What is the name of Don Quixote's horse?

Rocinante is the name of Don Quixote de la Mancha’s skinny and clumsy horse, in the universally acclaimed novel 'Don Quixote' by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, published in 1605. Though he is supposedly the great-grandson of El Cid’s famous horse Babieca, Rocinante does not possess the flamboyant qualities you would expect from the steed of a legendary knight, the kind admired by his master, a decrepit country gentleman driven insane by reading too many chivalric romances.

Indeed, 'Rocín' in Spanish means “work-horse” or “nag” - even though Rocinante is heralded as “superior to Bucephalus” in the fantasy world created by his master. Don Quixote and Rocinante have remained a source of empathetic inspiration for many artists since the very first illustrations in Shelton’s 1612 English translation.