Types of Horses

About the Horses of North of North
North of North is the ancestral home of all horses. Every horse can trace its bloodline back to North of North. Naturally, the horses of North of North are the best and brightest of their kind. Every horse in North of North has been touched by magic, and even the most normal-looking of horses has at least one small magical gift of their own. Sometimes, it takes a while for the horse to discover what it is.

Although their gifts and abilities vary, all horses in North of North share some common traits that differentiate them from regular horses. Firstly, their lifespans are much longer. They live at least as long as humans do, and many live for hundreds of years or even more. They can learn, remember, wonder, imagine and figure things out much like people.

Horses in North of North are intelligent enough to understand human speech, but they don't talk themselves. Instead, they use a magical ability called horse-sharing. This ability lets horses share mental pictures with people, horses or other animals, so they can tell others what they are thinking or how they are feeling. Anyone who has a bond with a particular horse can pick up the horse's emotions from these pictures. For horses, the pictures of horse-sharing are much clearer than words.

(From Bella Sara: The Ultimate Guide)

Air Horses (Pegasi)
Air horses, also known as Pegasi in mythology, live in the skies of North of North.

Although they all can be called pegasi, not one is alike! Each pegasus in North of North has unique wings. Some are feathered, some are scaled, others are made of pure elements or magic, or some even have insect wings! These horses can use their unique magical wings to fly high above the land, or even participate in winged races in the blue skies over Trails End.

Log ago when Feral, the demonic deity, chased the Caregivers to the edge of a cliff, she thought she had them cornered. If they tried to jump, they would plummet to their deaths. But Sara had a brilliant idea. With a sweep of her hand, all their horses grew wings! They jumped off the cliff with their new air horses, flying to safety, leaving the Dark Goddess cursing behind.

These air horses generally dominate the Windhome Skylands, home of Herd Airistos; indeed, most of them belong to this herd. Some air horses look for tall trees in which to make their homes, while others roost in crevices along the high, rocky cliffs above the ocean. Some even live in houses!

A few famous pegasi are Nike, founder of Herd Airistos, and Wings, Emma's Valkyrie steed.

Windwalker
Like pegasi, windwalkers have the ability to fly. However, the difference between the two types of horses is that windwalkers do not have wings. Instead, they have the innate magical ability to walk upon the air, without any wings at all! Those without wings usually have magic stardust or mist that follows them around as they float through the skies. They are called windrunners. Others have the power to walk on wind, as if it was an invisible strip of land.

A few well-known windwalkers are Mistral, Colour, and Soot, Emma's cousin Colm's steed.

Unicorns
Unicorns are horses with some sort of horn on their forehead, and a regular horses body. Some may have a single straight horn, while others have curved horns, colored horns, horns made of magic, and many other various combinations.

A unicorn may have a magical ability. Some unicorns use their horns to direct magic, or have horns that glow. However, not all unicorns are "magical" in nature. Some horns are simply for show, to give the horse a distinct and beautiful look.

Unicorns are probably the second most common type of horse, after a regular horse, in North of North.

A few well-known Unicorns are Farah, the daughter of the legendary horse Fiona, and Rosebriar.

Alicorns
Alicorns are a combination of two types of horses: pegasi and unicorns.

The two qualifications for this type of horse is they have to have a unicorn's horn, and they must have wings. A unicorn can be a windwalker, for instance, and not be an alicorn. Alicorns always have wings of some sort, whether they are feathered, magical, or otherwise.

A few famous Alicorns are Islandar, the founder of Herd Islandar, Iceking, and Moonfairy, the founder of Herd Moonfairy.

Water Horses (Hippocampi)
Water horses, also known as hippocampi in mythology, live in the waters of North of North.

They can be horses with front legs and a fish's, or other sea creature's, tail, or have only the head of a horse and the body of sea life. Some may be able to walk on land for short periods of time before descending back into the waves (called kelpies), regular horses that can breathe underwater, or even seahorses.

One day, when young Sara was playing in a river, she saw a beautiful fish. When sunlight touched its smooth scales, they glimmered and shined. Its silky fins rippled in the water as it danced to the motion of the waves. Sara thought to herself, how wonderful would it be if a horse could possess these qualities! With one fluid motion, she turned the fish into the first water horse, a beautiful creature of the sea.

These water horses generally dominate the Celestial Deep and Equinesian Sea as Herd Islandar, a herd completely constructed of water horses, but they can be found in many other herds as long as they live close enough to a large body of water.

A few well-known water horses are Kora, Princess of Herd Islandar, Kahuna, steward of Herd Islandar, and Coral, the Lady of Herd Islandar.

Dew Ponies
Dew ponies are unique magical ponies. They normally are various shades of green, and are constantly dripping with dew.

These ponies travel in the early morning when dew is still on the leaves of the trees and the grass on the ground. This is because they have the unique ability to part wet vegetation wherever they go. This allows them to travel uninterrupted through even the densest of forests.

Dew ponies are also said to be some of the shyest ponies in North of North.

A few prominent dew ponies are Dewdrop from Harmony's Journey and Dewsparkle.