There are Always Horses in Fantasy

We have been talking about elements of writing fantasy fiction. One item I noticed as consistent. No matter how extreme the otherworld appears, there are always horses.

Many fantasy stories have castles and magic and mean women, and a cook who used to be a woman warrior.  However, no matter how exotic the wild animals or domesticated animals, horses are everywhere. In Dune there were no horses, but the hero learned to grab joyrides on the sand worms.  That was unique.

In Planet of the Apes, the apes that were soldiers rode horses. The apes had evolved, but not the horses. That was explained in the 2001 rendition with Mark Wahlberg that showed apes as former test subjects in the lab where horses were spared.

In Avatar the horses had six legs, but they were obviously horses, and less interesting than the banshees.  Maybe the needed augmentation helped with carrying the oversized blue people.

In Narnia, the horses could talk, but so could all the animals. The horse the oldest brother rode was a unicorn but did no fencing with this blade. Some of the fighters were centaurs — or men with horse parts below the waist.  None of the centaurs were women, though.  I noticed that.

In Alice (the one with Johnny Depp), the bad guy’s horse could talk.  The white queen’s horse was just a prop, though, and I think she rode side-saddle.  How antiquated was that? 

What other exceptions to the ever-present horse can you name for fantasy stories? Let’s discuss.