On Monday, Disney and the NFL announced a collaboration for team-branded apparel, in which specific Disney characters would ‘join forces’ with each individual league team.
For Horseshoe fans, it was the anticipation of getting to see which Disney or Pixar character would be aligned with their favorite team, the Colts, for the 2026 campaign regarding the newly unveiled unique team apparel collaboration.
Upon initial thought, there were a handful of popular Disney or Pixar horse characters that one would
reasonably think would’ve been appropriate for the Colts to tag-team with—just to name a few:
- Bullseye (Toy Story)
- Maximus (Tangled)
- Pegasus (Hercules)
Instead, Disney inexplicably chose an obscure old-time character, “Horace Horsecollar,” who debuted as Mickey’s plow horse back in 1929, as one of his oldest friends, and frequently appeared in Disney cartoons from 1930-32 before making his last appearance in the original Disney shorts in 1942.
Horace would later make cameo character appearances in a few Disney films through the 1980’s and 1990’s, before later making appearances in the Mickey Mouse television series (2013) and most recently, Mickey Clubhouse+.
Look, I can certainly appreciate the history of Horace Horsecollar, but how did the Los Angeles Chargers, whose emblem is a lightning bold, end up with BOTH Hercules AND Pegasus, when Hercules’ Zeus, Cars’ Lightning McQueen, or even The Incredibles’ super-villian Syndrome (who I believe utilized blue energy beams) all seem like more appropriate options, especially at the expense of the Colts losing a popular Disney/Pixar horse option.
For what it’s worth, Maximus was chosen for the Denver Broncos which has already sold out among their fans on the official Disney store, and it’s hard to disagree with that selection given that like the Colts, they’re also purely a horse. Kudos to the Broncos for landing a good one!
However, the Dallas Cowboys got both Toy Story’s Woody and Bullseye (which also sold out respectively), while the Houston Texans got Jessie and Bullseye (*also sold out by the same token).
Could the Colts not have just gotten Bullseye by himself? We would’ve gladly taken it.
At any rate, Horace Horsecollar it is, and if that’s not synonymous for the lost decade plus that’s been Colts football, having had prior glory years to fondly reminisce of, but currently floating in relative obscurity, then I don’t know what is.
