u/Marticey

Roach, The Witcher Series - Geralt has the dangerous job of being a Witcher, meaning he has to hunt down monsters and kill them to prevent more damage being done to the locals. Being in such a risky career, his trusty horse is sometimes caught in the crossfire. Every time his horse dies, he simply replaces it with a similar looking horse and also names it Roach.

Pie-O-My, The Sopranos - Tony starts to become attached to Ralphie's racehorse, Pie-O-My after she starts winning races and making them both money. Then Pie-O-My becomes ill and it's Tony that spends the most time and effort trying to look after her. Between her illness and Tony taking too much of the money, Ralphie gets sick and tired of the whole thing and fricking kills the dang horse. He done went and torched her stable down and she cooked like a salami, just so he could collect the insurance. AND this is after Tony specifically said no more fires, Tony doesn't want any fires. She was a majestic creature and she neva hurt nobody, that butthead Ralphie is gonna deserve what's comin to him for that. In this house Pie-O-My is a hero, end of story!

Artax, The Neverending Story - I'm sorry to bring up your childhood trauma but no list of dead horses would be complete without the o.g., the horse of all time, Artax. Buddy done did went and got stuck in the swamp of sadness and became so sad that it couldn't escape, because thts how the swamp of sadness works. If you get too sad you cant get out of the swamp of sadness. Sad.

Several Horses, Umamusume/real life - Umamusume is some kind of Orwellian nightmare world where there is a species of humanoid horse girls destined to race for the amusement and financial gain of normal humans. These "umas" are based on real life horses, including some that have passed away for realsies irl. This includes (among many others) Rice Shower, a horse that, in real life, broke its ankle or something and was taken out back and shot in the head. Now of course cygames would not want to have their cute lil mascots die in game, but we all know the truth, that these umas are expendable. That all it takes is one frick-up and it's off to the skeet range where the horses will be flung into the air and used for target practice.

Agro, Shadow of the Colossurado - Agro is the horse you ride to make getting around a lot easier. When you get close to the end of the game however, a bridge beneath you gives way and Agro tosses you to safety while it plummets to the bottom of a ravine. This of course DOESN'T kill the horse, what, how that doesn't even make sense. That's like, a half mile or more I cant even see the bottom. That, that horse is dead, nuh uh you cant convince me. You later happen to find a very slightly injured horse that looks remarkably similar to Agro that is also named Agro.

Horse, Super Auto Pets - my horse done got bit by a copperhead n died.

Your horses, Horsey Game - If you find yourself strapped for cash or otherwise needing to discreetly dispose of any horses that have overstayed their welcome, you can take em on down to Sue's Glue where they will humanely dice and then boil your horses into a much more useful form. I like to take horses that perform poorly on a little drive to the factory to let them watch as I toss a couple of mutts into the woodchipper so they know I mean business.

Maurice, Dead by Daylight - I'm not entirely sure if Maurice counts as dead, but he definitely is worse for wear. Hes all rotted and it just kind of sits there, but he's pretty cute I guess. Nevertheless, Maurice is in Dead by Daylight and brother, the update that added daylight happened a looong time ago. Also there was that time where Maurice went missing and everyone was worrying, and then it turns out that the dredge just ate him or something, then Maurice later showed back up right as rain.

Vito, The Sopranos - A mobster working under Tony Soprano, Vito gets outed as being homosexual after being witnessed performing oral on another man. Because the mafia is extremely homophobic, he is at real risk staying around, so he decides to book it somewhere else and try to live a normal life. Unfortunately, he can barely make it a day working a normal job and decides to risk it all by trying to go back to the mob, resulting in him getting whacked just for being gay.

Craig, Friendship - A lonely man who becomes friends with his neighbor has one bad awkward moment that ruins his image among his new friend group and becomes ostracized for being a weirdo. He spends the movie ruining his own life and others' through his strange behavior, even resulting in his wife going missing. By the end of the movie it seems like everything has mostly fixed itself, his wife has been found and they've somewhat reconciled. Craig seems to be making an attempt at bettering his behavior and being a good father and husband... then he sees his neighbor got a new car and is having a small party. Craig simply cannot stop himself from barging in, desperate to try and get his friends back, resulting in the climax of the movie and absolutely ruining his own life in the process.

Candide, from Candide - A man of unbelievable optimism, he spends the entire book getting into seinfeld-esqu hijinks in which he is either getting flogged, his home invaded, about to be killed by a volcano, etc. These hardships challenge his optimistic outlook and yet he remains headstrong in the face of adversity assured that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds". Eventually his group manages to find the lost city of gold, where everything is perfect, everything including the dirt is made of gold, and they won't have to worry about being hurt anymore. They stay there for a bit and then realize that if they stay there they will just be normal people, but if they take even a little bit of the gold home with them they can be rich. The residents are happy to oblige them, giving them a heap of gold and sending them on their way. The group knows this is a one-way trip however. Once they leave it is unlikely they will ever be able to find this place again. Nevertheless they opt to go back home, and almost immediately after setting sail, they are attacked and robbed by pirates. sigh