If you missed my last Nerd Out article on fairies, you can find it here.

Hi guys, gals, and non-binary pals. I’m back with another Nerd Out article, this time I am covering magical horses. Magickal, mythical horses hold a special place in my heart. As a kid, I loved to look at horses. I still think they are magnificent and grace-incarnate. When I saw unicorns, I knew I found my thing. Then there were the pegasi and then the alicorns. My Little Pony was my jam because it had all four kinds of horses. As I grew up, I continued to love them but I read mythology and found out there is a whole other world of creatures and I continued to learn.

Some of these you will know from pop culture but others you will probably only know if you read mythology or run in magickal circles. They are all incredible, some scary, or at least the potential to be. Hopefully, I will tell you about a new kind of horse. Let’s find out.

Unicorns

What: A horse with a single horn growing out of its head.

Unicorns are a huge part of pop culture today, you can find them everywhere and in everything. Starbucks even made a unicorn drink for a while, unfortunately, I never got the chance to try it. We have backpacks, clothes, makeup, helmets, basically everything unicorn. You can find them in books, movies/TV, video games, and other kinds of games. They are often depicted as pure white horses with gold or silver horns and hooves. I have seen them in black or accented with other colors but they are predominantly white. They are associated with beauty, grace, and purity. Their horns are prized (not as much anymore as they once were in history) for their magical properties such as healing.

Where to find them: As I said above you can find them everywhere. The My Little Pony franchise has a tone of them. One famous movie that centers around unicorns is The Last Unicorn (1982). Scotland’s national animal is a unicorn which can be found on coats of arms throughout history. They hail from Europe.

Pegasus

What: Pegasuses are winged horses that can fly.

Pegasuses weren’t always a type of magickal horse, Pegasus was a specific horse. Pegasus was born when Medusa was decapitated by Perseus and her blood spilled. Pegasus is his name not what he is. Obviously, his mother is Medusa, it’s his father that is up for debate. Some say that he was fathered by Poseidon because he raped Medusa before she got snakes for hair. Others say Pegasus is only Medusa’s child. He was tamed and rode by Bellerophon until his death. Pegasuses today are often shown as white like a unicorn but you can find them in other colors more often than you will see it in unicorns. Pegasuses have no horns. Horses that have a horn and wings are a different kind of animal and we will get to that next.

Where to find them: Pegasuses are from Greece but you can find them all over. Not just in pop culture, though they are plentiful there, but in other cultures like the Celts, Germanics, and Romans. Medusa’s Pegasus can be seen in the movie Clash of the Titans (1981 and 2010) when he fights Medusa and then saves Andromeda. They are used in heraldry from medieval times and forward like unicorns have been. There is also Pegasus Airlines and the satellite named Peguso. All kinds of pegasi can be found in the cartoon and movies of My Little Pony and there are tons of toys to go with the cartoon.

Alicorn

What: Also called unisus, pegacorn, cerapter, or a flying unicorn. It is the result of a union between a unicorn and a pegasus. It has also been referred to as the material that a unicorn horn is made of.

Wing unicorns are just as popular in pop culture as the unicorn and pegasus. Alicorns are often used interchangeably with pegasi, I was introduced to them with My Little Pony toys. Found on Achaemenid Assyrian seals, they were used with winged bulls to represent dark and light/good and evil. Like pegasi and unicorns, they are often depicted as ethereal and white.

Where to find them: You can find alicorns everywhere you can find unicorns and pegasi.

Hippocampus

What: A sea horse that is half horse, sometimes winged, and half fish.

Hippocampi were once thought to be the adult form of the seahorses we know today. In mythology, they pulled the chariot of Poseidon and served as steeds for various nymphs and visitors. In art, they are shown to be golden in color.

Where to find them: You can find one in the movie Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). I can’t speak for the books as neither I nor my kids have read the books. They are from Greek mythology but can also be found in Pictish and Etruscan mythologies. From medieval times on, hippocampi have been used in heraldry like unicorns and pegasi.

Sleipnir

What: Odin’s eight-legged horse.

Sleipnir is the child of Loki and the horse Svaoifari and Loki is the mother. Loki was the one pregnant with and gave birth to Sleipnir, The myth goes that a builder offered the Aesir gods to build an impregnable fortress for them in exchange for the sun, moon, and the goddess Freya. He wasn’t allowed help from anyone except his horse Svaoifari and he must get it done in three seasons. The gods agreed and when he almost met his goal Loki meddled by turning into a female horse and luring Svaoifari away. Needless to say, the builder didn’t meet the deadline. Sleipnir was the result of Loki’s seduction.

Where to find him: Norse mythology

Kelpie

What: A shape-shifting horse-like creature of Ireland and Scotland.

Kelpies are shape-shifting creatures that are usually in the shape of a grey or white horse. They live in and around lochs (lakes) and love to drown their victims. In Scotland, they are called nixies. You can find other similar beings in Central America called wihwin and in Australia, they are called bunyips. They roam around the areas of the lochs and look for victims. They would allow unsuspecting humans to mount them then race into the water and drown them. They could turn into a human man. Usually for the purpose of either killing or marrying a woman.

Where to find them: Celtic and Germanic mythology and lands. Also in Australia (because Australia has to have all the things that kill you) and Central America.

Centaur

What: A being with the upper half of a man and the lower half of a horse. Ixionidae

There are a few versions of the myth of how they came to be, at least in Greek mythology. There is a similar type of being in Russia called the polkan. In India, there are the kinnaras that look like the Greek centaur.

Where to find them: You can find them in Greek mythology. They are also in the Percy Jackson books and movies. I saw them in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-1999) with Kevin Sorbo. P.C. Cast’s Partholon series features many centaurs. In fact, the MMC is a centaur.

So, did you know any of them? Do you have a favorite mythical horse creature? I grew up loving unicorns and pegasi and they still are special to me. However, I think alicorns are my absolute favorite with the hippocampus being a close second. I know I don’t want to run into a kelpie. I think if I go to the Celtic lands I will avoid horses in the areas of lochs. What are your thoughts?

Are there any other nerdy pop culture things you would like me to cover? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle.