In the end, these stories ask us to unlearn what we think romance requires. Not two humans. Not two bodies of the same kind. Not even two stable genders. Just two beings, running side by side across an open field, neither mounted nor master, both free.
Here, the horse is a separate, sentient being with a known gender identity (often non-binary or genderfluid, mirroring the fluidity of equine social hierarchies). The human is transgender. Their romance is conducted through grooming, shared silence, and a rejection of penetrative sex for other forms of intimacy (running together, mutual watching). The cult classic illustrated novella Hoof & Collarbone is the exemplar.