I heard a bible teacher say that the white horse in Rev. 6:2 represents the word of God and not the antichrist. He tied this to the horse being white(purity), the other three horses do not represent actual people, and a verse about Gods word being an arrow. He said that after the rapture a large number of people that had heard about it but did not get saved will turn to the Lord. This I guess is the conquering part. He also said that is it too early in the tribulation for the antichrist to be in power. Have you heard this before?
The most common alternative to the anti-Christ being the rider on the white horse is that it’s Jesus. The opinion that it’s the word of God is new to me.
All four of the horses have riders, none of whom are named, and personal pronouns are associated with each. To me this is sufficient evidence to conclude that all four horsemen at least appear to be human. As for arrows representing the Word of God, the rider on the white horse is said to have a bow, but there is no mention of him having any arrows.
I agree that lots of people will become saved after the rapture, but I believe it’s because they will have heard the gospel before the rapture, and the disappearance of the people who shared it with them will be the deciding factor in their conversion.
The anti-Christ will not make his identity official until half way through Daniel’s 70th Week. But he will be considered a great man of peace and will have sufficient influence in the world to broker the seven year covenant with Israel that begins the 70th week.
In summary, I believe a plain sense reading of Rev. 6:1-8 will lead us to the conclusion that these riders are just what they are described to be, men on horseback.