The Horse Girl has long existed both on screen and in real life – you probably knew a Horse Girl growing up, or maybe you were the Horse Girl.

“I’d probably just email my mom; [email protected]” “Pony pal?” “Pony pal!” Gigi Hadid, W Mag

The trope splits in two directions: the bratty rich-girl equestrian and the tough and free spirited outcast true horse girl. Both types usually end up getting mocked, though for different reasons. And they both have important lessons to teach all of us, even if we don’t know the first thing about horses. So saddle up and let’s jump into this trope!

WHO IS THE HORSE GIRL?

The Horse Girl is usually pretty easy to identify: she’s got long hair (usually in a French braid), a determined expression, and pictures, stickers, and statues of horses everywhere. She’s often pretty unfashionable… usually because of all of the horse-themed clothing she loves so much. She has a wild, free spirit, though she – much like the horses she identifies with – often feels like she’s being held back by those around her. She longs to break out and run free, and find a place where she truly belongs. Sometimes she actually has a horse, but often she just daydreams about being able to have one someday.

While horse riding was long seen as a ‘masculine’ endeavor – in many cultures women were banned from riding or at best only allowed to ride sidesaddle until the early 20th century – women and girls have for just as long had their own relationship with the animals. As early as Anna Sewell’s 1877 mega-hit Black Beauty, published stories began allowing girls to find deep connections with horses. And by the mid-1900s, more and more narratives began popping up about the special bond between girls and their horses both in literature and on screen. By the 1980s and 90s, the horse girl as we know her today started to become solidified as a personality type through long running book series like The Saddle Club and Thoroughbred. This was the era the trope started appearing even more in movies and tv as well. And through all of these decades of Horse Girl media, a split happened in the trope…

Equestrianism has long been a very expensive sport – a marker of the elite. This has led to a subsection of Horse Girls that are villains: self-centered ultra-wealthy girls who don’t care about horses at all – only winning. They compete at a high level and want to win at all costs, even if it harms their horse. They garnered a reputation for being uptight and judgemental, and can often be found in horse stories bullying the true horse girl. Within this subsection of the trope we also see brats who aren’t equestrians but still scream and cry for a horse – or, more often, a pony – as a marker of their ability to get whatever they want whenever they want.

“Daddy, I want another pony!” Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Here, too, there’s no concern for the horse or pony as a beloved pet – only as a signifier of their own power. The villain Horse Girls are the antithesis to the true horse girls, which is why they often end up as rivals on screen.

Real Horse Girls care about horses more than anything – certainly more than winning an award or some money. They’re happiest when they’re riding, and aren’t afraid of some hard work, even mucking dirty stalls. And not all equestrians are automatically evil Horse Girls. Supermodel Bella Hadid, as we saw when her family was on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, grew up incredibly well off and riding horses competitively.

“My earliest memory of happiness – I remember just my heart always being with my horses.” Bella Hadid, i-D

But her love for horses isn’t about showing off her wealth or just winning a trophy, she developed a genuine, deep connection with her horses that provided her comfort during difficult times in her childhood. But many Horse Girls can’t afford to have or even ride a real horse; their love is purely about the idea of these majestic beasts. Horses symbolize a level of freedom and strength that the Horse Girl desires to emulate. Horses also – whether in real life or in imagination – can provide a special type of connection that Horse Girls don’t have anywhere else in their life, a being who truly gets them. One of the most prevalent (and beloved) tropes within Horse Girl stories is that of the difficult, misbehaving, and often just misunderstood horse that creates problems for everyone but with whom the Horse Girl forms a strong bond. The Horse Girl herself often shares these same characteristics, and so the narratives see the pair working together to overcome their issues and find their own way forward in the world.

Jean Halley, a professor of sociology, in writing about the impetus behind her 2019 book Horse Crazy, explained how her deep connection with horses in her imagination allowed her a degree of escapism that helped her to survive her tumultuous childhood. She wrote, “I dreamed of being with horses, raising horses, training horses, riding horses, and being myself horse. At school when my body was alone, and merely small girl, I was silent. On my horse, Snipaway, I became huge and powerful and beautiful. On my horse, I mattered in both senses of that word.” And this is the heart of the Horse Girl – this desire to buck free of one’s current life and transform into something new and more powerful; to be able to absorb all of the most magical traits of these animals – their beauty and strength and intelligence – and become a better, happier version of yourself. And though this intense connection might bring joy to the Horse Girl, it also often gets her ostracized by those around her…

MOCKED & MEMED

As horsebacking riding, and horses overall, started to become more and more associated with women and girls, these things also unsurprisingly started to become targets of ridicule. While boy riding was masculine and cool, girls were framed as only being interested for superficial, childish reasons. Love for horses started getting denigrated as a “girl thing,” as so often happens with anything girls like; seen as either a phase she would quickly leave behind, or, if she continued to hold onto her dedication, a sign of her immaturity.

“Every girl goes through a photograph phase; you know, like horses?” Lost in Translation

An interest in horses and ponies in media is often framed as something for little girls. Outside of stories specifically about Horse Girls, this interest is usually just a passing joke about a childish desire from one’s past.

“Remember, Ma? I was six years old and I wanted a pony?” “Not the pony thing again.” “She promised me a pony. She swore I’d get a pony. She brings me a little paper bird on a stick from the circus.” Golden Girls

Other girls and women are sometimes even portrayed poking fun at this desire. Anytime girls and women find deep connections or interests outside of men, society tends to mock them for it, and if that bond is with an animal the scorn becomes even more intense (just look at the Cat Lady Trope!)

The Horse Girl often doesn’t fit in, and so leans further into her love of horses to deal with her outcast status… which often just leads to her being mocked even more. And the intense dedication many Horse Girls have not just to horses themselves but to making sure everyone around them is aware of their full power can also come off as a bit much to people who don’t share the same interest. These rather off putting stereotypes lead some Horse Girls to try to hide their Horse Girl nature – but it always peaks out one way or another.

“Who’s this?” “No one!” “I’m not no one.” “Princess Sparkle. What do you want?” “She’s Captain Oats’ type.” “You tell him to keep his hooves off.” The O.C.

As we’ve seen with many other previously-derided niches, as social media has expanded over the past decade, a community has sprung up and started shifting mindsets around the Horse Girl…

HORSE GIRL POWER

Talk of ‘Horse Girl Energy’ began popping up in the late 2010s – first with kind of mean spirited jokes about how weird Horse Girls are that quickly turned into a kind of reverence for how she was totally unafraid to be herself, even during middle and high school when so many people feel crushed under the pressure to try to fit in. The explosion of TikTok provided Horse Girls all over the world a new way to share their love and connect with one another. The community consists of Horse Girls of all ages – both young girls who are excited to have people to share their joy with that won’t get tired of hearing horse facts and grown women who are proud to have never given up their Horse Girl status. Horse girls are also now willing to poke a bit of fun at themselves, sharing jokes with one another about the depth of their obsession.

Social media has also helped open up the world of horse riding to people who never previously had access due to finances or distance (or both.) Professionals love sharing stories about their own horses and their experiences riding, and are happy to give out plenty of tips for people with zero experience with horses. This has also spurred adults who previously thought that they’d never be able to achieve their dreams of riding to take the chance and start learning. Actress Selma Blair has shared how getting back into horse riding as an adult has helped her find new joy after the challenges she’s faced in dealing with multiple sclerosis.

The online Horse Girl community has also helped give voice to riders of color, who have long been left out of the conversation. Horse Girl stories on screen almost exclusively feature white girls, and so that is the image that comes to mind when most people think of the trope. As Tyler St. Bernard wrote in her article A Black Equestrian’s Perspective, “If minority riders do not see themselves in the horse world, this perpetuates itself. People will assume that there is not a place for them if they do not see one.” These new avenues through which to widely share their own love for the sport (and horses in general) have become incredibly important and a way to expand views of who gets to be a Horse Girl, and has led to more and more women and girls of color becoming interested.

Much like their on screen counterparts, real life Horse Girls have overcome the odds and staked out their place as a loveable, quirky niche. Their positive aspects, like their strength, endurance, and dedication to the thing they love are a great lesson for everyone. So maybe, in the end, we could all use a little more Horse Girl energy in our lives.