In 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow', what is funny about the horse Ichabod rides to the Van Tassel's party as he starts off like a 'Knight in quest of...

Ichabods
horse, Gunpowder, is described as

a broken-down plough
horse, that had outlived almost everything but his viciousness. He was gaunt and shagged, with a
ewe neck and a hammer head; his rusty mane and tail were tangled and knotted with burrs; one eye
had lost its pupil, and was glaring and spectral, but the other had a gleam of a genuine devil
in it.

 Gunpowder is thus comically portrayed as an old,
mean and grotesque creature with one eye and a €˜hammer head, and Ichabod, even more comically,
is deemed €˜a suitable figure for such a steed', with his long, lanky figure, elbows jutting out
like 'grasshoppers' and his arms flapping like' wings'.

The hilarious
portrayal of Ichabod and his horse deliberately undercuts the traditional picture of the hero,
of the knightly warrior and gallant lover, mounted on his mighty steed, setting out on all
manner of adventures and winning a fair maiden along the way. Ichabod does bid for the hand of
Katrina Van Tassel, but only because he covets her familys wealth, and he does not acquit
himself particularly well in his encounter with the headless horseman (who, it seems, is just
his love rival, Brom Bones, dressed up).

 Ichabod is not really a hero but
Irving ironically treats him as one, consciously employing a grand elevated style in the manner
of the old heroic epics to describe him and his generally ill-fated exploits. However, along
with this comic strain, we also sometimes get a sense of the fear and awe surrounding the legend
of the headless horseman and Ichabod's terrified flight through the darkness, even as we get a
glimpse of the real devilry that lurks in the decrepit old Gunpowder's
eye.