New hobby for girls: hobby-horsing
You might have heard about real life Quidditch, where adults run around a field with a toy broomstick between their legs? Well, in Scandinavia there is a stick horse-version of this, called hobby-horsing. Teenaged girls run, jump and prance around with a toy horsehead on a stick between their legs.
Hobby-horsing sounds exactly like it is.
Hobby-horsing around
The ‘sport’ is really taking off. In Finland there was an actual championship. Girls take the horsing around quite seriously, naming their ‘steeds’ and practicing their routines. Although it looks sort of silly to see girls in their teens prancing around with a toy on a stick, you could call it a sport. There are some gymnatics involved and the competitive element makes it pretty sport-y. It certainly beats darts.
Watch the Finnish championships here.
Some actual horse riders may look down on hobby-horsing as childlike past-time not suitable for anyone aged over 10, but Fred Sundwall, the secretary general of the Equestrian Federation of Finland, disagrees.
I hadn’t heard about hobby-horsing before. That said, it’s interesting to learn there was an actual championship in Finland. I’m kind of interested to see if this sport is becoming more popular in other parts of the word or just how the sport has been evolving.