In order to be able to cope with obstacles with a hobby horse, training is required – Ruska Mäkeläinen at a hobby horsing competition in Rauma, Finland (October 24, 2021)
You could take it as a joke: young people jumping over obstacles on hobby horses. And not only that. Dressage riding is also on the program. But »Hobby Horsing«, as the activity is called after the English word for »Hobby Horse«, is a sport – with associations, tournaments, trainers and judges.
Hobby horsing originated in Finland. Perhaps no surprise when you consider that Finland also hosts the annual world championships in air guitar and mobile phone throwing (the world record is an impressive 110.42 meters).
Hobby horsing began as a subculture almost entirely of female teenagers. Sport can also be described as what, in left-wing terms, is a »feminist free space«. The now 24 year old Alisa Aarniomäki is a figurehead of sport. In 2017, she told reporters the Associated Press: »I think Hobby Horsing is feminist. Girls can be free there. There are no boys telling them what to do. “
It bites too
The year of the international breakthrough for hobby horsing was 2017. The award-winning documentary »Hobbyhorse Revolution« by the Finnish filmmaker Selma Vilhunen played a major role in this. Her short film »Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?« Had been nominated for an Oscar four years earlier. For Vilhunen, too, the feminist component was decisive: “Girls can be strong and wild at an age when society expects them to be reserved.”
The hobby of horsing attracts a variety of teenage girls. Often there are young girls among them who otherwise see themselves as outsiders, like Elsa Salo in Vilhunen’s film. In a hobby horsing feature in the New York Times On April 24th, 2019, eleven-year-old Fanny Oikarinen said: “The normal things that normal girls like are not my things.”
In addition to sport and subculture, hobby horsing is also a fantasy world. The hobby horses not only have names like “Chattanooga Choo Choo” or “Haters Gonna Hate”, they are also assigned personalities of their own. In a report by Hessian broadcasting company Eleven-year-old Clara told the television team about her stallions via a hobby horse group in Frankfurt-Kalbach on May 18, 2021: “You can’t let him go here because he’ll do what he wants and run away from time to time. And then I have another one who is somehow really aggressive and then likes to bite. “
Bissl left canter
The sporty aspect is of course not lost. Obstacles over 140 centimeters high are crossed in hobby horse tournaments. In order to be able to cope with this with a hobby horse between the legs, proper training is required. Conventional equestrian clubs have also recognized this in the meantime. Some include hobby horse courses in their training. This includes the Gaildorf riding club in Baden-Württemberg. Riding instructor Nadine Seibold said in the Südwestdeutscher Rundfunkthat the participants would learn above all to keep the pace. A mother was delighted that her daughter was getting an understanding of hoofbeat figures and “a bit of left and right canter”.
The connections between official equestrian sport and hobby horsing are obvious. For some girls, hobby horsing may actually serve as preparation for traditional riding lessons. For most, however, it is a substitute. This is where class society comes into play. Riding remains a sport for the middle and upper classes. It is expensive. A hobby horse is available from 25 euros. Hobby horses need no feed, no stable, no costly care. Hobby Horsing is horse riding for everyone.
Animal rights activists don’t have to worry either. Equestrian sport recently fell into disrepute at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, when the modern pentathlete Annika Schleu whipped the stubborn horse she had been given in show jumping.
Finland remains the center of Hobby Horsing. There they speak of more than 10,000 practitioners. When Prince William paid a visit to the country in 2017, he received hobby horses made by Alisa Aarniomäki as a present for his two children. The horses had been commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The prince was “touched”.
The hobby horsing now extends beyond the borders of Finland. There are more than a dozen national associations. In Germany, the website hobby-horsing-deutschland.de lists almost 40 clubs in addition to three books on the subject.
Sewing and handicrafts
Hobby Horsing is particularly well established in Finland’s neighboring country, Sweden. In Stockholm, “Stockholm Käppis” arranges show jumping tournaments where those interested can also try out (“Käpphäst” is the Swedish word for hobby horse). One of the founders of »Stockholm Käppis« is ten-year-old Blixa Stendin Puig, who is in conversation with jW explained that she especially likes the creative aspects of hobby horsing, the »sewing and handicrafts«. Those who really get involved in the sport make their horses themselves.
Blixa’s parents confirmed that the hobby horsing scene and its activities are firmly in the hands of the youngsters. Anna Andie Stendin said she would occasionally help with the transport of the hobby horses to the venues. Otherwise, adults hardly have anything to do with the events. In the scene, communication takes place, unsurprisingly, via social media.
What happens to hobby horsing when it is popular enough to be commercially viable remains to be seen. At the moment, the focus is on community, creativity and fun. In addition, self-confidence and personal development are strengthened. It may be easy to make fun of hobby horsing. But the social values of sport are expressed more strongly in it than in many of the spectacles that are otherwise presented to us in the name of sport.
