Horace Horsecollar

Horace Horsecollar is a animated character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. He is an anthropomorphic horse, one of Mickey Mouse's best friends and the boyfriend of Clarabelle Cow. Horace first appeared as Mickey's plough horse in the cartoon "The Plowboy" in 1929. He next appeared later that same year, in "The Jazz Fool", and after that he became a regular member of the Disney supporting cast, along with Clarabelle Cow, Clara Cluck and others even more minor. Characterized as a cheerful know-it-all, Horace helped Mickey on his sleuthing expeditions in the comics before Goofy assumed that role. In recent years, Horace has more commonly appeared in Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse.

Background
He appeared frequently from 1930 to 1932 and less frequently afterward, making his final classic-era bow in 1942. The name of Horace's voice actor in the classic era is unknown.

Personality
Horace is a genially kind character always finding ways to help. He acts very heroic and can have quite an ego, though no one ever minds. He enjoys, outdoor activities and solving mysteries with his pal Mickey Mouse. Horace has been shown to have a small temper problem. Unlike Mickey, Horace will be the first to attack an enemy and asks questions later. Most of the time, this will get Horace and his friends into trouble.

Design
In his earliest incarnation, Horace was presented as Mickey Mouse's four-legged plow horse. He could walk upright on his hind legs, at which time his forelegs became gloved hands; at other times, he got back down on all fours and reverted to form. Horace mostly played bit-parts in the approximately 30 cartoon shorts in which he appeared and his character was never as fully developed as the "Fab Five". Like Goofy in his early Dippy Dawg appearances, Horace's body seemed to be formed of rubber tubing. He and Clarabelle Cow had an uncanny ability to change from somewhat normal farmyard animals into anthropomorphized beings as necessary.

Mickey's Christmas Carol
Horace was given a small cameo in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) He is seen dancing with Clarabelle at Fezziewig's Christmas Party in Scrooge's past.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Horace appeared in another small cameo with all Disney Characters in the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Here, he takes the role of a non-speaking police officer.

The Prince and the Pauper
Horace Horsecollar had a bigger role as Mickey's pompous tutor in the The Prince and the Pauper (1990). Horace is first seen tutoring the prince in his studies. Later on, the Prince and a commoner named Mickey Mouse trade places. Horace never notices the switch and continues to give the "prince" the daily lessons. In the middle, Horace informs Mickey that the king is gravely ill and advises him to visit his bedroom. That night the king passes away so Horace and the other royal subjects head to the church where Mickey is to be crowned. However, Mickey ends up being caught in a scheme of the villainous Captain Pete. The real prince arrives with Mickey's friend Goofy and his royal valet Donald. A battle follows and Pete is defeated. Horace celebrates the crowning of the real prince.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Horace makes a cameo in Mickey's segment "The Gifft of the Magi" when Mickey is performing for Christmas donations. In this role, Horace's color scheme is gray in contrast to his normal black tone.

Mickey Mouse Club
Horace appears in the opening musical number Mickey Mouse March along with many other characters.

Maximum Horsepower
In the 1990s, Horace was intended to star in a new TV series to be created for The Disney Afternoon, titled Maximum Horsepower, intended to explain his disappearance from the shorts after the 1930's ended. The concept would be that, in 1939, Horace had gotten tired of playing bit parts and, after learning Mickey was starring in Fantasia, was going to demand Walt to give him a starring role in that movie as well. On his way to Walt's office, though, he gets abducted by aliens who bring him halfway across the galaxy because they are in desperate need of the hero that they believe Horace is, despite his dreams of returning to Earth and resuming his acting career. Maximum Horsepower, however, never came to be.

Mickey Mouse Works
Horace reappears and play a role in Mickey Mouse Works. Horace's most notable appearance is in the cartoon "Mickey's Big Break". Mickey and Donald disguise themselves as Minnie and Daisy in order to retake a picture they broke while playing football. Horace spots Mickey and Donald (dressed as Minnie and Daisy), in the dressing room. Embarrassed Horace claims he did not see anything and runs away. Horace made a cameo in the Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoon "Locksmiths" as well as the Donald Duck cartoon "Donald's Pool".

House of Mouse
Horace reappears in House of Mouse as the club's technician, often starting up the cartoons and TV reports shown on the club's big screen; he often did this by attacking the DVD player with a mallet or punching glove. As a running gag, Mickey often asks him what is wrong, causing him to list things that are wrong in the world (i.e. "The Internet's too dang slow!"), prompting Mickey to rephrase "No, what's wrong in here?" One of his notable appearances is in the series pilot episode "The Stolen Cartoons". Pete steals the clubs cartoons by breaking into Horace's tech room and taking all cartoons. In the episode "House of Scrooge", Horace revealed his big idea to open a barn themed amusement park called Horace Land.

In comics
Horace has never really been more than a supporting character, though he has starred in numerous European comic book stories of his own. In these, he plays a much bigger role than elsewhere, accompanying Mickey on his adventures or acting as Clarabelle Cow's paramour and finance. Clarabelle and Horace were engaged in the comics according to some 1931 and 1932 continuities, but neither ever followed through.

For a brief time, during the late 1960s, Clarabelle Cow began dating Goofy, perhaps in an attempt to give Goofy a girlfriend. The reasons for Clarabelle and Horace apparently breaking up were not given. In 1969, the character Glory-Bee was introduced as a new love interest for Goofy. In later comics, Clarabelle and Horace were a couple again. Horace is often shown being a boastful slacker, but always managing to land on his feet. One comic had a wealthy man offering to make a large donation to an orphanage in the name of anyone who can duplicate a high dive he had done many years ago. Horace's idle chat of he could easily accomplish that is overheard, and the attention is on him. While Clarabelle Cow said she would like nothing more than to see Horace choke on his own words because of his boastfulness, she prepares him for the high dive on the basis the orphanage badly needs money. When the big day come, Horace gets cold feet and runs away, but manages to collide with two crooks who were taking advantage of everyone watching the high dive to rob a bank by helicopter. Horace unlatches the sack of cash and lands right in the tank of water, which is what he was fearful of all along! The combination of thwarting the bank robbers and falling from a great height is perceived that Horace was not running away, but putting on an even tougher act, which gets him hailed as the man of the hour and the wealthy benefactor agrees to make an even larger donation for Horace. Although Clarabelle Cow was annoyed that Horace bumbled his way to greatness yet again, she is glad his efforts benefited the orphans.

Illusion series
Horace makes appearances in Land of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Kingdom Hearts series
Horace appears in Kingdom Hearts II, residing in Timeless River. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, his only other appearance, he is shown to reside in Disney Town. In Kingdom Hearts II, he does not play any essential role other than walking around the Cornerstone Hill with Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck. His role is greatly expanded in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, however, as he interacts with Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. It is assumed that he is still present in either Disney Town or Disney Castle during Kingdom Hearts II, but Sora never encounters him. In addition to his minor appearance in Kingdom Hearts II, one of the bonsai figures in the Courtyard of the Disney Castle bears a striking resemblance to Horace Horsecollar, in a percussionist's guise. It could very well be him, as he was the percussionist in The Band Concert.

Kingdom Hearts II
Horace made a cameo appearance in the Timeless River world of Kingdom Hearts II with many other classic Disney characters like Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck as one of the world's citizens.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Horace also makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He is seen in Disney Town. Horace appears and quickly befriends heroine Aqua and attends the Dream Festival.

Disney TH!NK Fast
He is also a playable character in Disney TH!NK Fast. To date, this is Horace's only playable appearance in a video game.

Epic Mickey
The classic black and white Horace lives in Wasteland, having become a private detective and good friends with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit during his time down there. Horace's black and white version appears being the forgotten version of Horace while the current version of Horace lives in the real world of Disney.

Horace will give you some cases to find some missing items or thieves. Here are the list of the cases:
 * Find Horace's Book: Speak to Casey in the Emporium, who will tell you go to the Ice Cream Parlor, where you must speak to Paulie who will give you Horace’s book.
 * Missing Dog Tag: Horace is in search of the Robot Dog and needs your help. Go to Tomorrow City Square Launchpad, walk around the tram track and you will see the dog tag behind a wall of glass. Go to it's right and you will notice a ball-like machine pod. Use thinner to open it and jump into the machine. It will transport you to a higher platform. You can go up and place a TV sketch to activate a crane-like machine (this will transport you to a platform near the rocket, with a caged Gremlin. If you release that Gremlin, he can shut down one Beetleworx generator or he can give you 3 TV sketches, you cannot choose both.). Then, go down and pick up the dog tag.
 * Detective Mickey 1: Paint all the footprints on the street, this will lead you to the cinema where you will need to jump up onto the roof, thinning out the walls and using them to get on top of the roof. If you painted all the footsteps, Shifty will give you the book that he stole. If you didn't, you'll have to buy it for 50 E-Tickets.
 * Detective Mickey 2: Paint and follow all the footprints from Clarabelle's house. If you painted all the footsteps, Ezra will give you the flower that he took. If you didn't, you'll have to buy it for 50 E-Tickets
 * Missing Pirate: He is on the Pirate Voyage. You should notice him before the whirlpool, trapped in a jail. Thin the jail next to his and free the Gremlin. He will open the jail. Talk to him and collect some goodies.
 * Detective Mickey 3: Paint and follow all the footprints from the back of the Tiki Hut. If you painted all the footsteps, Dolly Dalmatian will give you the tiki mask that she took from the Hut. If you didn't, you'll have to buy it for 50 E-Tickets.
 * Missing Hatchet: The hatchet is on the top of the library in the Lonesome Manor (Thin out the walls).
 * Detective Mickey 4: Paint and follow all the footprints from Louis's Shack. If you painted all the footsteps, Millicent will give you the candle that she accidentally took. If you didn't, you'll have to buy it for 50 E-Tickets.

Horace is expected to reappear in the sequel, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.

Disney Parks
Horace appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character and also appears in select parades at the Magic Kingdom park as well as Character Day at Disneyland. In the parks, Horace dons his outfit from The Band Concert cartoon.

Horace's most common meet-and-greet opportunities can be found at Tokyo Disneyland's Toontown.

In Mickey's Toontown, a gym owned by Horace can be seen in between several toon buildings.

Horace was seen in a mural during the Disney California Adventure expansion as a construction worker.

Horace can be spotted in Silly Symphony Swings as well as a statue located in the Team Mickey store in Downtown Disney.

He and Clarabelle attend the Frontierland Hoedown at the Magic Kingdom often.

At Christmas, Horace is found on his float in the Once Upon a Christmastime parade. For Halloween, Horace is seen during Mickey's Halloween Party.