Horse

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A horse, u, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The horse is a strong and herbivorous domestic animal that can be seen via infravision and has a tendency to wander. Like their other growth stages in the unicorn or horse monster class, horses can be tamed with veggy food such as pears or lichen corpses, and consider carrots and apples treats.

A horse has a kick attack and a bite attack.

Generation

Horses may be generated as peaceful towards neutral characters. A pony can grow up into a horse, and a horse can grow up into a warhorse.

Horses have a 1100 chance of generating with a worn saddle.[1]

Body parts

Horse also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of horses and unicorns. It affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows.

Body part[2] Description[3]
arm foreleg
eye eye
face face
finger forehoof
fingertip hoof tip
foot rear hoof
hand foreclaw
handed hooved
head head
leg rear leg
light headed light headed
neck neck
spine backbone
toe rear hoof tip
hair mane
blood blood
lung lung
nose nose
stomach stomach

Strategy

Horses move at a swift 20 speed and hit slightly harder than ponies, with their speed amplifying the increased damage further in many cases - characters should pacify a hostile horse quickly with non-tripe rations if they do not want to tame or fight it, especially if they are on the weaker side. Like ponies, horse corpses do not penalize characters for eating them, making them a decent meaty source of nutrition.

As pets

Main article: Knight

Pet horse maintenance is essentially the same as with pet ponies, with the sole difference being that their increase in size somewhat decreases their ability to maintain nutrition.[4] Remember to chat with a pet horse or use a stethoscope to determine if it is hungry, and see the article linked above for specific details on Knights and steed maintenance.

History

The horse first appears in NetHack 3.3.0.

Messages

You detect a strong odor reminiscent of a stable.
A monster polymorphed into a horse while outside of your sight.

Variants

EvilHack

In EvilHack, horses appear among the random u that are part of the second quest monster class for Infidels and make up 24175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Infidel quest.

Encyclopedia entry

King Richard III: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
Catesby: Withdraw, my lord; I'll help you to a horse.
King Richard III: Slave, I have set my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die:
I think there be six Richmonds in the field;
Five have I slain to-day instead of him.
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

[ King Richard III, by William Shakespeare ]

References