(Image credit: Cygames, Inc.)

I'll just go ahead and say it—it's been a huge year for horse girls. Whether you were the type of kid who asked your parents for a pony for Christmas each year, the type to head down to your local riding school each weekend to muck out, or you just had stacks of books with pretty horse pictures in, let's all take a moment to be honest and say there's a horse girl in each of us. 2025 has tried, and in most cases succeeded, to coax this inner demon out in every which way it possibly can. And, even as someone who has literally never sat atop a horse, I have no shame in admitting that I was the first to fall.

However, if you haven't noticed your gaming library or day-to-day life becoming infected with these powerful beasts, it's probably because you haven't realised just how significant horses have been. Because I'm not talking about the games that are basically ranch simulators for the most part. Although they have had their time in the spotlight, with the full launch of The Ranch of Rivershine, Barbie Horse Trails, and Sound of Horses, it's more so a plethora of updates and expansions that have put a particular emphasis on horses, which has led me to believe that 2025 has been the year of the horse girl.

However, it's impossible to even begin dissecting the year without spotlighting the first notable horse-related launch this year—the release of Umamusume: Pretty Derby on PC. Even though the horse girl racing gacha game rolled out in Japan in 2021, it's safe to say that the internet became obsessed with watching its characters run around a track in June. For about a month, not a day went past that some video of Rice Shower or, most importantly, Haru Urara, didn't grace my social media feed. No, that's not a complaint either.

(Image credit: Mojang Studios)

Outside of full game releases, Minecraft showed its horses some love, too. It took a while, but the Chase the Skies drop in summer let us craft saddles for the first time, and the Mounts of Mayhem drop from December finally gave horses the ability to swim while being ridden. Which means there's no need to craft an inventory of leads each time you plan on dragging your poor horse through a body of water. Or, even worse, having to slowly push them across an ocean yourself. This isn't the only new feature for these four-legged friends, either.

Netherite armour was added in the same update, giving the mount far more protection to any mounts that are your chosen companion for longer adventures. Plus, zombie horses also finally made their way into survival mode after being added in a snapshot in 2013. Though, much like their aggressive mob counterparts, they do combust into flames in the daylight, so they might not be as practical as a standard horse, but are a nice addition nonetheless.