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Original poster

Time for talented horses to take back horse roles in pantos

67 replies

Comebyshep · 08/02/2026 22:17

It’s the 21st century and yet pantomimes insist on getting two human actors to play a sad parody of a horse. Meanwhile equine actors
sit at home wondering where the next job is coming from.

The offensive stereotype of a
clumsy, ridiculous, uncoordinated beast is presented year on year. It’s insulting. Surely we’ve moved on from this? The only way of tackling this is to hand the roles over to actual horses.

AIBU?

OP posts:
5128gap · 09/02/2026 21:44

How can do you know theyre not real horses? I know loads of pantomime horses and if you saw them you'd have no idea they weren't assigned equine at birth.

LoveSandbanks · 09/02/2026 21:43

I think your example is fine but the real crime is using dancers to portray swans!

How many out of work swans could be employed in a small production of swan lake. Instead we have ballet dancers, highly trained as they are, with a poor representation of the true grace of a swan.

willstarttomorrow · 09/02/2026 21:43

I am in Tbilisi at the moment and have booked to a famous marionette performance at Gabriadze Theater to see Ramona, which apparently tells a love story of two steam locomotives.

The website says... 'The action takes place after the WW2 at a small railway station Rioni. Ermon, the powerful locomotive, is sent to the far away parts to ‘complete the 5-year plan in 4’, while Ramona stays at the station, waiting for her husband. Her days are filled with sweet memories and sadness at missing Ermon'.

As lovely as it all sounds, and I get Gabriadze being a multi award winner for his puppetry etc, I am howevwr shocked that real steam locomotives have been overlooked and instead they are using puppets! No wonder steam locomotives are practically redundant these days.....

Tigerbalmshark · 09/02/2026 21:42

FurForksSake · 09/02/2026 21:39

Do we think donkeys should be allowed to play the pantomime horse? A zebra? Lines must be drawn to protect spaces for horses.

I don’t think anyone would find a zebra wearing horseface to be acceptable in this day and age.

There will be somebody along in a moment to say that the Bolshoi still do it, but it’s traditional for them.

MargaretThursday · 09/02/2026 21:42

Dd1&2 have been rats and Ds has been a (pink) bunny in a panto.
They've also been monkeys and a fox at other pantos.

This is clearly not fair.

FurForksSake · 09/02/2026 21:39

Do we think donkeys should be allowed to play the pantomime horse? A zebra? Lines must be drawn to protect spaces for horses.

MyThreeWords · 09/02/2026 21:36

What are you suggesting, OP? DNA checks at the audition? That would be outing for pantomime horses, a violation of their privacy.

This whole moral panic is also damaging to those assigned horse at birth. I know of several horses whose presence at auditions has been challenged just because they 'look a bit stitched together'.

KeepOffTheQuinoa · 09/02/2026 21:30

AmyDudley · 08/02/2026 22:26

I agree,but think this should also be extended to the pantomime cow. God knows how many unemployed bovines are out there, their talent going to waste while humans take all the roles. I'm actually disgusted, it's 2026 FFS.

AND GIANTS!

Real dwarves play dwarves, as is only right and proper but the FEE FI FO FUM community are stereotyped in grotesque papier mache .

Blatant discrimination.

KeepOffTheQuinoa · 09/02/2026 21:24

Statement from The Equity Equine Rep:
”This is not our first rodeo, we have been nagging theatres about this for years.Their mane objection concerns manure but as managers they don’t come up smelling of roses. We bridle at their suggestion that our point of view is not stable : we say ‘Hey, don’t say nay!’

ArticWillow · 09/02/2026 21:19

I'm not against horse actors at all.
I find the front end, equipped with the big horsy teeth type grinn very appeasing.
But the rear end is another matter all together. I fear for humans, cows or geese who happen to be in the firing line of unpleasant air or the iconic giant droppings.

frockandcrocs · 09/02/2026 21:18

Ah, now this one I can get on board with 🤣🤣🤣

CointreauQuaint · 09/02/2026 21:10

Last time I saw a live horse in panto, a member of the front row shouted ‘why the long face’. The equine promptly leapt off the stage and decked him. With those clunky shoes the audience member got quite the shiner!

FourForksSake · 09/02/2026 21:00

Come to Bournemouth, we had real panto ponies this Christmas pulling Cinderella’s glass coach.

FurForksSake · 09/02/2026 20:23

I assume that all actors are perverts, I feel that’s the safest assumption. Animal actors are the worst, I believe the dog that played Marley in Marley in Me was a womaniser and enjoyed playing in the snow.

Verytall · 09/02/2026 20:21

I think any actor who is willing to portray a horse is disgusting, it's quite clear that their only possible motivation is that they are a secret 'furry' and are getting off on mocking the animal kingdom. Anyone who colludes in this behaviour has been brainwashed, won't someone think of the children! Woke gone mad.

Zov · 09/02/2026 20:20

😆 Brilliant @Comebyshep 😂

DancingOctopus · 09/02/2026 20:13

Why oh why has the laugh reaction been taken away? This thread is comedy gold.

Madlentileater · 09/02/2026 20:12

I mean they talk about 'tradition' and 'commedia dell'arte' but I think a modern audience has moved beyond all that and needs to see a more authentic portrayal of a horse.

IAmTheLogLady · 09/02/2026 20:10

vodkaredbullgirl · 08/02/2026 23:21

Right enough horsing around 😂 bed is calling.

You're right, time to reign it in.

IAmTheLogLady · 09/02/2026 20:07

Comebyshep · 08/02/2026 22:17

It’s the 21st century and yet pantomimes insist on getting two human actors to play a sad parody of a horse. Meanwhile equine actors
sit at home wondering where the next job is coming from.

The offensive stereotype of a
clumsy, ridiculous, uncoordinated beast is presented year on year. It’s insulting. Surely we’ve moved on from this? The only way of tackling this is to hand the roles over to actual horses.

AIBU?

Completely agree 👍.

JoyOfSpecs · 09/02/2026 20:06

Why should horses be constrained by the glass ceiling of only being able to take on the stereotypical horse role.

We shouldn't rest until there is a pony Mother Goose.

Time for talented horses to take back horse roles in pantos
FurForksSake · 09/02/2026 19:57

That could genuinely be from the film, I haven’t seen it, so I apologise for my hate speech and join you in the fight.

Time for talented horses to take back horse roles in pantos
Tigerbalmshark · 09/02/2026 19:37

FurForksSake · 08/02/2026 23:25

I have not seen lion king, but I don’t know how many horses are in that one?

Joey was robbed and should definitely have been a giant non-mare in war horse. Robots stealing jobs again.

See, it is exactly this equine erasure we need to resist.

Time for talented horses to take back horse roles in pantos
FurForksSake · 08/02/2026 23:25

I have not seen lion king, but I don’t know how many horses are in that one?

Joey was robbed and should definitely have been a giant non-mare in war horse. Robots stealing jobs again.