Why Riding Barbie Is The Best Barbie

With all the hype around the star-studded Barbie movie coming out this summer, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for my own personal Barbie roots.

Growing up in the 90s meant there were lots of variations of Barbie to choose from – as a horse-obsessed little girl, it was clear there was only one Barbie for me. Naturally, the horse-riding version of Barbie only rode a palomino with matching golden, flowing locks and in a pink saddle, because of course.

In 1998, the Barbie brand upped the ante with the release of “Barbie Riding Club” a computer CD-ROM adventure game where you got to be Barbie’s friend who cared for her horse in the stable and ride and jump it on the trails. There are a few things this game taught me over the many, many hours I played it on my grandma’s ancient desktop PC.

Barbie Didn’t Let Her Horrible Equitation Get Her Down

Now, this was game debuted decades before the rise of social media influencers (heck, at this time, I was receiving horse sales videos via tapes in the mail that I played on the VCR), but it didn’t matter if Barbie rode in a chair seat. Or if her lower leg swung out from underneath her, or if her torso caved before the horse took off at the base of a jump. She just kept riding with a smile on her face. If Barbie can brush off the mean girls on the internet, we all can.

Adventure Is Everywhere

One of my favorite lines from the canned-computer Barbie voice is her talking about the grey mare “who likes to race.” “Sometimes she even gets a little frisky,” Barbie says with a giggle. I always found this to be pretty funny – the fastest (likely the most dangerous) horse in the barn made Barbie laugh. Maybe Barbie is more of a horseman than we give her credit for. At the end of the day, it just shows that Barbie is down for an adventure. She’s not afraid of a ‘hot’ horse or a good gallop on the beach.

Be Kind Whether You’re A Know-It-All Or Not

There are four types of horses that live at Barbie’s Riding Club. A Palomino, a Paint, a Grey and “a White” (yikes). But selflessly, Barbie lets you – a stranger – have your pick of any of her horses. You can name it what you want, groom it as many times as you want and then get on and explore with Barbie and her very cool 90s-era cell phone. Barbie might not be texting while riding (yet) but at least she’s wearing a helmet. (She’s also wearing show attire… all the time, but I digress)

Barbie has two fairly diverse riding friends in this game, which seems pretty remarkable given its 1998 and what the optics of equestrian sport looked like at the time. Maybe Barbie was more socially aware than we thought, too, even though Barbie seems to beat her friends *every time* when it comes to racing on the beach.