I Was the “Crazy Horse Girl”—Can You Relate?

I still remember bolting from the classroom the moment the lunch bell rang, desperate to reach the school library before the other horse-obsessed girls. Even though I’d read Black Beauty, International Velvet, and The Silver Brumby so many times I’d practically memorised them, I always believed there was a snippet of horsey magic I might have missed. At home, every inch of my bedroom walls was plastered with horse posters—symbols of the dream competitions I hoped to enter one day and pictures of the Olympic equestrian heroes I idolised. Brooms and garden chairs transformed into jump poles, and my rosettes and tatty halters were displayed like priceless trophies. Even friends who wanted nothing to do with horses found themselves “lunged” around the yard if they weren’t quick enough to escape.

Schoolwork often took second place to my future stable plans, carefully drawn out in the margins of my maths book. And if it involved a horse show, waking up before dawn was somehow effortless—my poor alarm clock never got snoozed on those mornings. Of course, during a lesson, if I met the arena floor with too much enthusiasm, my coach insisted on a bottle of Chardonnay. My mum had to fund more than a few of those over the years, but it was all part of the fun (at least for me).

The best days, though, were spent vanishing into the bush on our ponies with just a halter, a lead rope, and perhaps a sneaky packet of cigarettes hidden in someone’s backpack (shhh, don’t tell Mum). Those adventures gave me a sense of freedom and camaraderie that shaped who I am today.

If this story sounds like your own, then you already know you were—and hopefully still are—one of those “crazy horse girls.” And honestly, I wouldn’t trade those wild, wonderful memories for anything!

Felicity