Horse

Horses are animals that live on Planet Earth, which appear infrequently in the Mario series, as they are extremely rare on Mushroom World. Their only featured appearance to date is in the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, in which they are ridden as part of one of the sports. This is a break from most Mario games, in which Yoshis are the main species that are ridden on Mushroom World.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Horses have made their first Mario game appearance in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. There are many variety of Horses in the game, currenty such as brown, bright brown, and white. The Equestrian Show Jumping is set in Greenwich Park, where the Horses are found. They can be ridden by certain characters of the game. At the beginning of the Equestrian Show Jumping, when a GO! appears on the screen, the player can swing the Wii Remote for a Starting Dash. The player has to hold the Wii Remote on its side and move up and down as if they were reins to speed up. The player needs to slow down and angle his or her Remote to steer around corners before galloping up to a fence and leaping over it. The player needs to press down the button at a perfect time just about time the Horse will have to jump over a fence. The Equestrian is known to have ten fences, which a Horse needs to jump over, and have to leap over all of the fences. If the player misses a single fence, he or she shall unfortunately lose the game. At when the player is about to finish the Equestrian event, the Horse may speed up when the player keep on shaking the Wii Remote. The Horses are also available in the Dream Events; the Dream Equestrian takes place in Moo Moo Meadows from Mario Kart Wii. The event needs four players who ride their Horses, and help transport the seven Yoshi Eggs on a cart at the goal of the minigame. Sometimes, arrows to show the direction where the players should go to will appear, the Horse will move if the players hold the Wii Remote sideways and shake it in the right direction. Sometimes the cart tips over and the players have to hold the Wii Remote in the right direction to get the balance back, especially when a Chain Chomp chases after them on a bridge. The Horses always have to dodge things thrown at them, the barrels behind them and a Magikoopa's magic attacks or what's laying around, if injured, the cart will lose a Yoshi Egg. Boost panels can help the Horses increase their speed. At times the Horses are at cliffs, the player need to press the button to make them jump. If the characters make it with Yoshi Eggs, different colored Yoshis hatch and they will win. However they lose the event if all the Yoshi Eggs have disappeared from the cart. Ironically in the 3DS version of the game, the horses can only be ridden by the female characters, however there are some exceptions were they could be ridden by other characters.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a sticker of Epona the Horse from The Legend of Zelda series is available for collecting to increase their arm strength by 9, only usable for Link, Zelda, Toon Link and Ganondorf.

WarioWare: Touched!
In WarioWare: Touched!, Horses appear in the minigame Rump Roast where the player must rapidly tap the horse's bottom on the lower screen in order for it to win the race.

"The Great Gladiator Gig"
In "The Great Gladiator Gig", Horses made their first appearance in the Mario series. Here they were used as the main form of transportation in the Greek-like Linguine Empire as chariot pullers.

"The Adventures of Sherlock Mario"
They appeared again in "The Adventures of Sherlock Mario", where in the Victorian-like city of Victoria they were used to pull stagecoaches.

"Hooded Robin and His Mario Men"
In "Hooded Robin and His Mario Men", Horses are once again used as the main form of transportation for the people of Sharewood Village.

Mobile Golf
A Horse also made appearance in Mobile Golf, who is owned by Bean. He is only seen in the artwork with Bean rather than in the actual game.

Physical Appearance
Horses generally look the same in Mushroom World than they do in the Real World. They have smooth fur along with short manes and pointy ears, and in the Mario & Sonic series, they have purple-blue eyes and look quite flexible.