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Kanji for Horse
The kanji most commonly used for "Horse" are 馬、午、駒.
馬
Kanji that mean Horse
馬 is the horse — the animal, plainly, and the character in 競馬 (horse racing), 馬車 (carriage) and 馬力 (horsepower). It is what you want unless you specifically mean something else. In names it appears mostly in surnames and place names such as 馬場.
午 is the horse of the East Asian zodiac, the seventh branch, and that is nearly all it does in modern Japanese. Its working sense is the clock: 正午 is noon, 午前 is morning, 午後 is afternoon. Written alone it reads as a time word, not an animal.
駒 is a colt or young horse, but its everyday meaning is a game piece — the pieces in shōgi are 駒 — and it also names the bridge of a stringed instrument. It is common in names and place names such as 生駒 and 駒場, and it has a lighter, more affectionate feel than 馬.
Words using Horse kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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出馬
しゅつば
running (for election); coming forward as a candidate; going on horseback (to a battle)
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午前
ごぜん
morning; a.m.
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競馬
けいば
horse racing
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正午
しょうご
noon; midday
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馬場
ばば
riding ground; racecourse; racetrack
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午前中
ごぜんちゅう
in the morning; during the morning
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競馬場
けいばじょう
racecourse; race track
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馬券
ばけん
betting ticket; betting slip
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白馬
はくば
white horse; unrefined sake
Before you use Horse kanji
馬 is the safe and obvious choice for the animal. 午 will be read as "noon" or as a zodiac sign, and 駒 will be read as a shōgi piece before it is read as a colt. For the zodiac year, 午年 says it clearly.