Horsegirls

Horsegirls follows Margarita, a 22-year-old autistic young woman navigating the uneasy threshold between dependence and adulthood. Her mother Sandy (played by Gretchen Mol) is confronting an uncertain medical diagnosis, and the stress of that uncertainty hangs over the household. To prove her independence — to Sandy and to herself — Margarita takes a job at a Halloween store, but the rhythms of ordinary adult life feel ill-fitting. When she stumbles onto the niche competitive sport of hobbyhorsing — in which athletes perform choreographed jumping and galloping routines using decorative stick horses — what begins as idle curiosity becomes a genuine passion. She joins a hobby horse dance team, throws herself into training, and finds in the community of hobbyhorsers the encouragement, structure, and belonging she had been missing. As she sharpens her skills under a coach and bonds with her teammates, Margarita grows in confidence and autonomy, gradually shaping a future that runs on her own terms rather than outside expectations. The film is a dramedy that balances the weight of her mother's illness against an earnest, warmly comedic portrait of an unconventional sport and the self-determination it unlocks for a young neurodivergent woman. The screenplay draws from the real family experiences of producer Mackenzie Breeden. Note: the film has not yet released as of the research date (theatrical release July 17, 2026); this summary is based on official promotional materials, festival descriptions, and pre-release press coverage — full narrative detail, including resolution of the mother's diagnosis, is not yet publicly available.

Sources: IMDb, Hollywood Reporter, Cleveland International Film Festival, Movie Insider / Screendollars search snippets