Many lines like this spread because they’re easy to repeat. If you can drop the phrase into a comment thread with a laugh, a sense of drama, or a quick image, it becomes portable. That portability is often the entire reason it “shows up” again and again.
In some cases, the phrase works like a meme template: it’s less about a factual horse and more about the vibe—“the character is arriving,” “something unpredictable is happening,” or “don’t be surprised.” In other cases, it behaves like an announcement sticker: the speaker is telling viewers or friends that a particular moment has started.
Another frequent context is inside jokes. Groups form their own meanings for repeated lines. Outsiders searching “peter the horse is here” can misread the phrase because they’re using the wrong “key” for the group—taking a playful label literally, or assuming it’s a universal reference when it’s local.