warhorse
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Militarywarhorsewar‧horse /ˈwɔːhɔːs $ ˈwɔːrhɔːrs/ noun [countable] 1 informalPMPGO a soldier or politician who has been in their job a long time, and enjoys dealing with all the difficulties involved in it2 HBAPMa horse used in battleExamples from the Corpuswarhorse• Profiles for the crew and warhorses have also been included for convenience.• An old warhorse for a new air force.• Nevertheless, Kenneth Branagh has saddled up the old warhorse and given it new colours.• The warhorses have their own attacks and these are resolved in the normal way.