Hobbyhorsing, as some used to say, is a quite new hobby, started in Finland at the beginning of 21th-century. The hobby has recently grown to a real hobby with much more than 10 000's community of enthusiasts in Finland. Around 2015 it started to go international and nowadays it has spread already all around the world. Hobbyhorse itself, is not a new thing, but the hobby is. Children have played with stick horses as toys hundreds of years. But the hobby that some Finnish girls created, is about people who are creating beautiful artwork hobbyhorses by themselves and using them as different hobbyhorse sports created from imitating the equestrian disciplines. 

While a stick horse is made to be like a toy horse for little kids, hobbyhorse is a figure for hobby and advanced sports. Hobbyhorse is always handmade and has been attached to a wooden stick that allows you to use it. The horse head is often made by certain kinds of fabrics, for example by fake fur. Sometimes hobbyhorses are also felted or made by wood. A original hobbyhorse's head is made by an old wool sock. Wool yarn is used as a mane. Horse's eyes and nostrils are usually made by leather or felt. However, there are loads of ways to make a hobbyhorse. The main point is that we are trying to create as high-quality and nice-looking hobbyhorse as we can. In order to manage, you need to be tolerant, accurate, skillful and, first of all, you need lot's of experience of making hobbyhorses. We also make all the equipment to hobbyhorses, like bridles, bits, reins, martingales, halters, ear bonnets, blankets and so on.

Hobbyhorsing is actually a really large concept while this hobby has so many sides. Imagination is one of the main points. There is hobbyhorse riding where you exercise different equestrian types like dressage, eventing, show jumping and western riding. Many enthusiasts also photograph their horses and share pictures on the internet - Usual enthusiast has an Instagram account and blog for hobbyhorsing. Some hobbyhorsists do videos to YouTube where they make a hobbyhorse, talk about hobbyhorsing or - as usual - exercise hobbyhorse riding, often doing dressage or jumping high obstacles. In addition, enthusiasts organise competitions and other events. The biggest competition is an annual Hobbyhorse Championships of Finland. Hobbyhorsing has even called a subculture. 
​

​There are plenty of people who just sew hobbyhorses and equipment and maybe they have a company. Those enthusiasts who ride with hobbyhorses, buy their hobbyhorses from the sewers. Usually nobody has toy hobbyhorses from the markets, except little children who yet play with them. As everyone understand, hopefully, we don't consider hobbyhorses as a real horse like a little child, hobbyhorses are just hobbyhorses to us. But, that doesn't mean that those fabric-piece-horses couldn't be really important and valuable to us. In the most case, a hobbyhorse can cost from 20 even up to 600 euros. 

​The obstacles are often self-made by wood. There are also a couple of companies which do hobbyhorse obstacles.

Hobbyhorse is a piece of art and a sport supplement as well. Hobbyhorse riding can be an impression of feelings, like a dance; an intense performance of sport; or just relaxing way to go into the woods, jog, exercise and get some fresh air. In the other words, some are more goal-directed - they compete and accumulate rosettes and cups, while the others just train a little bit basics and go to the jogging path with their horse and may call themselves just "Sunday riders". Then, there are a lot of people somewhere between the "Sunday riders" and the competitors. Usually hobbyhorsists are teenagers, about 10-20 years old girls but there are also some boys and senior enthusiasts. 

Hobbyhorse makers are also called "breeder" of the horse, so she/he decides its name, breed, gender and other information about it. 

Oscar-nominated director Selma Vilhunen has produced a documentary about the hobby, named "Hobbyhorse Revolution". There is also a clothes design for hobbyhorses that you can check out here: ​ Brave Enough To Ride
​​

---