Horse in tarot
The horse is energy harnessed: speed, strength and the instinctive body carrying the mind. Its colour matters in art. White horses belong to heroes and to the riders of the Apocalypse, and Death rides a white horse in Smith's deck. The child of the Sun rides a white horse bareback. All four knights are mounted, and the temperament of each horse, rearing, charging or standing still, mirrors its rider's suit. In readings, look at how the horse is controlled. A horse without reins can mean perfect trust or no control at all.
Cards that show horse
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Death
Death: The white horse
A tall pale horse with a red eye steps forward, its bridle decorated with small skulls and crossbones. The image echoes the pale horse of the Book of Revelation. White is also a colour of purity, which softens the card's terror.
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The Sun
The Sun: The white horse
A grey-white horse walks forward with its head lowered, carrying the child calmly without bridle or saddle. Horses traditionally represent strength and energy; here that strength is gentle and willing, needing no control.
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Six of Wands
Six of Wands: The white horse
The horse is white, with a red bridle and a long green cloth bordered in yellow. White horses also carry the riders of Death and the Sun in this deck: mounts for moments that everyone notices.
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Knight of Wands
Knight of Wands: The rearing horse
The horse rears high, front legs lifted, its mane drawn in curling tufts like flames. Waite wrote that the motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider: hasty, eager and impossible to hold still.
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Knight of Cups
Knight of Cups: The pale horse
His grey-white horse walks slowly with its head bowed and one foreleg raised. Unlike the charging horses of the other knights, it moves calmly, matching the rider's gentle, unhurried temperament.
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Knight of Swords
Knight of Swords: The galloping white horse
A pale horse in full stride, mouth open and mane streaming back like flames. Horses often carry the drive that bears us forward; here that drive is at its fastest and hardest to rein in.
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Knight of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles: The still black horse
A heavy black horse stands with all four hooves on the ground, the only motionless horse among the four Knights. It is Waite's 'slow, enduring, heavy' mount: strength that is all endurance and no speed.