Welcome to the horse girl era.

Everyone knows a horse girl.

That one girl in school who spent every afternoon and weekend at the stables. That one girl in town who always smells like hay and has flakes of dirt on her face. That one girl who definitely lets out a rogue 'neigh' on special occasions.

She's a horse girl. 

But good news for that girl — she's never been trendier.

Welcome to the horse girl era, a timeline when being a horse girl is the epitome of cool.

For proof, look no further than the curator of cool: Beyoncé. The singer has fully embraced her inner yee-haw while preparing to release her first country album. 

Ahead of the announcement, she began leaving clues that something had shifted in our Bey. She started wearing cowboy hats — and she started wearing cowboy hats only.

Image: Instagram/@beyonce. 

Last month, Beyoncé released two country tunes — 'Texas Hold 'Em' and '16 Carriages — on the same day as the Super Bowl. Headliner Usher may have had some qualms with this, but you can't control a horse girl — she's a wild spirit that needs to run free.

As the internet went bonkers over Beyoncé's first country tunes since 'Daddy's Lessons', the cowboy hats kept popping up all over Bey's Instagram grid. Beyoncé understood the assignment, and the assignment was horse girl — albeit a rather yassified version. 

Image: Instagram/@beyonce. 

Beyoncé then revealed her horse-girl album cover. Dressed in red, white and blue, wearing a white cowboy hat, she left us stunned with her cover art for Cowboy Carter. 

That's the way it's gonna be, little darlin'. She'll be riding on the horses, yeah yeah. 

Image: Instagram/@beyonce. 

Of course, for this to be a real era, we need more than one horse girl. And Bella Hadid is happy to oblige. 

Although this is nothing new for Hadid, who has long been a girl with an actual horse. The accomplished equestrian has ranked nationally in show jumping and her time training was shown on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alongside her mother, Yolanda Hadid.

But while she clearly always been a horse girl at heart, Hadid has recently taken her horse girling to a whole different level. 

You see, this horse girl is now reportedly dating a... horse boy. 

The supermodel has been romantically linked to cowboy Adan Banuelos since October 2023, and was recently photographed cheering on her rumoured beau at The American Performance Horseman event in Arlington, Texas. Dressed in a black cowboy hat and leather pants, Hadid channeled real rom-com energy when she was seen embracing Banyelos at the event.

I would watch this rom-com. I will call it Horsin' Around or Not My First Rodeo. 

Adan Banuelos and Bella Hadid attend The American Performance Horseman by Teton Ridge. Image: Getty. 

The Saddle Club walked so that Bella Hadid could run. 

Since dating a literal cowboy, Hadid has never posted more horse girl content, including a horse decorated in flowers for no reason other than to complement the aesthetic of Bella's outfit.

Image: Instagram/@bellahadid. 

Here we observe a horse girl in her natural habitat: dispersing hay while squatting in a stable and probably neighing sweet nothings into her horse's ear. The horse is almost certainly named Thunderbolt Spirit Soul.

Image: Instagram/@bellahadid. 

The horse girl era has been coming for a long time.

Last year, Gisele Bündchen admitted she bought her daughter Vivian an entire horse farm. Relatable!

Like mother like horse girl daughter. Image: Instagram/@gisele. 

This year, two buzzy movies will platform a horse girl and horse boy: First, Millie Bobby Brown rides a horse in Netflix's Damsel before Jonathan Bailey is set to get on horseback as Fiyero in Wicked.

Baily, of course, also stars in Bridgerton, which has a new season dropping in May, another show that features plenty of horses and horse riding.

So many horses, of courses. 

The horse girl era is here and it's here to stay... and proudly neigh.

Feature: Instagram/@beyonce/@bellahadid.