Ten Songs That Every Horse Person Can Relate to at Their Core
Written by: Jen Barker, September 2019
When Old Town Road became the hit song of the summer of 2019, we couldn’t help but giggle at some of the horsey references in the Lil Nas X Country Rap. Don’t get us wrong, we think its catchy, but there are a few other songs that more accurately capture our horse person spirit. Check out our Spotify Playlist “The Carolinas Equestrian” to hear most of these sing along worthy tunes!
10) Texas in 1880 by Radney Foster and Pat Green—This song comes in at number ten only because it hasn’t had the airplay of some of the others on the list. The line we love; “Sometimes you make eight sometimes you hit dirt, go on and pin another number to the back of my shirt!” But trust me, you’ll feel every word of this one. Go ahead, put it on repeat. You can thank us later.
9) Rhinestone Cowboy by Glenn Campbell—Buckle up your most blinged out belt and hop on your flashiest horse. Glenn Campbell’s 1975 hit may be more about the music business than the horse business but we still love to crank up this classic!
8) We should be Friends by Miranda Lambert—Any fan of Miranda’s knows that when she’s not on tour, she loves to be in the barn or at a horse show. We love that she mentions horses in this chart topper. Our favorite line: “If you ride your white horse like the wind, if what you see is what you get, well then…we should be friends.” By the end, you’ll be convinced that Miranda is your long-lost horse show bestie.
7) The Cowboy in Me by Tim McGraw—C’mon Tim, Cowboys aren’t THAT bad. Tim’s a little harsh in this 2001 ballad, but we love it anyway and the last line gets us every time: “We ride and never worry about the fall, I guess that’s just the cowboy in us all.” Yep.
6) Cowgirls Don’t Cry by Brooks and Dunn featuring Reba McEntire—“If you fall get back on again, cowgirls don’t cry.” It’s one of the first rules of riding, and we’re happy it was put to a chorus we can sing along with. Dust yourself off, get back on and crank this one up when your horse, or your life puts you in the dirt.
5) Amarillo By Morning by George Strait—Let’s be real, we could make a whole list of George Strait songs that horse people feel to their core. It was tough to narrow it down, but in the end King George’s 1982 release got the nod because of the line that we love: “I ain’t rich but Lord I’m free.” Oh boy can we relate.
4) How ‘bout Them Cowgirls by George Strait—Ok, just one more. We fell in love with King George’s music all over again with this 2007 ode to the horse girl. It never made it to number one on the Billboard Charts, probably because we were too busy riding colts and baling hay to call into our local radio station and make a request.
3) Rodeo by Garth Brooks—”Boots, chaps, cowboy hats, spurs and Latigo.” How could we leave this on off the list? From the first note, every horse person is ready to sing along to every bit of this cautionary tale. Bown bown.
2) Mammas Don’t let your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings—Starting to see a theme here? Horse people are different breed. Willie and Waylon get us. Mamma? Well, sometimes that’s a different story.
1) Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty—No mention of cowboys, cowgirls, boots or saddles—but what self-respecting horse girl (or boy) hasn’t tried to blow out a speaker in their F350 when Tom croons our favorite line? Oh you know the one we’re talking about: “She’s a good girl, crazy ‘bout Elvis,” (GET READY)…”LOVES HORSES!!!!” Since its release in 1989 this ballad has been a sleeper favorite of horse people everywhere. Then in 2016, Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Bacon confirmed our suspicions that Free Fallin’ was meant to be a song about horses all along:
We see you Jimmy Fallon, but the jokes on you, we love your “First Drafts of Rock Version” almost as much as we love the original.
