Fred the Wonder Horse

PERFORMER	Jerry Nelson
DEBUT	1974
DESIGN	Caroly Wilcox designer/builder

An alternate Fred puppet, as seen in "Horse Sense."

Season 40

Play With Me Sesame

Fred the Wonder Horse travels with Marshal Grover in a recurring series of Sesame Street sketches. He first appeared in Season 5 (1974). In these sketches, Fred is wiser than Marshal Grover, and often resolves Grover's problems, such as finding water in the desert, rescuing animals, and counting backwards. According to Episode 1265, he is bilingual and knows Spanish, though admits in Episode 1307 that he doesn't know how to read.

Though he is usually seen in the company of Grover, he was occasionally seen on the street. He performed the song "Cripple Creek" with Buffy, and he sang "Horse Sense" with Judy Collins. He joined Buster the Horse to back up Gladys the Cow on "Proud to Be a Cow." He also appeared as "Professor Fred," lecturing kids about body parts.

In his earliest sketch, Fred spoke in a Western accent as a dusty workhorse. In subsequent years, he spoke with a Southern twang.

Notes

• Occasionally, the puppet used for Lance (and later Buster the Horse) was used for Fred, such as in Episode 0961, a Season 27 sketch, and Elmo's World: Wild Wild West!

• While typically played by Jerry Nelson, Fred has also been performed by Michael Earl in Episode 1548, Ed Christie in "Proud to Be a Cow," and Matt Vogel in the Play with Me Sesame segment "Grover Horsey Dance."

Filmography

• Sesame Street
• The Muppet Movie (1979) - "Rainbow Connection" finale (alternate puppet used here)
• Daytime Emmy Awards (1982)
• A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
• A Brief History of Motion Pictures (1998)
• CinderElmo (1999)
• Elmo's World: Wild Wild West (2001)
• A Celebration of Me, Grover (2004)
• "Elmo's World: Horses" (2006)
• Play with Me Sesame (2008)

Episodic appearances

• Episode 0842, 0869, 0907, 0908, 0924, 0961, 1038, 1147, 1265, 1307, 1328, 1366, 1548, 1650, 2426

Book appearances

• Tales of Sesame Gulch (1977)
• Big Bird's Look and Listen Book (1978)
• The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
• The Sesame Street Question and Answer Book About Animals (1983)
• Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? (1984)
• A Silly Sesame Street Story: The Three Little Pigs (1984)
• Trace & Color: Alphabet (1984)
• Find the Shapes (1986)
• Colors (1987)