Hobby horsing, wat is dat?

5 min read · 23 Feb 2018 · 1K · 1

Optimized By Mr. Sameer Bedar
June 2022

What's a "Hobby Horse"?

For those who never had the space, the money, or perhaps the guts to take up horse riding, there’s now a fun and quirky alternative that’s lower on spatial, income, and adrenaline demands. It’s called “hobby horsing” and it started in the Nordics. Today, the phenomenon has become a trend in a whole different part of the world and regular arenas are being constructed for the now accepted sport.

Wat is hobby horsing? Paardensport, maar dan zonder de paarden: zo kan de ‘sport’ het best omschreven worden. Het gaat om het zogenaamde ‘Hobby Horse’, waarvan vorig jaar in het Finse Vantaa het jaarlijkse kampioenschap plaatsvond. Een duizendtal toeschouwers zagen er 200 deelnemers het beste van zichzelf geven in verschillende onderdelen van de paardensport: van jumping tot dressuur. Alleen dus niet op een paard, maar het dier wel imiterend en met een speelgoedversie ervan in de handen. Volgens Associated Press bestaat het kampioenschap vooral uit meisjes en is ‘Hobby Horse’ in Finland bezig aan een gestage opmars. Er zouden maar liefst 10.000 beoefenaars zijn van de sport/hobby, die vooral aan populariteit wint in de Scandinavische landen.

The Air Guitar World Championships takes place in Oulu, the World Cell Phone Throwing Championships is placed in Savonlinna, and the Wife Carrying World Championships is hosted in Sonkajärvi. What these sports have in common isn’t just the fact that they’re rather unusual. The cities mentioned, as the names hint, are all Finnish. And the wacky sports all originate from the Nordic country. Yes, Finland is the uncrowned King of quirky hobbies and sports. But that doesn’t stop them from coming up with new ones. They’re latest addition to the list of weirdly fun sports: hobby horsing.

It’s like regular horse riding, if you don’t count the fact that the sport doesn’t including a living, breathing horse. The horse has been replaced by a toy horse head on a stick, which you might recall from your childhood. Other than that, hobby horsing does everything it can to imitate regular horse riding. There are real equestrian events such as dressage and show jumping. And, despite what you might expect, it’s not just a niche sport. Local grocery stores stock hobby-horses in Finland!

Estimates say there are 10.000 hobby horse enthusiasts in the Nordic country. And it’s ridden all the way to the opposite side of the world; Australia.

How can a sport, that some might think absurd, grow so popular? One reason is the fact that (real) horses are pricy. It’s a sport for the few – the rich. Hobby horsing allows enthusiasts to act out their fantasies of owning, riding, and competing with their own horse, minus the high expenses. And minus cleaning up piles of dung! Another reason behind its popularity is the community.

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