Now that is equality.

so you're trans horse phobic 🤨️

Umamusume is a gotcha game

Small nitpick, but it’s actually “gatcha” or “gasha” because it comes from the Japanese word “gatchapon/gashapon”. The word is derived from two different Japanese onomatopoeias:
Gasha - The sound of a toy capsule dispenser handle being cranked/turned.
Pon - The sound of a toy capsule landing in the output slot of the machine.

Basically, you know those little coin-operated toy capsule dispensers that you can find in arcades? The ones that have little toys, stickers, candy, etc. inside? They usually look something like this:

Yeah, these things are wildly popular in Japan. They’re colloquially referred to as “gatchapon”. There are massive stores full of these gatchapon machines. Brands will do promos for new anime, TV shows, band album releases, etc… Collectors spend a lot of money to get the rare collectibles from these machines, because not all the toys are the same rarity.

And a gatchapon game is the same basic concept, but in a digital format. You get pulls/draws/{whatever the game calls them} via some method (usually purchasing them, because that is usually how the game makes money), and then those pulls are used to get new things. Sometimes characters, sometimes equipment, sometimes new outfits, etc… It’s literally gambling, because the best stuff is virtually always gated behind some hilariously small jackpot odds.

Again, small nitpick. I just think it’s interesting (and horrifying, because it’s literally slot machine style “keep rolling cuz the next one may be a jackpot” style gambling) how much the mobile game market has come to rely on gatcha mechanics in recent years. There is a lot of (well deserved) condemnation of loot boxes in kids games, but somehow gatcha games have managed to skirt around it.

Thanks for this invaluable insight into the epidemiology of horse girls.

Because it is, somehow, an actually very well made game. One of those things where I first just learned about the anime and just thought that sounds dumb, but man the game is actually fun. Also the recent spinoff anime series (cinderella gray) was actually just a very good sports anime.

The game's actually really well made. The anime is fantastic with a good author behind it. It is incredibly respectful to the horses in the heritage of them. Honestly, all things said and done. It's just a generally highly polished IP with a lot of respect to the source material on the horses and it does a lot of charity and good.

The fans are just crazy

This is different, yes (it's another gacha game with horse racing as the main concept, except the horses are anime girls). But the Venn Diagram between the two different breeds of "horse girls" is looking more and more like a circle with each passing day

That's "horsey girl".

Yeah, they are different things.

A horse girl, in my understanding of the phrase, isn't merely conceptual obsession... its actually being a stablehand, a rider, a trainer, a groomer, something like that; actually being around horses for significant amounts of time.

I guess this is a dated reference at this point but Beth from Rick and Morty is a horse girl, a girl who really likes to play with pony toys is not.

Though, horse girls ... do tend to be somewhere between eccentric to bonkers, I would not put it past them to have some ... fair amount of kink.

That being said, if you can actually ride a horse, you've seen a horse cock, and you know that'll fucking kill you.

Its kinda similar to how people who actually are familiar with guns, and are not total idiots, will cringe at people who know nothing about guns, making all kinds of gun jokes and 'deductions' that actually make no sense.

I bet a dollar you live more than an hour from most stables. It's like skiing. It's a luxurious hobby at its base. If you're local, it's not that big a deal and lots of neighbors are into. If you have to travel to maintain the hobby and you do, in fact, maintain it, you're either very dedicated or very well off.

Nice to meet you! I'm a dude, and I absolutely love horseriding! A passion passed on to me by my father, who himself got from my grandfather, and that I passed on to my daughter! As for girls, in the stables we (daughter and myself) go to, there are many girls, but not many princesses and/or spoiled children.