Spice Girls fans have a horse to thank for Geri Horner’s reunion with the group
Geri Horner said her horse Beauty gave her the courage to return to the stage with the Spice Girls (Jo Hale/Getty)
Spice Girls star Geri Horner has revealed that her horse Beauty helped her find the courage to reunite with the girl band in 2019.
LGBT+ fans across the world went into overdrive when the Spice Girls announced that they would be embarking on a reunion tour in 2019 – and it’s all thanks to a horse, apparently.
Speaking on her online show Rainbow Woman, Horner said she felt “lonely” after leaving the Spice Girls in 1998, and said her horse Beauty helped pull her through.
“I gave my life 100 per cent to music,” Horner said. “Then when I got to my 30s, I found it so difficult because the teenage bravado had run out and I wasn’t sure where I belong.”
Geri Horner said her horse Beauty helped her get her ‘courage back’
But Ginger Spice quickly found freedom in horse riding, explaining: “When I found Beauty, I got my courage back. When I’m out there I’m no other identity other than just a woman on a horse feeling brave – that’s it.
“And sometimes it just feels amazing to feel that.”
Horner continued: “Stepping out on stage with the Spice Girls again, I felt, ‘You know what? It’s all right.’ The feeling of wanting to connect, the feeling of freedom and joy was greater than the fear.
“Beauty taught me that.”
When I found Beauty, I got my courage back. When I’m out there I’m no other identity other than just a woman on a horse feeling brave – that’s it.
The 2019 reunion tour, which kicked off in Dublin in May before concluding in London in June, was a huge success for the group.
The Spice Girls have a huge queer following, for obvious reasons, and they have also been outspoken in their support for LGBT+ rights.
In an interview with NME in October, Mel C said she was “very proud” to be a trans ally, and spoke about touring with drag group Sink the Pink, saying it had been a “phenomenal experience” that taught her a great deal about being an LGBT+ ally.
“We’ve always talked about Girl Power being about equality – and it’s equality for all,” Mel C said in the interview.
“Like Black Lives Matter, it’s about education. We’re afraid of the things we don’t understand and that’s where prejudice comes from, so I’m very proud to be an ally to the trans community.
“The great thing I learned working with non-binary people is to see people as people and not as a gender, which is really hard because we’re conditioned. When you first look at someone, you think, ‘There’s a tall white guy or short Black girl,’ or whatever. Take away the gender, and we all want the same things, don’t we?”
