Horse girls are young girls who cultivate a special bond with a horse, spend a lot of time with this animal and are passionate about horses. Horse girls are particularly enthusiastic about riding. They pursue it either as a hobby or as a sport.
What are horse girls? Characteristics, stereotypes
The term horse girl is usually used as an attribution from the outside, that is, people who are not horse girls refer to girls who have an intimate relationship or friendly love for a horse as such. Many of these descriptions use stereotypes that paint a mythical image of horse girls as doting, dreamy, and detached from the real world.
A central stereotype about horse girls is one of assumed wealth. Because buying, keeping, and caring for a horse is costly, horse girls are considered rich or, in many people’s minds, must have parents with high incomes.
What are horse girls? Representations, media
The mythical image of horse girls arises mainly from media portraying young girls who are involved with horses and riding horses. The British television series Black Beauty, broadcast in Germany in 1974, is about a young girl, Vicky, who nurses a sick working horse back to health and has adventures with it.
The horse magazine Wendy, first published in Germany in 1986, includes comics in which the title character Wendy Thorsteeg, as a young girl, goes through many adventures with her numerous horses. There are now books, radio plays and films about Wendy.
More recently, the clichéd horse girl has become known primarily through the book and film series Ostwind. In it, fourteen-year-old Mika befriends Ostwind, a stallion considered untamable and dangerous, at her grandmother’s horse farm. Considered a cliché, Mika’s transformation from a girl with no experience with horses to a good rider in just a few weeks.
What are horse girls? Reality, Hobby
In reality, the so-called love of horses is a practiced hobby, which in the case of equestrianism can also become a profession. Horse girls in this sense are no different from other people who practice a certain hobby such as soccer, dancing or playing the piano.
A horse, however, is a living being with needs that must be met. Horses need food, care and affection. This requires horse girls to work energetically on horse farms. Stable work is therefore part of the real life of such girls.
Horse farms also often have an educational component. In dealing with horses, young girls should learn to take responsibility and learn something about the interaction between man and nature. For example, it is possible to complete a Voluntary Ecological Year (FÖJ) at many equestrian farms. The income structure of the parents plays a much smaller role than is often assumed.
What are horse girls? Horse girls, men
Part of the stereotypical portrayal of horse girls is the view that girls grow out of horse love when they become adults and then go back to worrying about real life, relationships with men, and starting a family. In fact, even as adult women, many girls are often involved with horses throughout their lives, practicing equestrian sports or working at horse farms, without neglecting other aspects of life.
It is often forgotten that equestrian sports are not just a female domain. Rather, there is no distinction between the sexes in equestrian sports. That is, women and men participate in the same competitions. Approximately one-fifth of all equestrian athletes are men.