Halloween is right around the corner, so let’s talk about the horse from Sleepy Hollow. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a gothic story by American author Washington Irving. It originally appeared in a collection of 34 essays and short stories. One of the big characters in the story is the Headless Horseman. Continue reading to find out more about the antagonist’s steed. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Dare Devil Is The Horse From Sleepy Hollow

The Headless Horseman, or the “Hessian,” rode a horse named Dare Devil. As the story goes, the Hessian appeared as a mercenary sent by German princes during the Revolutionary War. The Hessian says that the horse’s father was a pitch black Arabian stallion. Tim Burton adopted the book into a film of the same name. In this film, two Spanish Horses played Dare Devil. Therefore, judging from their manes, tails, and other features, Dare Devil was an Andalusian.

The story occurs in 1790 in the countryside around Tarrytown in a secluded glen known as Sleepy Hollow. Here raconteurs tell of the legend of the Headless Horseman. He is supposedly the restless ghost of a trooper whose head had been shot off by a stray cannonball during the Revolutionary War. The hessian rides with a pumpkin for a head, searching for his actual head. The story implies that the Horseman was really an extremely agile rider named Brom in disguise. Brom also uses a Jack-o’-lantern as a false head to scare the people of Sleepy Hollow.