- My horse always does the thing
where she'll like shake her head.
Oh my God.
Now I'm pretending to be a horse. Um.
(horse neighing)
- When I think of an equestrian
I think of someone that's like
dedicated a lot of their life to riding horses.
- When I hear the term horse girl, I just think
of the girl who kind of like, feels understood by horses.
- Kindergarten through like fifth grade.
I was definitely like that one kid in class.
Any like writing, reading project in school
like it was all about horses.
- I was definitely horse girl.
I would like sleep over at the barn.
- I never considered myself a horse girl,
but if I ever tell my friends that I do horseback riding
they will call me a horse girl.
- Me, when I was younger.
- Me, too, honestly.
- The music makes it so good.
- 'Cause she kept her neck tucked.
She was like, actually emulating how horses move.
The jumps that she was jumping in the video
were probably like a nine out of 10 difficulty.
They were massive.
- As a little bit creepy as that looks,
I used to go in the horse ring and jump over jumps.
But, I didn't do it on all fours.
- I could never do it when I was on my hands and my legs.
- So maybe she's like a level above me in horse girl-i-ness.
- I remember it being like really difficult
because I was never very athletic.
- Every person who's obsessed with horses
when they were younger, did like human jumping,
at some point.
- (offscreen) Do you ever look at someone and wonder
what is going on inside their head?
(upbeat music)
- My horse does that all the time
and I think it's really funny.
- So silly.
- Honestly, it just makes me nostalgic
to hang out with horses again.
You do develop a bond with the horses,
- Understanding your horse is really important.
- It's nice to ride one that you've never ridden before,
but with the horses that I've ridden
for a couple of years, I feel like it's just different.
Because when I go into the showing,
I feel like I know them well,
and I know how it's going to go.
- There has to be trust.
- They would be there if I had a bad day.
- I know this is something people hear a lot
but they're honestly like your best friend.
- When your teacher yells at you
for biting the other kids in class.
- (horse neigh) (Bleep) you Mrs.Smith.
- Okay.
- Oh my gosh.
- I feel like that's more on the vibe,
of horse-girl than equestrian.
- I actually didn't tell anybody
at my school that I did horseback riding
until probably this past year.
And the only reason why I started
like being more open about it,
was because I felt like I didn't care
about people making fun of me.
- Maybe not like that like erotic,
but you definitely see that type of behavior sometimes.
- I definitely knew people that would scare people
that were not indoctrinated into the horse culture.
- Things that equestrians say vs.
what they actually mean, part two.
So someone will ask you,
- hey you, want me to hold yours for you
while you go grab that?
And your response will be like, oh no, thank you.
I got it, I'll just take him with me.
But, thank you so much.
But what you actually mean is, oh my God,
no, thank you so much,
Like I'm okay, but I just don't want you touching my horse.
Yeah. Like maybe keep a six-foot distance if possible.
- Thankfully at my barn I don't have to worry
about anybody messing up my horse.
I know that everybody is really comfortable around horses.
- I can completely relate to the feeling
of not wanting someone to hold my horse.
- A lot of people that aren't used
to holding horses can get really intimidated by that.
I know this is kind of cheesy to say
but your like negative
nervous energy can rub off on them.
- It's just not safe.
Horses will jump at the sound of a plastic bag
down the hall.
- Oh, he's really cute.
- Yeah, this one's cute.
- Oh my God.
- That looks like it hurt.
- My horse always does the thing where she'll
like shake her head.
Oh my God.
Now I'm pretending to be a horse.
- Yeah. This one I definitely relate to
out of the all the ones we've watched so far.
I think we need to remember,
like when people watch like upper level riding,
people underestimate how much effort is put in
and how much time is committed
not only on the rider's part, but also on the horses part.
- People work really hard to get to that level and
that like connectivity with your horse
to do very complex movements.
While that is very difficult and complicated,
your relationship with your horse is still
that of, you know, your friend, your pet.
- Good morning!
I made you breakfast in bed.
There's carrots and apples.
- Oh my god.
- You ready to get our jog on?
- Why is he dressed like a nun?
- I deliberately kept my romantic life
and my time at the barn separate.
- I love you too.
- That was funny, I enjoyed that.
- Okay. Yeah. This one's a little unrelatable.
- Yeah.
It's like bringing all of those like weird things
you do or say at the barn into your relationship
makes me like full body cringe.
- I think that these like memes
and tik toks of like horse girls are really entertaining
- But I do think that it's good for people to
understand that there's also equestrians
that put a lot of their life into this
and it means more to them.
- Horseback riding has taught me a lot of resilience.
Sometimes you will literally be thrown from a horse
and then you just have to get right back on
and do it over again.
- Part of it is definitely going to have fun.
But another part of it is competing and doing well
and kind of building a future for yourself
- Above all things,
I think being an equestrian really built me
up and built up my confidence.