Western Animation / Spirit: Riding Free

Spirit: Riding Free is a 2017 animated series by DreamWorks Animation based on the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

When city-turned-country girl Fortuna "Lucky" Prescott meets a wild mustang named Spirit, she feels an instant connection to the untamable horse. A courageous and natural-born leader, Lucky navigates this new world with her two new best friends, Pru Granger and Abigail Stone—with their horses Chica Linda and Boomerang—by her side. The trio embark on thrilling adventures, find genuine friendship, and discover what it means to be free!

The Show has spawned two spinoffs, Spirit Riding Free: Pony Tales and Spirit Riding Free: Riding Academy.

In 2021, the series gained a 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.

---

This cartoon contains examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Bianca is interested in Snips, who doesn't like spending time with her at all.
• Action Dad: Jim Prescott! He saves Lucky and her friends from a bear that attacks them. He also saves a herd of mustangs trapped by fire.
• Action Girl: The PALs!
• Adults Are Useless: Lucky feels this way in "Lucky and the Long Way Home" about everyone, including her poor father who is doing literally everything he can to help her.
• Agony of the Feet: Pru briefly suffers this in “Lucky and the Double-Dad Dare” when a rock she tries slinging with a bow lands on her foot.
  • Lucky suffers this in "Lucky and the Not-So-Secret Surprise" when she kicks a barrel of cream in an attempt to churn it and make it into ice cream.
  • Lucky suffers this again in "Lucky and the Escape Artist" when Snips stomps on her right foot, prompting her to remove her boot and attempt to Shoe Slap him with it.
• Alliterative Name: Polly Prescott.
• All That Glitters: "Lucky And The Golden Opportunity" has the girls find an old abandoned mine shaft filled with seemingly overlooked gold, only to find out it was left there for a reason: it's fool's gold.
• Ambiguously Brown: Subverted with Lucky. It's shown in the first episode that her mother Milagro is Hispanic and from Mexico, and that's who she gets her looks from.
• Anachronism Stew: The setting, like that of the movie, seems to be the late-19th century (1910s at the absolute latest), yet the PALs' wardrobe look very 21st century.
  • In the Rainy Day music video, the PALs imitate singing into microphones, which haven't even been invented at this time (regular microphones weren't invented until 1927).
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Abigail’s brother, Snips not only pesters Abigail, but her friends as well.
• Bears Are Bad News: "Lucky and the Mysterious Map" has the group find a treasure in a cave only to realize too late the cave belongs to a bear.
• Berserk Button: Spirit will fly off the handle for the following reasons:
  • Someone throwing or placing a rope around his neck.
  • Any human other then Lucky trying to ride him.
  • Another human threatening or bullying Lucky.
  • A cruel human tormenting an innocent horse.
  • Being held captive in a barn without a chance of freedom.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • "Lucky and the Lion" has Lucky and Spirit about to be killed by a mountain lion only for Aunt Cora to arrive armed with a shotgun riding Senor Carrots.
  • Spirit also has his big heroic moments.
    • “Lucky and the Super Amazing Cousin”: the PALs take a ride on a hand car that suddenly goes too fast. Then they realize the car is about to fall off a cliff. Pru and Abigail jump off but Lucky trips. Fortunately, Spirit grabs her in time before the car goes over the cliff.
    • “Lucky and the Doomed Delivery”: the PALs camp out at an abandoned orphanage which they find out is inhabited by wolves. Just when the PALs are surrounded by the wolves, Spirit suddenly shows up and fights the pack.
• Big Sister Instinct: Lucky is naturally fond of her baby sister, Polly, not to mention how excited the former gets about babysitting the latter. When Snips takes Polly in mistaking her as a wolf cub he’s after, Lucky immediately chases Snips and scolds him.
• Bilingual Bonus: Maricela speaks fluent Spanish. Subverted with Lucky, who cannot speak the language herself, contrary to expectations, likely because sher Spanish-fluent mother died before she had any opportunity to teach her how to speak.
  • Taken up to eleven when her adoptive Grandmother is so excited to see Lucky, she speaks unceasingly in Spanish, only for Lucky to have an extreme look of uncomprehending confusion on her face.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • "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.
  • In "Lucky and the Doomed Delivery", the PALs find that the orphanage where Kate grew up was abandoned, so the wedding invitation never made it to the nuns who raised her. But nonetheless, Kate is touched that Lucky tried to do something so meaningful for her, and the envelope Lucky found not only contained a necklace that belonged to Kate's mother but also a photo of her parents and her as a baby.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead:
  • Abigail (blonde), Pru (brunette), Lucky (brunette), and Maricela (redhead).
  • The PALs’ horses! Chica Linda (blonde mane), Spirit (dark brown mane), and Boomerang (red mane).
    • The BUDS: Beatrice, Ursula, and Daphne respectively.
    • There are also some of the young boys including Julian (blonde), Javier (brunette), Truro (brunette), and Snips (redhead).
• Bloodless Carnage: Spirit takes extreme damage in both "Lucky and the Long Way Home" and "Lucky and the Lion" and while extreme bleeding is mentioned, we only see red gashes on him.
• The Big Guy: Saddlemaker Turo is a little tall and a bit stocky.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Snips.
• Break the Cutie: Lucky and Abigail whenever either one of them is sad.
  • Lucky is most sad when Grayson has captured Spirit and kept her separated from him. She attempts to get him back from the woman who bought him at the auction only to realize he is lost in the frontier. When Lucky loses hope, she breaks down into tears. Lucky is also upset when her father, Jim doesn’t show up to watch her perform in the circus.
  • Abigail is saddened by Lucky and Pru’s argument in “Lucky and the Treacherous Trail” and breaks into tears. In “Lucky and the Ray of Sunshine,” Abigail tries to befriend Grayson by doing him nice favors. As mean as he is, Grayson refuses to accept Abigail’s kindness and belittles her. Abigail is mentally hurt by his words.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
  • Lucky: Candy! Apples! Candy apples!
  • Abigail: Chocolate, candy and chocolate candy.
  • Abigail: What's down there? Spiders? Bats? Creepy spider bats?
• Brick Joke: In “Lucky and the Patchwork Plan,” Abigail steals Cora’s white handkerchief as an attempt to prevent Cora from leaving Miradeo (which fails when Cora takes out a spare one from her purse). After that, she takes out her own handkerchief and names her uses for it, such as blindfolding Boomerang for a birthday surprise. Near the end of the episode when Cora is departing on the train, Abigail waves goodbye with her own handkerchief.
  • “Lucky and the Double-Dad Dare” has Lucky make a bet with her father, Jim that unless she and her friends complete the course Jim and Al set up, she will have to join Jim and Al’s band. After failing one part of the course, Lucky admits defeat and starts considering a musical instrument to select in joining Jim and Al’s band. Abigail names a few instruments for Lucky to play, two of them being spoons and a jug. After the PALs save their fathers, they celebrate with music. Pru plays the spoons and Lucky plays the jug.
• Bullying a Dragon: Downplayed! Cora’s goose, Clancy is so capable at intimidating Boomerang that he gets the best of the horse. The best example happens at the beginning of “Lucky and the Field Trip Fraud” when Clancy pesters Boomerang.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Butch LePray returns and hijacks a train, Grayson actually tries to 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.
• Butt-Monkey: Lucky, Maricela and Abigail experience mishaps at times.
  • Lucky’s best examples are getting tripped by Maricela and getting a barrel stuck to her; accidentally losing a flower bouquet which then gets eaten by Senor Carrots; getting her face smashed into a cake; riding in a runaway wedding carriage; and getting captured by Butch LePray. Snips gets the best of her with his tricks in “Lucky and the Escape Artist.”
  • Maricela gets humiliated during a field trip on discovering fossil bones whenever picks up horse manure by mistake, much to her disgust. Upon interpreting advice from Lucky, Maricela goes into the frontier to enjoy nature only to be nearly trampled by a herd of buffalo. While riding her bicycle alongside a cliff, her chain breaks, causing her bicycle to roll back until she falls into a ravine.
  • Every year on April Fools Day, Abigail has been getting caught in the middle of Pru and her father’ war pranks. Abigail attempts to prank Pru and her father by setting up traps. Yet, Abigail winds getting herself caught in her own traps.
  • Boomerang is easily intimidated by Cora’s goose, Clancy. The beginning of “Lucky and the Field Trip Fraud” has Boomerang being pestered by Clancy.
• The Cameo: This web short shows a flashback to Spirit's childhood in which his parents, Rain and the original Spirit from the movie make a brief appearance.
• Canon Foreigner: Inverted with Spirit being the only canon native.
• Cel Shading: A 3D CG series, but in a cel-shaded art style to replicate the look of the movie.
• Chekhov's Classroom: "Lucky and the Shaky Day" has Lucky (who had previously gotten into a fight with her dad over why she even needs school) needing to move a large boulder and remembering a school lesson earlier in the day about levers and fulcrums and applies that to get the job done.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • “Lucky and the Escape Artist”: Bianca tells Lucky that Snips is leaving town on the train. After Lucky fails to catch the train, Mary Pat and Bianca come along and Mary Pat forces her sister to admit that she was helping Snips con Lucky. Bianca shows that Snips paid her with a jawbreaker which she gives to Lucky. By the end of the episode, when Lucky has a showdown with Snips, she takes out the jawbreaker and throws it under Snips’ foot causing him to slip.
  • “Lucky and the Double Dad Dare”: Abigail’s kite, which she builds early during the camping trip comes in handy when she, her friends and their fathers are riding the raft on the rapid river. Abigail uses her kite as a sail to avoid hitting huge rocks and get everyone to shore.
  • The dynamite shack in “Lucky and the Warm Welcome.”
• Cliffhanger:
  • "Lucky and the Price of Freedom" has Lucky enter and win a horse race that ends up convincing Grayson that Spirit is a valuable horse. He is successful in taking Spirit. The episode ends with Spirit being taken away by train.
  • “Lucky and her New Family Part 2” has Lucky successfully perform circus acrobatics like her mother Milagro used to, only to become disappointed when her father doesn't show up because he was on a date with Miss Flores-- the final straw being when she overhears that he proposed to Ms. Flores. She then runs away from home to join the circus. The episode ends with her riding on Spirit's back into the night.
  • "Lucky and the Wayward Wedding": After several misfortunes, it looks like Mr. Prescott and Ms. Flores are finally getting married. But Lucky forgot the rings and rushes back to the house. Mr. Prescott goes back to see what's holding her up— only to discover Lucky tied up by Butch LePray, who broke into the house and is seeking some vengeance. LePray then tells Jim that they have "unfinished business" to attend to.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Abigail has shades of this, such as when she concludes that teaching Lucky how to ride would turn her to banditry in "Lucky and the Treacherous Trail" or when she guesses that Respero's buried treasure might be kittens in "Lucky and the Mysterious Map."
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Abigail is prone to this in several episodes. Too many to count.
  • In “Lucky and the Jam Jam,” Maricela gets upset that Lucky didn’t prank since it makes her feel left out. Later, Lucky explains it to her stepmother, Kate. While Kate tries to ease Lucky’s conscience, Lucky misses her point a couple times.
  Lucky: I was being extra nice to her by not pranking her. I got everyone else, but not Maricela because I knew she would hate it.
  Kate: When I lived at the orphanage, some of the girls started a knitting circle. I didn’t like to knit, so they didn’t ask me to join. But that’s when the girls would talk and gossip, and guess what color the nuns’ bloomers were under their habits. They had a lot of fun and I felt left out.
  Lucky: That’s terrible! What color were they?
  Kate: I-I don’t know. White I suppose! Anyway, I wanted to belong, but I didn’t know how. I even bought needles and yarn and I tried to teach myself how to knit, which was a disaster. One of the girls found me so tangled up in my own knitting and it took us ten minutes to set me free.
  Lucky: That sounds awful!
  Kate: It was! But it made her realize how much I wanted to be part of the group, so she invited me in.
  Lucky: Oh, I get it. Now you’re great at knitting.
  Kate: Oh no! I’m horrible! See? (Shows Lucky her Butterfly knitting)
  Lucky: That’s a really nice... elephant.
  Kate: Butterfly! But, no, you’re missing my point. Which is...? (Lucky looks confused) It’s Nice to feel included. And I bet Maricela was asking to join the fun in her own way.
• Cool Horse: Spirit no less!
• Crash-Into Hello: While heading into the bakery to buy a cake, Jim bumps into Kate coming out of the bakery.
• Cutting the Knot: When locked into a horse stall, Lucky starts giving Spirit complex instructions on how to pass her the key from outside. Spirit simply slides the key under the gap of the door.
• Daddy's Girl: Lucky and Pru both have close relationships with their fathers.
  • Lucky’s close relationship with her father, Jim is mainly justified by her mother being dead. Though Lucky inherits her mother’s spirit, she also has the same wild streak 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.
  • Pru is seen with her father, Al more than her mother. She assists Al in wrangling and training horses. She makes her father proud by wrangling a herd of horses that run lose. Al gets emotional when Pru is about to leave for boarding school.
  • Maricela herself is fond of her father especially since he is the mayor.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Harlan Grayson seems to have a dark nature seeing how he takes no kind to trespassers and abuses horses. He’s even menacing to an extent. Yet, when his horses are stolen by Butch LePray, he teams up with Lucky to help capture LePray and save her father. Though Grayson is proud to help capture LePray, he’s still unhappy about losing his horses. It turns out Grayson is just a mean and grumpy man.
  • Grayson’s horse, Xerxes is a dark gray horse. Xerxes only seems bad because he’s loyal to Grayson. Yet, in “Lucky and the Ray Of Sunshine,” Grayson abuses Xerxes when trying to teach him to back up. Lucky befriends Xerxes and teaches him a new trick that will help him serve and please Grayson more. While also warming up to Pru and Abigail, Xerxes doesn’t mind Abigail braiding his mane and decorating it with bows and flowers. When Grayson’s other horses escape, Xerxes helps the PALs and their horses round them up.
• Death Glare: Maricela gives Lucky one in “Lucky and the Impatient Patient” when she blames her for almost getting trampled by a stampede of buffalo.
• The Determinator:
  • "Lucky and the Treacherous Trail" has Aunt Cora having a hard time baking a proper pie with the rustic tools available to her, but she keeps at it until she finally figures out how to make a perfect pie, having filled an entire room with dozens upon dozens of failed pies in the process. She points out that Prescotts never give up, and thus Lucky realizes she shouldn't either.
  • Turo in "Lucky and the Appaloosa Adventure" to save the horse from an abusive owner.
  • Abigail is set on guessing the right amount of jelly beans in a jar in "Lucky and the Cowboy Next Door".
• Didn't Think This Through: 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.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: 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.
• Dirty Coward: Grayson is implied to be one whenever Spirit tries to attack him.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted! In “Lucky and the No Good Outlaw Butch LePray,” Butch falls into a ravine in her unhitched wagon. When the wagon hits the bottom of the ravine, Butch is nowhere to be seen by Lucky. Butch actually survives inside the wagon.
• The Ditz: Abigail and later, Daphne.
• The Dog Bites Back: ”Lucky and the Pie P.I.” has Chica Linda stolen by a trio of bandits, only to be rescued by Spirit and Boomerang. Then the horses lead the bandits to a net set as a trap by the PALs. After the bandits get caught in the net, Chica Linda repeatedly bites one of them.
  • Subverted for Spirit! Grayson captures Spirit and sells him to the auction house separating him from Lucky. Later on, when Grayson catches the PALs trespassing on his newly purchased property, Spirit shoves Grayson to the ground and rears at him making him cower a bit only to be stopped by Lucky.
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: 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.
• Downer Ending:
  • “Lucky and the Train Tycoon” has Lucky’s grandfather, James Prescott Sr. come to visit Miradeo. James is concerned for Lucky’s tomboy nature when he hears about her courageous actions on the frontier. He feels Lucky has become a wild spirit while expecting her to be a proper lady. As James criticizes Jim and Cora for how they raised Lucky, he reminds Cora that her sole responsibility was ensure Lucky’s proper upbringing and concludes she has failed. Realizing her father is right, Cora makes up her mind to move out. The episode ends with Lucky and her father, Jim sadly watching Cora leave.
  • Each season finale that ends on a cliffhanger:
    • “Lucky and the Price Of Freedom”: Grayson captures Spirit and sells him to the auction house. Then Spirit is sent away on the train. Lucky tries to save him, but can’t keep up with the train.
    • “Lucky and her New Family Part 2”: Lucky is upset that her father didn’t show up to watch her perform in the circus. Then she is shocked when she overhears that Jim purposed to Miss Flores. Unwilling to accept Miss Flores as her new stepmother, Lucky runs away from home.
    • “Lucky and the Wayward Wedding”: Just when Jim is about to marry Miss Flores, he and Lucky are suddenly captured by Butch LePray.
• Dumb Muscle: Butch LePray’s bulky henchmen, Rooster.
• Evil Redhead: Butch LePray.
• Exact Words: "Lucky and The Appaloosa Adventure" has Lucky free a horse from his abusive owner. When said owner comes around suspecting she knows something, she is able to say with a straight face she doesn't know where the horse is, as he ran away shortly after being freed.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Lucky's braided hair comes undone when she is riding Spirit, at the exact moment she realizes she loves horse riding.
• "Eureka!" Moment: In "Lucky and the Pie P.I.", when Abigail realize who took her pies.
• The Faceless: Abigail and Snips’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stone! They are seen in silhouette form during the web short telling the story how Abigail first met Boomerang. In the Christmas special, “The Christmas Spirit,” Abigail and Snips’ mother is seen by the lower half of her body and her face remains hidden. This becomes subverted when Mr. and Mrs. Stone show up in the “Riding Academy” episode, “The Palomino Family Affaire.”
• Face Your Fears: 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.
• Family of Choice: When El Circo Dos Grillos comes to Miradero, Lucky is surprised to discover she has two more Grandparents and another cousin. It is explained that they are not true relatives, but rather, her mother's surrogate/adoptive family, who took Milagra in and sheltered her when she came to them.
• Fat and Skinny: Pru and Lucky’s father’s, Al and Jim respectively.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: 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.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Mary-Pat as the responsible sibling to her foolish sister Bianca.
• For the Evulz: Grayson takes Spirit for seemingly no reason but to hurt Lucky. He even goes as far as to adamantly refuse to take a handsome payment from her father, ultimately refusing $2000 to make only $1000 and Lucky upset instead.
• Foreshadowing: There are hints on Butch LePray's identity:
  • While Fito tells the girls about the legend of Butch LePray, he states “Some say he’s not even a man. He’s just a shadow.” Well, guess what! Butch LePray is actually a woman.
  • Lucky ties some cans together and ties them to a couple of trees to set as an alarm when LePray comes. Jane gets herself caught in the rope of cans. Since she is Butch LePray, surely she’s trying to sabotage the alarm.
  • When Jane learns that Lucky is a member of the Prescott family, who owns the JP and Sons Railroad, she makes a brief smirk hinting her new plan to kidnap Lucky for ransom.
  • When Lucky sees the bandits robbing the circus caravan, Jane urges to follow them. As Lucky follows the bandits all the way to the town of Dos Caras, Jane suddenly shows up to help her. It becomes clear that Jane has set a trap on Lucky.
  • Just before Jane reveals she’s Butch LePray, when she and Lucky are cornered by the bandits, Lucky recognizes them as the same two men who informed Fito that they were pursuing a bandit who attacked Jane. Some may even wonder why those men didn’t help Jane if she needed it most.
• There are also hints that Butch LePray will encounter Lucky again.
  • While she survives the fall into the ravine, Butch vows revenge on Lucky.
  Butch: I’ll see you again, Lucky Prescott. And when I do, you won’t be lucky anymore.
  • At the end of “Lucky and the Cousins Caper,” Butch robs a stagecoach and sees a newspaper with the photo of Lucky’s family. This gives her a clue where to find Lucky.
  Butch: Lucky Prescott! Gotcha!
• Four-Girl Ensemble: In later seasons, when Alpha Bitch Maricela becomes more connected to the group, you have: Sweet Naive Abigail, Tomboyish Pru, Glamour obsessed Maricela, and Admirable Lucky.
• From Stray to Pet: Spirit was previously deemed an untamable feral horse.
• Fun with Acronyms: The girls realize they must be destined to be best pals when they realize "PAL" is what their names spell; Pru, Abigail and Lucky. 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.
  • When Maricela tries to force herself into the group, she refers to them all as PALMs. In later episodes, it appears that this acronym and by extension, Maricela's inclusion in the group have been accepted.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • In the pilot episode, Lucky tries wearing her standard wardrobe to school on her first day there, but Aunt Cora insists she wearing a formal pink dress.
  Lucky: Sorry but there’s no way I’m wearing that dress. (Cut to Lucky wearing the pink dress while walking to school) Some first impression that I’ll make. I look like a marshmallow with feet.
  • At the beginning of “Lucky and the Ray Of Sunshine,” a flock of crows drop a pocket watch into Abigail’s hands, Lucky recognizes the watch as Grayson’s and the girls overhear Grayson demanding the sheriff to arrest whoever has his watch. Then Lucky devises a plan to sneak the watch into Grayson’s house without getting caught by Grayson himself.
  Lucky: Trust me, we’re not going to get caught.
  (Cut to the PALs sneaking up to Grayson’s house during the night and getting caught by Grayson)
  Grayson: Caught you!
• Halloween Episode: "Lucky and the Harvest Hunt" and “Lucky and the Ghostly Gottcha”
• The Hecate Sisters: The PAL Girl trio; Lucky, due to being pretty much level headed and sensible, is the mother; Abigail, being sweet and somewhat ditzy and naive, is the maiden; Pru, posessing a tough, tomboyish attitude, is the crone.
• Here We Go Again!: "Lucky and the Arabian Nightmares"; While Mr. Granger's out of town, Pru tries to watch over three mares for a horse inspector—but the mares escape the barn, forcing Pru and Lucky to get them back while Abigail stalls the inspector. Eventually, after finally rounding up the runaway mares and giving them to the inspector, Mr. Granger is so proud of Pru that he assigns her to watch over more horses when he leaves town again next week, and Pru faints.
• Horseback Heroism:
  • Lucky pulls off her first heroic deed riding Spirit to the gulch where there is to be an explosion and saving Pru and Abigail.
  • The PALs perform this action together at times, such as in “Lucky and the Shaky Day” when they ride to a destroyed railroad bridge and stop an oncoming train from falling off the bridge.
  • Cora takes action in “Lucky and the Lion” by riding Senor Carrots and shooting a gun to scare off a mountain lion that nearly kills Lucky and Spirit.
  • Jim Prescott sets out on a mission to save Mustangs from a fire. Most of his mission is on horseback.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Truro and Maricela! Truro is a bit taller and stockier than Maricela.
• 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.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In “Lucky and the Field Trip Fruad,” while the students predict how famous they will be for discovering dinosaur fossils, Maricela declares Miradeo will be a popular town. With that, Maricela concludes her share of prediction by saying, “That’ll show those snotty Rockefeller girls,” for a snotty girl herself.
  • This bit by Cora in “Lucky and the Lion.”
  Cora: I would never allow a barn animal into my home. (Cue Clancy jumping into her lap while she is still sitting in a chair within the living room.)
• Identical Grandson: The titular horse is apparently the original Spirit's grandson according to Word of God and has a near-identical character design to his ancestor.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All the episodes are named "Lucky and the...", with the first episode initially titled "Pilot" eventually changed to "Lucky and the Unbreakable Spirit" to match.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Abigail fakes this in “Lucky and the Harvest Hunt” as an attempt to trick Mr. Granger in into giving one of his handkerchiefs.
• I Never Said It Was Poison:
  • 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.
  • 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".
• Instant Expert: Lucky assumes that just because she can ride a wild horse she knows everything there is to know about riding, but has to learn the hard way this trope doesn't actually apply.
• Ironic Echo: “Lucky and the Ray Of Sunshine” has Abigail making a plan to befriend Grayson as an attempt to make him a nicer person.
  Lucky: But we’re not his friends.
  Abigail: Or are we?
  Pru: No we’re not.
  Abigail: Not yet!
  Pru: Not ever!
  • Later when Grayson berates Abigail:
  Grayson: Little girl, we aren’t friends. I don’t want to be friends with you.
  Abigail: Well, not yet!
  Grayson: Not ever!
  • Grayson himself experiences this as appropriate retribution, because he keeps threatening to have the PALs arrested for trespassing on his property. When he comes to intimidate Lucky at her home, Jim insists Grayson has to leave or get arrested for trespassing on their property.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As cruel as he is, Grayson makes several good points that mainly relate to the law.
  • In “Lucky and the Appaloosa Adventure,” Grayson is not wrong when he tells Lucky that she is trespassing on his property nor about stealing the Appaloosa he abuses. He did not give Lucky permission to set foot on his property and he technically owns the Appaloosa.
  • Grayson makes a few points in “Lucky and the Price of Freedom”:
    • After losing the race to a disguised Lucky and Spirit, when Lucky’s identity is exposed, Grayson points out that girls are still not allowed in the race. Mr. Granger reluctantly admits Grayson is right and disqualifies Lucky declaring Grayson the winner.
    • After Grayson captures Spirit, the PALs and two of their fathers arrive at Grayson’s ranch to get Spirit back. As Lucky demands Spirit back, Grayson reminds her how she said herself that Spirit is a wild horse that belongs to no one. He concludes that since he caught Spirit, he now owns the stallion. Again, Mr. Granger reluctantly admits Grayson is right.
    • Finally, Grayson points out that the PALs and their fathers are trespassing on his property since they have come uninvited.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though Maricela is snooty and stuck up overall, she often attempts to befriend the PALs. In the pilot episode, she shows that she is willing to be Lucky’ friend. At times, she tries joining the PALs adding an “M” for her name to the acronym. The episode in which Maricela shows her greatest concern for Lucky is “Lucky and the Deadly Blizzard.” She teams up with Lucky to deliver the medicine for curing the frontier flu. Maricela returns to Miradeo with the medicine while Lucky stays behind to save some horses trapped in a boxcar. As the blizzard gets stronger, Maricela becomes worried about Lucky. She rings the church bell hoping to help Lucky find her way home. When Lucky finally returns to Miradeo, she and Maricela hug each other.
  • While Grayson teams up with Lucky to catch Butch LePray, he helps her save her father. Just when they get close to the engine where Jim is held captive, Grayson urges Lucky to go to him while he fights LePray. When LePray throws Lucky off the train, Grayson is so terrified that he cries out her name.
• Karma Houdini: Junipero's abusive former-owner in "Lucky and the Appaloosa Adventure".
• Kick the Dog: Grayson manages to hurt Lucky and Abigail mentally.
  • Grayson captures Spirit taking him into his possession. He even refuses to sell him back to Lucky surely because he wants to hurt her.
  Grayson: I don’t want to sell him... (To Lucky) ...especially not to you.
  • Abigail attempts to befriend Grayson by doing him kind favors hoping she can encourage him to be a nicer man. When Grayson gets fed up with Abigail’s kindness, he berates and belittles her.
  Abigail: (Apologizing about the broken fence) We are really sorry! Friends mess up sometimes. But as long as you forgive each other...
  Grayson: Friends? Did you just say “friends?” Little girl, we aren’t friends. I don’t want to be friends with you.
  Abigail: Well... not yet.
  Grayson: Not ever! I’d never be friends with such a silly little towheaded, know-nothing chatterbox. So you can keep your silly songs and your stale sandwiches and your scratchy socks to yourself. I don’t like them and I don’t like you.
  Abigail: It just takes time. You’ll see! The crows used to be mean, too, but I didn’t give up, and now they’re...
  Grayson: (Laughs) Girl, you’re certifiable! Listen to what I’m saying! I ain’t never going to change. Not for you! You ain’t worth it.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Snips, Abigail's mischievous younger brother.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Lucky's dad tells her the story of the constellation Equileus, from which her mother named her horse; Equileus was smart enough to know when things were too dangerous to handle and would run or hide as necessary. Advice that turns out to be useful when the girls are trapped by a Bear and Pru thinks the only option they have left is to attempt to fight it but Lucky opts to hide until help arrives instead.
  Jim: Your mom always liked that story. She said it reminded her to pick her battles wisely.
• Lean and Mean: Harlan Grayson and Butch LePray both have slender figures and fit this trope quite well.
  • Grayson is no outlaw, not to mention how he strives to capture Butch LePray (a true outlaw). Even though he helps Lucky save her father from LePray, he remains mean as can be.
  • Butch LePray is a dangerous outlaw who has no mercy on her victims.
• Literal-Minded: 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.”
• Logo Joke: A twig is seen on the ground; a horse steps on it and their hoof print make the shape of Lucky sitting in the moon, with the twig serving as her fishing rod.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Maricela.
• Mama Bear:
  • In "Lucky and the Lion", when Lucky and Spirit are about to be finished off by the mountain lion, Aunt Cora charges onto the scene, firing a gun in the air multiple times, in order to save them. She also stands up to Lucky's grandfather when he attempts to force Lucky to move back to the city.
  • Chica Linda could count as one to Pru since she supports Spirit in holding off Smoke when he tries to attack the PALs.
  • Governor’s mother is implied to have defended her foal from a mountain lion before it killed her.
  • Inverted whenever Lucky tries defending Spirit and when she saves her father from Butch LePray.
• Match Cut: 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.
• Meaningful Name: Like his father, Spirit gets named that from his wild spirit and (mostly) untameable nature.
• Missed Him by That Much: "Lucky and the Long Way Home" has Lucky arrive at the horse auction too late to bid on Spirit, and when she manages to convince the person who bought Spirit to let her have him back, he's already escaped on his own accord and finally when Lucky goes to see if she can see Spirit anywhere nearby, Spirit is passed out in a gorge and doesn't come to to respond to her calls until after they've moved on.
• Moody Mount: Spirit may like Lucky enough to let her ride him, but he's still a wild horse. Even the slightest sign that someone might try to tie him down, saddle him up or otherwise contain him will send him into a panic and he'll hold a grudge about it later.
• Never My Fault: In “Lucky and the Two-Wheel Terror,” the PALs experience the many changes that occurred in Miradeo since they left to join the circus. One of the biggest changes is Maricela becoming the most popular girl in town with her new bicycle. After Maricela falls down a cliff, the PALs attempt to rescue her only to fall down the cliff as well. While the girls are trapped there, Lucky complains about all the changes made in Miradeo including Maricela’s popularity. She fails to realize that some of the changes happened because of her decision to run away from home.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer make it seem the setting is in the Present Day, as the three girls appears to dress more modern.
• Nice Guy: Turo
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • If Lucky hadn’t entered Spirit in the big race, she wouldn’t have got Grayson interested in buying him. While refusing to sell Spirit, Lucky tells Grayson that he’s a wild horse who belongs to no one, giving Grayson the opportunity to capture Spirit and take him away from her.
  • If Lucky hadn’t run away to join the circus, she would have never met the notorious outlaw, Butch LePray. Now that she has met LePray, she has put herself in danger, especially when LePray plots revenge on her.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While robbing the train in “Lucky and the Railroad Ransom,” Butch LePray sets the train into acceleration so it would run off its rails. Then she breaks off the speed lever to prevent anyone from stopping the train. As she passes through the luggage car, Butch tosses the lever inside that car when she could have tossed it off the train. Lucky eventually finds the lever and brings it to her father, Jim, enabling him to stop the train.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever happened with molasses on Pru's birthday one year.
  Abigail: I still feel sticky.
• Older Than They Look: Lucky, Pru, and Abigail are 12-13 years old, yet they look like they could be 10 years old.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: Spirit had been deemed un-tameable until Lucky came around.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Lucky's father Jim firmly gets in the way of his own father's attempts to force Lucky back to the city (he feels that her Tomboy nature will drive away marriage proposals when she's older). Note that until this moment, Jim was letting his father push him around (albeit reluctantly), but the moment Lucky's happiness is threatened, he puts his foot down. Jim also saves Lucky and her friends from a bear that attacks them.
  • Spirit is also protective of her. The first time Spirit saves Lucky is when she nearly falls off a cliff in “Lucky and the Treacherous Trail.” Spirit also defends Lucky when his rival, Smoke charges at her. As Lucky is kidnapped by a dangerous outlaw known as Butch LePray, Spirit comes to her rescue and knocks Butch’s goons off their horses. In “Lucky and the Doomed Delivery,” Lucky tries walking across a suspension bridge on foot, but Spirit winds up carrying her the rest of the way to ensure her safety. In the same episode, Spirit defends Lucky by fighting some wolves attacking her.
  • Boomerang could count as one to Abigail since he supports Spirit in holding off Smoke as he tries to attack the PALs.
• Parting-Words Regret: "Lucky and the Shaky Day" has Lucky get into a fight with her father before he leaves on a business trip and telling him she never wants to see him again. After an earthquake then hits the area, Lucky becomes extremely anxious about the well being of her father and desperately hopes that doesn't end up being the last thing she ever says to him.
• Pink Means Feminine: Abigail usually wears a light pink shirt that signifies her feminine disposition. In “Lucky and the Cowboy Next Door,” during the festival, Abigail wears a darker pink shirt. On formal occasions, she wears a pink dress.
• The Plague: 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.
• Politically Correct History:
  • 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. 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 Subverted by her aunt actively trying to make her dress and act more femininely.
  • Lucky's dad owns a railroad, but there are no Chinese workers shown, despite the fact that they were overwhelmingly exploited in real life by rail barons like him.
  • Subverted with the episode "Lucky and the Price of Freedom", in which Lucky decides to join a race and has to dress in drag in order to enter, and Cora remarks how when she was a young girl Lucky's age (probably in the 1830s) girls weren't even allowed to ride horses.
• Pony Tale: City girl new to the country, earns the trust of a wild, un-tameable horse.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Maricela, being prim and proper overall.
• Racing the Train: Lucky first meets Spirit running alongside the train she came in on. Later when she first rides him he manages to race across the tracks just before the train comes by.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When the PALs are hiding in a cave from a bear, the bear glares at them with glowing red eyes.
• Red Is Heroic:
  • Lucky’s red winter coat and bean cap.
  • Zigzags with Maricela’s red hair and Grayson’ Red shirt.
  • Inverted with Butch LePray’s red hair and bandanna.
• The Reveal: In "Lucky and the Harvest Hunt", Lucky saw her dad and Miss Flores kiss. Though they were already seeing each other a few episodes before, but Jim and Miss Flores find out who they are in "Lucky and the Pie P.I.".
• Right Behind Me: In "Lucky and the Christmas Spirit", Lucky rants to her friends about how Miss Flores ruins everything. Guess what happens?
• The Rival: Spirit and Smoke compete for leadership of their herd.
  • Spirit also sees Grayson’s horse, Xerxes as another rival.
• Runaway Fiancé: This is Milagro's (Lucky's mother) backstory; after turning sixteen she was being forced to marry a wealthy man from her town who refused to take 'no' for an answer and sent his goons to ensure she wouldn't try to escape. She did with help from her horse, and joins the circus when they help her hide from the goons.
• Running Gag: “Lucky and the Role Reversal” has Pru, as the director of the school play, assign Lucky as the lead character. She also assigns Abigail as Lucky’s understudy. Abigail shadows Lucky a few times. First, Lucky is at the ice cream parlor studying her lines of the play and Abigail shows up at another table imitating Lucky’s groan of frustration. When Lucky groans again after listening to Cora’s advice, Abigail suddenly appears sitting next her as she mimics her groan again. While Lucky is desperately riding Spirit to the school house as she is late for the play, she reads her lines in the play book on horseback. Coincidentally, Abigail is following Lucky on Boomerang and trying to read the play book too. Finally, at the end of the episode, Abigail walks along Boomerang while still following Lucky as Lucky walks along side Spirit through town, only to be told that the play is over.
• 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.
• Save the Villain: “Lucky and the No Good Outlaw Butch LePray” has Lucky kidnapped by Butch LePray. After Lucky escapes and unhitches the horses from Butch’s wagon, Lucky tries urging her to jump off the wagon as they approach a ravine. Nevertheless, Butch isn’t quick enough to jump off and winds up falling into the ravine.
• Schoolmarm: Kathryn "Kate" Flores is the teacher in the one-room school. She is relatively new to town and struggles with the idiosyncrasies of some of her students. The protagonist Lucky keeps getting in trouble by accidentally breaking her rules. Much to Lucky's consternation, her widower father starts courting Miss Flores.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • In “Lucky and the Not-So-Surprise Party,” Lucky and Abigail struggle to prepare Pru’s birthday party which partly means having to ignore Pru in order to hide the surprise from her. Eventually, Abigail gets so fed up with Lucky’s bossiness that she quits the party plan and rides away on Boomerang.
  Abigail: I quit! I quit the party, I quit ignoring Pru, and I quit you, Lucky!
  • In “Lucky and the Golden Opportunity,” when Julian is about to tell Maricela, Snips, Turo, Bianca, Mary-Pat about the gold mine and presents the confidentiality agreement contract, Maricela reads the part that says, “...possible hard labor.” As Julian confirms that she and everyone may have to engage in hard labor. Unwilling to do any hard labor, being the spoiled rich girl she is, Maricela suddenly walks away.
  • Lucky's mother, Milagro, did this in order to escape an Arranged Marriage.
  • When Lucky finds out her father has proposed to Miss Flores, she decides to run away to join the circus.
• Secondary Character Title: Lucky Prescott is the main protagonist, but the series is titled after Spirit, the wild stallion Lucky befriends. This is mainly justified by the fact that the series was inspired by the original Dreamworks animated film, “Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron.”
• Shifted to CGI: The original film was one of the last traditionally animated Dreamworks films. Its cartoon spinoff, however, is CGI.
• Ship Tease: Lucky and Javier
• Shipper on Deck: Aunt Cora for Jim and Miss Flores.
• Shoe Slap: Lucky attempts to do this to Snips after having enough of his pranks in "Lucky and the Escape Artist".
• Shoo the Dog: After Lucky is awarded Spirit, she determines that he deserves to be set free. Fortunately for her, Spirit is still willing to both remain free and still come back to visit her from time to time.
• Showdown at High Noon: Lucky challenges Snips to one when trying to get his haircut in “Lucky and the Escape Artist.”
• Somewhere, an Equestrian Is Crying:
  • To all 12-year-old girls out there, you can't just immediately be able to ride a wild stallion bareback and with no training, no matter how nice you are to it. Sure, Lucky starts having trouble riding Spirit in the second episode, but in the pilot, she might as well have been riding since she exited the womb.
  • Various episodes show horses eating or being fed things that horses should not be eating, like popcorn tied on string or marshmallows. Even apples, which are popular horse treats, are shown being given to the horses to eat whole. This is generally frowned upon. To make matters worse, Mystery is shown eating holly in "The Spirit of Christmas". Horses shouldn't be fed holly, as it is moderately toxic to them and can lead to health problems.
  • Horses don't jump on their hind legs, as shown by Spirit and, later, Xerxes in "Lucky and the Ray of Sunshine".
• Shout-Out: “Lucky and the Doomed Delivery” has the PALs attacked by a pack of wolves. The wolf attack is a possible reference to the scene in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” when Belle is attacked wolves since the PALs conduct some similar action by Belle. While Lucky is riding Spirit to evade the wolves, some of the wolves leap at her. As a wolf jumps on Spirit’s back, Lucky grabs a stick and knocks the wolf off of Spirit. Then another wolf grabs her stick.
• Spin-Offspring: This isn't the same Spirit from the movie, but rather his descendant. This is reflected in the fact that he doesn't quite have the same design as the original Spirit (i.e., this Spirit has a white blaze down the middle of his face, while the original Spirit didn't have that). Word of God markets this being Spirit and Rain's son.
• Spit Take: Jim and Lucky's teacher Miss Flores, when says their names in "Lucky and the Pie P.I.".
• Sudden Downer Ending: 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.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Mixtli, the Native who tended Spirit's wounds when he was lost has almost the exact same design as Little Creek from the original film. Mixtli later reappears in the episode "Risky Rescue" and meets Lucky and her friends.
• Tears of Joy: Kate Flores when Jim Prescott proposes to her.
• Teeth Clenched Team Work: The Season 7 premiere episode "Lucky and Railroad Ransom": Grayson of all people helps Lucky chase down Butch LePray to rescue her father from the bandit's clutches. Why? LePray stole his horses to escape and had previously murdered his father. The second Lucky mentions Butch's name to him, Grayson is ready and eager to help. Doesn't stop the two unlikely allies from constantly arguing and complaining with each other, though.
• This Means Warpaint: "Lucky and the Price of Freedom" has Lucky go Disguised in Drag to enter a men only horse race. Since Spirit would give her away, the PALs resort to painting Spirit up in warpaint to conceal his identity.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lucky and Pru to Abigail and Maricela:
  • Lucky and Pru are both adventurous and headstrong girls who speak in deeper voices and are always ready for action. Lucky shows some leadership skills and braves the endeavors of man kind. She normally prefers to wear casual clothing and doesn’t like wearing formal dresses—especially the pink dress she is forced to wear on her first day at school. She doesn’t even hesitate to disguise herself as a man in order to enter a horse race which is for men only. While Pru has a personality similar to Lucky’s, she considers girls who are ladylike to be stuck up.
  • Even though Abigail wear casual clothing like her closet friends, she has more of a feminine personality. She is rather sweet and gentle. Abigail is also willing to show forgiveness. In “Lucky and the Not-So-Surprise Party,” while Lucky shows her friends a music box with a ballerina figurine, Abigail tries to dance like a ballerina by twirling around while standing on one foot. In the episode when Lucky’s cousin first appears, while Abigail is determined to prove she got class, she follows Maricela’ lead on conducting proper Lady etiquette.
  • Maricela, being the rich mayor’s daughter, sets a good example of proper lady etiquette even for an arrogant and snotty girl who often antagonizes other girls.
  • Pru herself also has her horse Chica Linda, who acts far more stuck up and snobbish than her rider.
• Tomboy Ponytail: Pru Always has her hair braided in a ponytail.
  • Lucky also has her hair braided in a ponytail in the pilot episode, “Lucky and the Unbreakable Spirit.” Her ponytail unravels at her Expository Hairstyle Change moment when she is riding Spirit to Filbert Canyon to save Pru and Abigail from the explosion. Her hair is briefly braided in a ponytail during “Lucky and the Resolutionary Fever” when she goes for a swim in freezing cold water.
• Trauma Conga Line: "Lucky and the Long Way Home" has Spirit suffer extreme abuse trying to reunite with Lucky. He seriously damages himself and refuses to eat or drink while in custody and so when he finally manages to break free his weakened state leads him to take a multitude of harsh falls, including getting a face full of cactus attempting to eat a cactus fruit.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: "Lucky and the Mysterious Map" is about the girls trying to find a treasure from an old treasure map Lucky's father was never able to figure out.
• Villain with Good Publicity: 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.
• Weird Moon: "Lucky and the Harvest Hunt" begins with a view of the moon with clouds in front of it, making a scary face.
• Wham Line: 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!”
• White Stallion: Lucky’s mother, Milagro had one named Equileus.
• Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: "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.
• Worthless Treasure Twist: "Lucky and the Mysterious Map" has the treasure the girls find not contain gold but a bunch of quartz crystals. The girls have a hard time getting upset with the low value of the treasure given how beautifully they sparkle.
• Would Hurt a Child: Butch LePray is a dangerous outlaw who shows no mercy. She is even more than likely to harm any child that gets in her way. When Lucky interferes with her train robbery, Butch chides Lucky that she should have killed when she had the chance. When Butch gets a hold of Lucky, she throws the girl off the train. Fortunately, Lucky is saved by Spirit.
• You Are Grounded!: Each of the PALs get grounded at some points.
  • “Lucky and the New Governor” begins with Lucky being liberated from her week-long term of being grounded. Lucky gets grounded again in “Lucky and the Shaky Day” for arguing with her father.
  Jim: You’re going to school and that’s the only place where you’ll be going for a long time because you’re grounded.
  • In “Lucky and the Trecherous Trail,” Lucky and Spirit accidentally break the fence of the corral. Al Granger holds his daughter, Pru responsible for letting Lucky cause such damage and deprives her from participating on the Saddle Club Trail.
  Al: You’re grounded from the ride, and that’s final.
  • Abigail mentions the reasons she got grounded before.
  Abigail: (To Lucky) Remember the time you told me to stand up for myself? It was so empowering. Until I did it to my parents, and then I got grounded. Oh, or the time my boots got wet and you told me it was faster to dry them in the oven, and it was. Until I forgot them and they caught on fire, and then I got grounded.
  Pru: Aren’t you grounded now?
  Abigail: Eep!