Nothing But A Gee-Gee Thing: Riding A Hobby-Horse Is A Craze In The Making

This just in: If your childhood dream was to become an accomplished equestrian, it’s not too late. You no longer need a real pony to make that fantasy come true— simply grab a plush horse head on a stick, and you’re all set! 

Hobby-horsing is the latest athletic trend to sweep Finland, mostly amongst the country’s teenage girls. But even adult women are taking up the faux reins, with one describing the sport as a “therapeutic pastime.” 

Some 10,000 Fins have recently ponied up to hobby-horsing, a sport where participants compete in traditional equestrian events like dressage and show jumping but with toy horses rather than real animals. 

Approximately 200 people competed in this year’s national hobby-horsing championship, and around a thousand people came to see the girls horsing around, AP reported. 

Even real horse lovers in Finland say this sport is no joke. 

“We think it’s simply wonderful that hobby-horsing has become a phenomenon and so popular,” said Fred Sundwall, the secretary general of the Equestrian Federation of Finland. “It gives a chance to those children and teens who don’t own horses to interact with them also outside stables and riding schools.”

But just because you don’t have to beg Mom and Dad for a pony at Christmas anymore doesn’t mean that this sport come will cheap— a junior jockey can pay up to $200 for a fake filly, which is typically handmade. 

Although it may look silly, this sport is extremely physically demanding, and now, it is also seen as a way to promote female empowerment. 

"I think hobby-horsing has a feministic agenda," said hobby-horse enthusiast Alisa Aarniomaki. "No boys are coming and saying what we need to do, or bossing around. So I think there is some sort of a [feministic] point."