit also tries preventing Jim from entering the house as if trying to warn him about something. Viewers might guess what is going to happen after watching the previous episode (“Lucky and the Cousins Caper”), which ends with Butch Lepray finding a clue where to find Lucky.

** Butch Lepray is a dangerous outlaw who has no mercy on her victims.
* LiteralMinded: In “Lucky and the Train Tycoon,” Lucky receives a telegram from her grandfather, who is coming to visit her. Lucky runs home to inform her family. When her father, Jim asks “So where’s the fire?” Lucky responds “there is no fire.”

** Inverted whenever [[ExtremelyProtectiveChild Lucky]] tries defending Spirit and when she saves her father from Butch Lepray.
* MatchCut: In “Lucky and the New Frontier Part 2,” Jim visits Lucky in her room as she packs for boarding school. Lucky explains how she let Spirit go since she wants him to be free. Jim and Lucky hug and remain that position as the screen cuts from Lucky’s room to the train station.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In “Lucky and the Doubtful Drought,” while the water system in Miradeo is dried out with the nearby river seemingly dry, Grayson gets plenty of attention for providing the townsfolk barrels of water which he claims is from his well. Grateful to receive a good water supply, the townsfolk perceive Grayson as the town hero. As the [=PALs=] find out, Grayson’s well is empty and he has been getting his water supply from the river which is actually blocked by a landslide. Grayson was just hiding that place all along. Just when the mayor is about to honor Grayson by giving him the key to the town and proclaim a holiday to celebrate his (false) heroism, water emerges from the town fountain since the [=PALS=] have managed to remove enough logs to keep the river running. Then the girls expose Grayson of his deceit. Upon hearing the [=PALs=] explain that the river was only blocked by a landslide, everyone is completely outraged with Grayson. Jim Prescott declares Grayson’s days of selling water over.

* WhamLine: In “Lucky And The No Good Outlaw Butch Lepray,” Lucky spends most of the episode trying to discover the identity of Butch Lepray once she hears of him from the meek bookkeeper, Jane. Lucky and Jane follow a couple of bandits into a nearby town assuming one of them is Butch Lepray. When they are cornered by the bandits, Jane reveals she is their leader. That’s when Lucky finally figures it out.
** “Wait a minute! You weren’t attacked by Butch Lepray. You ''are'' Butch Lepray!”

* WolfInSheepsClothing: “Lucky and the No Good Outlaw Butch [=LePray=]” has Lucky meet a meek bespectacled woman named Jane, who informs her and her friends about a mysterious outlaw known as Butch [=LePray=]. She seems kind and helpful. When Lucky sees a couple of bandits robbing the circus caravan, Jane urges Lucky to follow them while she gets help.As Lucky and Jane get cornered by the bandits, Jane reveals her true nature as an evil bandit. In fact, she turns out to be Butch [=LePray=].

** “Wait a minute! You weren’t attacked by Butch Lepray. You are Butch Lepray!”

* AbsenteeActor: The one episode in which Pru and Abigail are absent is “Lucky and the Warm Welcome.” However, Lucky mentions them at one point during the episode.

* BilingualBonus: Maricela speaks fluent Spanish. {{Subverted}} with Lucky, who cannot speak the language herself, contrary to expectations. Possibly justified since her Spanish fluent mother died before she had any opportunity to teach her how to speak.

* AdultFear:
** In “Lucky and the Deadly Blizzard,” everyone in Miradeo catches the flu and falls ill. Lucky and Maricela are the only people still healthy and they set out to find the train that supposed to deliver the medicine after realizing that it didn’t show up on time. When Jim sees the blizzard and realizes Lucky is in it, he grows fearful of his daughter’s life.
** Aunt Cora has a great deal of this in "Lucky and the Lion" when she finds out that Lucky has left the house and fears she’ll be killed by the mountain lion. She promptly struggles to conquer her fear of riding horses in order to find Lucky in a hurry. Fortunately, Cora saves Lucky from the mountain lion in time.
** Spirit has his share of fear when Lucky’s in peril, such as when she captured by Butch [=LePray=] and falls into a frozen lake.

* BilingualBonus: Maricela speaks fluent Spanish. Subverted with Lucky, who cannot speak the language herself, contrary to expectations. Possibly justified since her Spanish fluent mother died before she had any opportunity to teach her how to speak.

** “Lucky and the Big Goodbye” has the [=PALs=] leave the circus and return home to Miradeo. Lucky reunites with her father. Then she embraces Miss Flores breaking down into crying before walking into the house with them.

** Lucky and several of her classmates are people of color during a time period when race relations were still tense and slavery had only recently been abolished, which is made even more jarring since the Indian Wars were one of the focal points of the original movie. Slightly {{Justified}} since this is set in a more rural part of the West, which was less discriminatory than the South.
** Also, Lucky and her friends are able to be more tomboyish than what was expected of the setting, though this is slightly {{Subverted}} by her aunt actively trying to make her dress and act more femininely.

** In the music video, the [=PALs=] imitate singing into microphones, which haven't even been invented at this time (regular microphones weren't invented until 1927).

** Inverted whenever Lucky tries defending Spirit and when she saves her father from Butch Lepray.

** Lucky’s close relationship with her father, Jim is mainly justified by her MissingMom status. Though Lucky inherits her mother’s spirit, she also has the same wild shriek as her father. Jim even allows Lucky to set off on adventures alone with her friends, though he accompanies them on two of their camping trips. While remembering his first wife, Milagro, Jim tells Lucky stories about her. Even when she runs away from home, Lucky is convinced to return to her father and their reunion is heartwarming.

** Lucky’s close relationship with her father, Jim is mainly justified by her [[MissingMom]] status. Though Lucky inherits her mother’s spirit, she also has the same wild shriek as her father. Jim even allows Lucky to set off on adventures alone with her friends, though he accompanies them on two of their camping trips. While remembering his first wife, Milagro, Jim tells Lucky stories about her. Even when she runs away from home, Lucky is convinced to return to her father and their reunion is heartwarming.

** Lucky’s close relationship with her father, Jim is mainly justified by her [[MissingMom]] status. Though Lucky inherits her mother’s spirit, she also has the same wild shriek as her father. Jim even allows Lucky to set off on adventures alone with her friends. Even when she runs away from home, Lucky is convinced to return to her father and they have a heartwarming reunion.

* DisqualificationInducedVictory: In “Lucky and the Price Of Freedom,” Lucky and Spirit sneak into a race with the former disguised as a man since only men can enter the competition. Lucky and Spirit win the race, beating Grayson by a few horse lengths. However, when Lucky’s identity is exposed, she is announced disqualified. Then Grayson is announced the winner and receives the trophy.

* BlueIsHeroic:
** Pru’s Aqua Blue shirt and winter coat, and her dark blue jeans.
** Zigzag with Grayson’s blue jacket.
** Inverted with Butch [=LePray=]’s blue shirt.

** When Maricela tries to force herself into the group, she refers to them all as [=PALMs=].

** When the PALs state that they were delayed for the race start because of a mishap with cooking grease, Bebe says they can't be held responsible for cooking grease in their boots. Lucky then states "We said nothing about boots".

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Stated onscreen where Daphne points out if the BUDs focussed on maintaining their lead instead of constantly stopping to sabotage the PALs, they'd have a better chance of winning the race.

* FunWithAcronyms: The girls realize they must be destined to be best pals when they realize "PAL" is what their names spell; '''P'''ru, '''A'''bigail and '''L'''ucky. Abigail then tries to do the same with their horses; Boomerang, Chica Linda and Spirit, but fails. Bebe, Ursula and Daphne also refer to themselves as BUDs.

* FunWithAcronyms: The girls realize they must be destined to be best pals when they realize "PAL" is what their names spell; '''P'''ru, '''A'''bigail and '''L'''ucky. Abigail then tries to do the same with their horses; Boomerang, Chica Linda and Spirit, but fails.

* TheDitz: Abigail.

* [[INeverSaidItWasPoison I Never Said It Was Peaches]]: The identity of the pie thief is revealed because they knew the second pie was made with peaches, instead of cherries as the Stone family recipe is known for.

In 2021, the series gained a [[RecursiveAdaptation major motion film adaption]] adapting events from the first season titled ''Spirit: Untamed,'' It should be noted that it's the first Dreamworks Netflix show to get one.

* SuddenDownerEnding: In “Lucky and the Wayward Wedding,” The Pals experience a series of misfortunes—especially Lucky. Things seem to be getting better when Jim and Kate’s wedding is about to begin. While Lucky doesn’t show up at the wedding on time, Jim returns home to see what’s holding her up. Jim enters the house finding himself and Lucky captured by Butch LePray.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Butch LePrey returns and hijacks a train, Grayson actually tries to [[EnemyMine help Lucky take her down]]. Soon after, during a confrontation with Butch, Grayson drops hints to her, revealing his last name and his relation to Judge Grayson, his father whom Butch killed while breaking out of prison in another town. Butch simply responds that she can’t be bothered to remember everyone who got in her way, implying that Judge Grayson was not the only person who tried to bring her to justice and wound up paying the price.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Cora lampshades this at the end of “Lucky and the Patchwork Plan.” While Cora leaves Miradeo on the train, she is already a little far from town when Lucky and Spirit catch up and Cora demands the train to be stopped. After Lucky convinces Cora to stay in Miradeo, Cora changes her mind about returning to the city, unloads her luggage from the train, and lets the train leave without her. Just as Cora starts walking back toward Miradeo with Lucky and Spirit, she suddenly realizes she had made a hasty decision that left her stranded in the desert. So she winds up having to walk a long way back to Miradero on foot while carrying so much luggage.
-->'''Cora''': Oh, dear! I didn’t quite think this through.

* FromStrayToPet: Spirit was previously deemed an untameable feral horse.

* Hypocrite: “Lucky and the Flight Of Fancy” has Julian steal a hot air balloon which he cannot afford. He intends to pay off the balloon by selling people rides on it. When he sees the salesmen he stole the balloon from, Julian flees. Meanwhile, Lucky and Cora decide to take a ride on the balloon which is anchored to the house by a rope. As Julian climbs aboard and unties the rope to make his getaway, he admonishes Lucky for taking the hot air balloon without his permission while he has still stolen it. Julian also has the tendency to touch Lucky’s personal belongings (such as her binoculars) without her permission.

** Inverted with Butch Lepray’s red hair and bandanna.

* Savage Wolves: “Lucky and the Doomed Delivery” has the [=PALs=] camp out at an abandoned orphanage which they discover is inhabited by wolves. One wolf chases them up to the roof. Then the rest of the pack surrounds them. Fortunately, Spirit comes to the rescue by fighting off the wolves. As Lucky and Abigail escape on their horses, they find Pru still trapped on the roof. Lucky and Spirit lure the wolves away to allow Pru to escape.