History Main / AutomatonHorses

* Not only do the horses in ''Gunfighter'' and its sequal never get tired, they don't seem to mind getting shot. If you shoot a horse in the second game it will sometimes give a bemused neigh, but other than that nothing happens

* In Hayao Miyazaki's pre-Nausicaa manga ''Shuna no Tabi'' (Shuna's Journey), Shuna nearly rides his mount Yakul to death before being forced to stand and fight against his pursuers, and it takes a while afterward for both of them to recover.

* In ''Gladiator'', Maximus Decimus Meridius, must ride quickly home to save his family. He takes two horses, switching to the second after the first horse dies (presumably) of exhaustion.

* Hidalgo. Several of the Great Race participants die along with their horses because of the extreme conditions.

** In Nikolai Gogol's ''Dead Souls'', Chichikov's coachman was naturally concerned with the care of Chichikov's horse and expressed annoyance after Nozdryov denied the horse quality feed. He also takes notice of other conductors' treatment of their horses. (Granted, he also gets drunk in one scene and carries on a long conversation with the horse whilst pushing it forward.)

* Within ''The Riftwar Saga'', especially in Magician this is averted. Horses die from cold and exhaustion, and are even eaten due to lack of food.
** Indeed, one horse causes the death of one of the characters simply because another horse bit it and caused it to throw him off.

* ''Heavily'' averted on ''Mantracker'', where the horses' physical limitations -- in particular, their inability to safely traverse very rugged and/or slippery terrain -- pose a major constraint on the hunters' pursuit of their quarry.

* Averted in ''The Secret of Shadow Ranch'', where NancyDrew spends nearly a third of the game either proving she knows enough about horses to be trusted with one, caring for horses, or riding at a reasonable pace. The "neverending ground tie" error is present, but at least Nancy ''asks'' if the horse will do that before setting out to ride.
* Averted in ''Gun''. Horses have a health bar that depletes each time you spur them on or attack them. They can also be killed instantly with a shot to the head, which is a useful tactic when up against mounted enemies. Further averting it, you can buy higher quality shoes and feed to allow your horse to last longer/recover faster, although those shoes also magically appear on every horse you ride...

* Averted in the MMORPG ''Fallen Earth.'' If you do not feed your horse, it will eventually stop running. However, the more advanced-level horses do not need to be fed particularly often.

* Red Dead Redemption's horses don't require feeding, grooming or watering, but they can be killed and riding them too hard (either with liberal use of spurs or by putting them through rough terrain) can cause them to buck you. Theres even a slight chance of them getting injured going through rough terrain and becoming lame.

** Interestingly enough, in one of the Grantville Gazette supplements, this is acknowledged, and then possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by saying that the horses today are [[TakeThat crap]] by the standard of the seventeenth century.
* This Troper is surprised LordOfTheRings hasn't been explicitly mentioned yet. There is one section in which several thousand Rohirrim cavalry ride, over a period of [[strike:three days]] six days, the best part of [[strike:900]] 400 miles. Flat out. Over terrain shown to be distinctly... [[strike: suboptimal]] broad and flat roads. And are ''still'' in good enough shape to wade straight into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
** Did Not Do The Research indeed. The distance from Dunharrow to Minas Tirith was 390 miles. The first 296 miles were along the long, broad, gently sloping road that had been built specifically to facilitate rapid travel between the two locations back when Gondor controlled the whole area. After that there was a two mile slog through thick underbrush led by expert guides to bypass enemy defenses along the road. The guides led them to another gently sloping road specifically stated to be wide enough for them to ride four abreast at great speed. This road led all the way to their jumping-off point for the attack. 63 miles per day over even terrain, while not optimal, is easily achievable for the expert horsemen the Rohirrim are stated to be.
*** Really? My maps must be mislabelled then. They show it as 390 ''leagues'' by the easiest route, which, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the appendices]] are 4 miles (remembering that Tolkien's mile works out at slightly less than a statute mile). Generous allowance for shortcuts brings it closer to the 900 quoted earlier, but still- even if they were only doing 63 miles per day, they should have been in no shape to make their charge into Pelennor without another half-day of resting the horses.
**** They must be mislabeled, then, as an examination of the maps in the back of my omnibus edition shows the distance to be roughly 400 of Tolkien's miles. Besides, their horses are pretty obviously not just regular horses--Shadowfax is evidence of that. If they aren't quite magical, they aren't quite natural, either. Furthermore, spare horses are definitely mentioned--they certainly didn't go the whole way on one horse apiece.
** [[WildMassGuessing Clearly]], Rohan is an entire nation of [[CoolHorse Cool Horses]].
* As with quite a lot of lazy fantasy tropes, PoulAnderson attacks this trope in his essay, "On Thud And Blunder."

* ''TheThreeMusketeers'' and its sequels: horses get exhausted, starve, etc.
** This may not qualify, having been written in a time before motorized vehicles.

* This is the origin of the phrase "rode hard and put away wet." Horses can go lame if you so much as look at them cross-eyed. Leave 'em in a stall after you work 'em hard without cooling them out? Cramps. Let them drink too soon after hard work? Cramps. Eat too much? Colic. Stone in the hoof? Lame. Anyone who uses pack animals for transportation is going to pick a mule or donkey over a horse, because mules and donkeys are much hardier animals than horses.

* The famous Bill Mauldin cartoon from WorldWarTwo showing a cavalry officer shooting a [[http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/fredbrown/mauldinjeep.jpg jeep with a broken axle as one would a horse injured in combat]]. Later acted out by Col. Potter in a ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' episode.

** David Eddings' other main work, the ''{{Sparhawk}}'' series, also averts this, if somewhat less vocally. Horses quickly tire, and have to be cared for regularly. Sparhawk himself often states that his old warhorse - who've been through quite a lot with him - is really GettingTooOldForThis... much like himself.

* Averted in DavidEddings books, in both TheBelgariad and TheElenium needing to feed and rest the horses is often brought up, riding hard for hours straight to try and avoid an enemy army results in the horses beginning to collapse from exhaustion, one character is heavily berated for failing to bring water for her horse while riding through a desert like land, one of the horses in the main characters party even gets pregnant and gives birth while they travel etc...

** Actually, some cavalry formations were commonly using loose horses (usually amount of horses doubled or tripled number of men) so they could change the horses during the march. Such tactics were especially popular Central and Eastern Europe around XVII century.

* The famous Bill Mauldin cartoon from WorldWarTwo showing a cavalry officer shooting a [[http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/fredbrown/mauldinjeep.jpg jeep with a broken axle as one would a horse injured in combat]]. Later acted out by Col. Potter in ''M* A* S* H* ''.

-->"[Horses in Fantasyland] are capable of galloping full-tilt all day without a rest. Sometimes they do not require food or water. They never cast shoes, go lame or put their hooves down holes [...] Horses can be used just like bicycles, and usually are."\\
- DianaWynneJones, ''TheToughGuideToFantasyland''

* Averted in ''RedDeadRedemption'' as well. If you push your horse too much, it'll throw you. And just try breaking in a wild horse...

* Within ''The Riftwar Saga'', especially in Magician this is averted. Horses die from cold and exhaustion, and are even eaten due to lack of food.

* Contrary to what Westerns and dime novels would have you believe real lawmen in the Old West did not ride allover the frontier on the same horse. If they were travelling a long distance they'd ride a train or a stage coach and rent a horse from the livery stable when they got into town. It cost a lot of money to feed and care for a horse back then too.

* ''TheInheritanceTrilogy'' is one of the worst of the lot, featuring two horses being led for weeks on end through a ''mind-bogglingly vast desert'' without a word of mention as to how they were doing, never mind any realism regarding the average horse's water intake. One sporker referred to the trope as "Zombie Horses".

For ''actual'' automaton horses, see MechanicalHorse. For a related trope regarding tireless animals, check out HugeRiderTinyMount. See HorseOfADifferentColor for horses that aren't actually horses at all.

** Not averted at all, since the horses in RedDeadRedemption do not require feeding, cleaning, healing or having their shoes changed and can be ridden for days on end without need for rest or sleep.

In video games, this often becomes an AcceptableBreakFromReality. After all, unless it's the point of the game, would you really want to have to stop fighting the armies of darkness to water your horse or let it take a rest? Also, your character doesn't seem to need food or rest either.