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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''So first let past the horses black and then let past the brown.''
''For I
Back in the days before any kind of engines existed, horses provided man's primary method of transportation (that is, if you don't count walking). This, of course, is reflected in Hollywoodland portrayals of period pieces such as [[Medieval European Fantasy|Medieval European Fantasies]] or works that take place in [[The Wild West]].
Given the importance of cavalry in the history of some of the world's greatest empires, horses were often a sign of status; poor people could not afford a horse. Moreover, the ''color'' of the steed's hair coat serves to emphasize one character who is in a higher standing than the rest: the
This is [[Older Than Feudalism]], going back to ''[[
This trope is justified in that true white horses are fairly rare, and as such they're also more expensive. In fact, most of the "white stallions" you'll see on film and television are actually grey horses whose hair coat has gone completely white. However, for the purpose of this trope what's important is that the horse allows this particular rider stand out from the rest, regardless of its genetics. Little fact: a "true" white horse must have unpigmented (pink) skin (otherwise, it's actually a grey) and most pink-skinned white horses are actually pale cremellos (horses have no true albino gene).
{{examples
* [[The
==
▲* The man in the Old Spice commercials is seen on a white horse, [[Breathless Non Sequitur|backwards.]]
== Film - Animation ==▼
* Altivo from ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]'', who belongs to Miguel, a thief. [[Justified]] in that he originally belonged to explorer Hernan Cortes.
** Taking into account that Miguel is one of the two protagonists of the film and certainly heroic, while Hernan Cortes serves as an antagonist, the trope is still played straight, although it zigzags a little in the beginning.
* In ''[[Shrek]] 2'', this is what the Happily Ever After potion turns Donkey into.
* [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney]] has a fair share of white/grey-white stallions, most of which get badass names. Among them are:
** Samson, horse of Prince Philip in ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]''
** Achilles, Captain Phoebus' horse in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''
** Destiny, Prince Edward's horse from ''[[Enchanted]]''.
** Maximus from ''[[Tangled]]'', originally the horse of the captain of the guard, now friends with Flynn Rider.
** Captain Li Shang's horse from ''[[Mulan]]''.
** Prince Achmed's horse in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
** The Prince's horse in ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]''.
* In the 2004 film ''King Arthur'', the titular character rides a white horse, as expected. The trope is subverted, however, as Galahad and Tristan also rode white steeds.
* In the 2010 version of ''[[Robin Hood (2010 film)|Robin Hood]]'', Robin acquires a white horse early on and rides it around for the remainder of the movie. [[Justified]] in that the horse once belonged to King Richard.
* In ''[[The Last Samurai]]'', Katsumoto rides a beautiful pure white horse.
* In the 2005 film version of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]: [[The Lion, the Witch
* The eponymous king of ''[[Henry V]]'' rides a white horse in the 1989 Branagh film. The horse [[Dirt Forcefield|somehow manages to stay sparkly white]] while the human cast spends much of their time covered in mud and blood.
* Guinevere, Lady of Leonesse snd Queen of Camelot, in [[First Knight]] is the only rider whose horse is white. Lancelot rides her horse on the way to rescue her.
* The Duke of [[Kate and Leopold]] rides down a purse snatcher through Central Park on the back of a horse that he borrowed from a carriage ride. It just so happens that the horse is white.
▲== [[Folk Lore]] ==
* In almost every depiction where the color of the horse is discernible, the horse Lady Godiva rode on is white.▼
* [[The Fair Folk]] often ride white steeds.▼
▲== Literature ==
* [[The Bible]]: The first of [[The Four Horsemen]] rides a white horse, and is thought to be either an actual victorious military leader or an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Conquest itself.
* Binky, the pale horse of {{smallcaps|Death}} from the ''[[Discworld]]'' series.
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** Ah, but even if a horse LOOKS white, a true equestrian will always call it 'grey' because, unless it is albino, it was born a dark grey, and got lighter as it got older.
** In the films we see a few other characters riding horses with white hair coats, such as King Theoden, who plays the trope straight as he leads his army into battle; but also elves, like Arwen and Legolas. In Theoden and Legolas' case, however, their steeds are noticeably not true white horses.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''The Hours of the Dragon'', [[Conan the Barbarian]] is given a white horse to make his escape.
* Played with in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Heralds of Valdemar|Valdemar]] stories. The Heralds ride what appear to be magnificent pure-white horses, but these are actually
** Their hair stays white ''even if you attempt to dye it'' for camouflage or disguise. This little oddity is caused by large amounts of magical power (the guardian spirit itself, in this case) and shared with very powerful mages.
* [[Cool Horse|Athansor]] in Mark Helprin's ''Winter's Tale''. {{spoiler|He's implied to be some sort of [[Our Angels Are Different|angel in equine form]].}}
* The grey-white [[Cool Horse
* In ''[[Beverly Cleary|Emily's Runaway Imagination]]'', Emily's family has a white(-ish) work horse whose coat Emily tries to bleach bright white with Clorox so her cousin visiting from the city will be impressed.
* In the [[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]] series by P.C. Hodgell, heroine Jame has two white mounts. Bel-tairi is a Whinno-hir, an intelligent, nigh-immortal beast, dainty of stature, sure-footed and dependable; she's Jame's mount for regular travel. Death's-head, however, is what Jame rides into battle; he is a white rathorn, basically an armored, carnivorous unicorn. Both are quite symbolic.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* [[The Lone Ranger]]'s horse Silver.
** Interestingly enough, Silver was played by two horses, both of which where true whites.
* On ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' the Darling family were quite superstitious, which Andy used to his advantage when he became unwittingly engaged to Charlene. The marriage was cursed if the bride and groom see a man wearing black riding a white horse from east to west. So Barney tried to ride by on a white horse, but had trouble controlling the horse.
{{quote|
* On ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Lancelot is the only knight of the Round Table who rides a white horse.
** Morgana also rode a white horse before her [[Face Heel Turn]].
▲== Music ==
* In the Telephone song "Cendrillon", a group of one hundred men on white horses comes to Cinderella to take her children away. (The Prince has left her for Sleeping Beauty and now he wants his children back.) A [[Subverted Trope|subversion]], since the men on white horses represent a bad thing in this case.
* The country song "Suds in the Bucket" has a "prince in a white pickup truck."
== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
▲* In almost every depiction where the color of the horse is discernible, the horse Lady Godiva rode on is white.
▲* [[The Fair Folk]] often ride white steeds.
==
* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Seisen no Keifu]]'', both Lords of the game, Sigurd and Celice, ride white steeds.
* In ''[[Harvest Moon]]: [[Darker and Edgier|A Wonderful Life]] Special Edition'' you can receive a white stallion if you're lucky enough.
* In [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]], the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|White Rider]] [[Captain Obvious|rides a white horse.]] Could be seen as a subversion, since he is one of the incarnations of Death and therefore is not precisely good.
* [[White
* ''[[
* ''Final Fantasy XIII'': Lightning has a white horse summon called Odin.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Roza]]: [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-06 The horse prince is white].
* [[She-Ra]] had Spirit, who turned into the winged Swift Wind.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
==
* "What color was Napoleon's white horse?" [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s horse is best remembered as white due to Jacques-Louis David's 1800 portrait of him. In reality, Napoleon owned and rode over 150 different steeds during his life; many of them were light-coated Arabians, usually greys or greyish-whites. He did, however, own a pure white Norman called Intendant (aka "Coco"), which was the one he used for parades and other such state functions, going with this trope.
** It should be noted that there are five different versions of Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon crossing the Alps. Bonaparte is not pictured riding a pure white horse in ''any'' of them.
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* The most famous painting of Charles XI of Sweden has him riding a white horse at the battle of Lund (its name was Brilliant and was a gift from the french). Interestingly enough a famous poem about the occasion [[Did Not Do the Research|claims it was black]].
* Amedeo Guillet, "The man on the white horse", who led his Amhara cavalry against British troops in East Africa, riding his white horse Sandor.
* There is a story that lampshades/defies the trope:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes in White]]
[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]
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[[Category:Travel Cool]]
[[Category:Cool Horse]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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