Black Beauty is a stallion who, as a foal in England c 1856, is befriended by a boy named Joe (the film was actually made in Ireland). After being stolen by a brutal squire who also takes over Joe's family farm, is later killed, he is acquired by gypsies, who then sell him to a Spanish circus.
Down on his luck, jockey agent "Boots" Malone (William Holden) is at a diner with his friend "Stash" Clements (Stanley Clements) when teenage runaway Thomas Gibson Jr. (Johnny Stewart) tries to pay for his meal with a hundred dollar bill. When the cook asks him to come back in the morning for his change, Boots steps in (the diner is a portable trailer and will be somewhere else by that time). Interested in the money himself, Boots takes the boy under his wing. Tommy is eager to become a jockey, so he offers to pay Boots to train him. He is soon doing various chores around the stables.
On the morning of the Epsom Derby, a disparate group of people prepare to go to the races. Lady Helen Forbes, a recently widowed aristocrat is planning to make the journey in spite of the disapproval of her social set who consider it unseemly to go while still in mourning. David Scott, a newspaper cartoonist is ordered to go by his editor against his wishes. Meanwhile, as part of a charity raffle, a dissolute film star, Gerald Berkeley, is to escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom for the day something he is equally reluctant about. Happily she falls and injures her leg, and her crafty housekeeper arranges for one of the young maids to go in her place. Meanwhile, in Battersea, a lodger kills a man whose wife he is having an affair with. They plan to flee the country, and also head to Epsom where he knows a tipster who can smuggle them out.
Brandon deWilde leads a cast lengthy in character actors playing subdued Biarn Turner, a 15-year-old runaway from the Eatondale Orphan Asylum bound for Florida in the post-World War I time period of 1926. He receives a ride into the rural Missouri town of Delphi with rich land-owner Tobias Brown (Lee Marvin). There, after an episode in the town square involving most of the populace, he meets crusty newspaper man Doyle Magee (Gary Merrill).
Set in 1905, the film follows the exploits of the likable but raffish Boon Hoggenbeck (Steve McQueen), who takes an interest in a new car, a new 1905 Winton Flyer that is the property of a man named Boss (Will Geer), the patriarch of the McCaslin family, who live in the Mississippi area where Boon lives. When the taking of the car first by Boon and then by Ned (Rupert Crosse) (they show themselves to be reivers, or thieves, in the film's start, hence the title) leads to a public brawl, the local magistrate lets them off by a bond that Boss pays on the condition both men stay out of trouble and further away from the car while he is away with family to tend to a funeral. That is soon changed by Boon, who takes the car again to go up to Memphis to see his woman Corrie (Sharon Farrell) and talks his young friend Lucius (Mitch Vogel) into going for the ride. Ned stows away as well, but Boon grudgingly allows him to come. Other characters include a horse that loves sardines and races for them, a friendly bordello madam and her amiable employees, and a man with a horse who lives near an impassable sinkhole full of mud for which he charges expensive rates to get both carts and cars through.
Chino Valdez (Bronson) is a lonely horse breeder, whose life is thrown into turmoil when a young runaway (Van Patten) turns up at his door looking for work and, later, he falls in love with a beautiful woman (Ireland) whose brother (Bozzuffi) hates him.
Uraz (Omar Sharif), the son of Tursen (Jack Palance), the stable master and retired buzkashi player for a feudal lord, is a master horseman who lives by a primitive code of honor. Uruz's family honor is damaged when he breaks his leg playing the game which is the Afghani equivalent of polo. His father, who lost a lot of money betting on his son, will barely speak to him. To regain the family honor (and wealth) he must somehow re-learn how to ride -- after his injuries cost him his leg below the knee. In the face of great obstacles, and despite the derision and treachery of others, he gains the chance to play in the games given by the king of Afghanistan.
Set in a small Australian town between world wars, the film follows the battle between two children, Scott, a poor farm boy, and Josie, the handicapped daughter of a wealthy ranch owner, for ownership of a horse that both children love. Scott requires a horse to ride seven miles to school today and his father buys an unbroken pony, which Scott names Taff. Josie yearns to ride again but, being crippled, must settle on the use of a cart and pony. Scott's pony disappears, while a pony is eventually selected for Josie from her father's herd. When Scott sees the horse, which Josie named Bo, performing in the pony and cart competition at the township fair, he recognizes it as his horse and attempts to take it away. The ensuing quarrel affects both the children as well as dividing the town. The children eventually become friends and, while the ownership issue is legally resolved, they agree on a way of sharing the pony between them.
A coal mine in 1909 Yorkshire, England has used ponies to haul coal for many years. When they are to be replaced by machinery that will speed up production and increase profits, three children – Dave (Andrew Harrison), Tommy (Benjie Bolgar) and Alice (Chloe Franks) – learn the ponies are to be slaughtered so they team up in a scheme to steal the horses and give them their freedom.
Bruno Fioretti, known as "Mandrake", is an inveterate gambler who never misses a day at the horse racing track in Rome. He is doubly unlucky: he bets too much on one horse, and his wife is sleeping with his best friend because Mandrake is always at the track. Penniless and cuckolded, Mandrake decides to make one last bet.
The film is about a rancher and former rodeo star named Dan (Joel McCrea) and his rottweiler Luke. While he is hunting a wild stallion, Dan comes across a runaway boy. A friendship soon grows and the two set out to catch the mustang together.
Psychiatrist Martin Dysart investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire, England. The atrocity was committed by an unassuming 17-year-old stable boy named Alan Strang, the only son of opinionated but inwardly-timid Frank Strang and his genteel, religious wife, Dora. As Dysart exposes the truths behind the boy's demons, he finds himself face-to-face with his own.
Down on his luck Louisiana horse trainer Lloyd Bourdelle (Walter Matthau) dreams of winning the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Lloyd has three sons, Buddy, Randy and Casey. Buddy (Andrew Rubin) helps his father train horses, while Randy (Steve Burns) rides them in races. Lloyd takes Casey (Michael Hershewe) and Randy to a small bush track, to try to make some money by racing Casey's small pony, Gypsy. They find a match race with Mr Marsh (Robert Webber) and his daughter Kelly (Susan Myers), but play a trick on Marsh by tying a live chicken to Gypsy's saddle. Gypsy wins the race, but Marsh doesn't pay up, complaining that Lloyd cheated him by not having a rider on Gypsy. Lloyd laughs and remarks that the chicken is the best live jockey around. The races end and Lloyd takes Randy and Casey home.
A mother tells her daughter a fable about the prince of the brumbies, brumby being a term for the feral horses of Australia, who must find its place among its kind, while one man makes it his mission to capture it and tame it.