‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Are Furious at Rick Grimes’ Horse

The white horse that bucked Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) off its back after being rattled by a horde of walkers, leaving Rick with a blood-gushing wound, is being saddled with blame for Rick’s apparent looming demise.

When confronted with a herd of walkers at risk of encroaching on the midway camp hosting survivors from across all five communities, Rick and Daryl (Norman Reedus) split off, with Daryl riding on to alert the camp while Rick stayed behind to draw the walkers away.

But the horse was startled by the approaching walkers, knocking Rick off its back and straight onto a standing piece of rebar — an injury that left Rick impaled and unconscious.

The moment came just minutes after Daryl evoked the memory of the late Glenn (Steven Yeun), who both Daryl and Rick credit with saving Rick’s life during the earliest days of the apocalypse in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rick toppling off the horse was a direct callback to The Walking Dead‘s pilot, where Rick, while riding horseback through the mobbed streets of Atlanta, rode directly into a wall of walkers.

When that horse was swarmed and ultimately devoured, Rick was knocked off and forced to fight through an ensuing pack before he was trapped by the overwhelming horde. Rick nearly committed suicide before holing up inside a tank, where he would be rescued by a selfless Glenn.

“I really feel like these characters that have died live on inside these characters’ heads. They live in their hearts and it drives so much of their decision making. Sometimes we haven’t really explicitly talked about it that way, but we talk about it in the [writers room],” showrunner Angela Kang told EW.

“My mother died when I was a teenager and I think about her every day still and I talk about her a lot still. I feel like that’s a very true to life thing when people have had losses of people who are so important to them. It becomes a part of the conversation. It becomes a part of how you reckon with the decisions you make, and the person you want to be, and how you grapple with things like the wishes that they had versus how you’re trying to get through your day to day life.”

409 mirroring 101 is just one of the many callbacks and homages that will play out as The Walking Dead says goodbye to Rick, who spends much of 905 revisiting the past by way of hallucinations brought on by his gaping wound.

All Who Oppose, Say Neigh

Just When Things Became Stable

Hop On Down From Your High Horse

Then The Horse Just Hoofed It Out of There

But He’s the Mane Character!

Out to Pasture

They Shoot Walkers, Don’t They?

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