“Lace up Your Boots and Do Something:” A Symbolic‐Interactionist Analysis of Girls and Young Women Equestrian Athletes' Resilience

Abstract

This analysis illuminates how girls and young women dedicated to horse sports craft a resilient identity that they take to their wider lives. The constitutive features of their horse person identity are their willingness to love, care, and learn about horses combined with their embodied close relationships with specific horses. This horse person identity orients them toward a resilient mindset marked by perseverance, patience, and adaptability, as they manage the physical and emotional risks inherent in riding. Significantly, they believe that their horse person‐derived resilient mindset is useful for challenges in personal relationships and social interactions outside their riding community.