ALMONT, Michigan – On a beautiful midsummer afternoon in August, riders from around the world gathered to compete in the first U.S. Hobby Horse Championship in Michigan.
The United States Hobby Horse Championship looks just like a real horse competition – but instead of riding a horse, the participants ride on felt horse heads attached to sticks.
Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie Carlson, a hobby horse rider and one of the organizers of the championship, says she is an avid rider and fell in love with the sport of hobby horse riding after learning about it on YouTube.
“When I was at the stables, I would jump the horse obstacles,” Mackenzie said. “One day I was watching YouTube and thought, ‘Oh my god, this is super cool!’ and I decided to give it a try.”
The competition consists of several main disciplines: show jumping, barrel racing, dressage and more. Mackenzie says it takes time to train as a competitor – as most of the jumps are several meters high.
“It takes time to go from the smaller (jumps) to higher ones and make sure your form is right so you don’t injure yourself,” she said.
A LONG HISTORY
Hobbyhorse toys have been around since before the 14th century, but the hobbyhorse sport only became popular in the 21st century.
“Some train once a week, some train every day just for fun, and some train for this really big competition in Finland,” she said.
The Finnish Hobbyhorse Championships, first held in Finland 11 years ago, are the biggest hobbyhorse event of the year. This year, over 1,800 people from all over the world took part in the event.
Kimberly Carlson, one of the event’s organizers and Mackenzie’s mother, said it was difficult to find places to compete. She then decided that if they couldn’t find a place, they would create one – and so the first championships in the United States were born.
Although only a small number of participants was originally expected, more than 120 people registered for the event.
“Most of the people who play this hobby are not from our area. We have people coming from all over the United States,” Kim said.
In Almont, a small farming community whose rural landscape is populated by dozens of real horses, the morning calm came to life as dozens of vehicles packed with racehorses set off on this early August morning.
The championship was held in the Almont Middle School gymnasium and outside on the lawn. For each event, an obstacle course was set up indoors with cones, jumps, and plenty of space to relax between events. There were even vendors selling hobby horse items.
PLAYING AROUND
It’s in the rules: remember to have fun.
New drivers learn the rules and pick up new skills by watching online videos of drivers from around the world. While they start as online mentors, many become competitors as the sport becomes more popular.
Ultimately, however, it is a large, friendly community.
“I fell in love with it and met so many nice people and made so many new friends,” Mackenzie said.
Hobby Horsing has spread to one country after another, with competitions in Poland, the Czech Republic, France and England. Now that it’s expanding to the United States, Mackenzie says she’s looking forward to meeting her fellow online riders in person.
“Everyone is so nice,” she said. “If you feel depressed because of hate or something, you can always talk to your friends and they will help you.”
Many riders come together to network with the extremely helpful hobby horse community. Many of them exchange tips for the perfect jump landing or even sell each other top-notch hobby horses.
Mackenzie runs her own shop on Instagram and Etsy and excitedly explained to me how to make my own hobby horse. From sketching a pattern by hand, to painting the fabric, sewing it together and even making custom bridles, it’s hard work.
“She is an artist,” her mother said.
Personally, I have no experience with hobby horses. This shows how open the community is to newcomers.
“IGNORE THE HATERS”
As with anything that is present on the internet, there are many people who look down on the new sport and consider it a bit “weird” or “silly.” However, participants ignore what others have to say about it.
“There are a lot of haters who think we’re, I don’t know, crazy? It’s just an art form,” Mackenzie said. “We have imagination; we have fun.”
“The community is incredible,” her mother said, “and the support is overwhelming.”
“We didn’t know much about it at first, but we’ve learned a lot and met a lot of great people,” Kimberly said. “It’s something she enjoys, so of course we’ll support it.”
When we asked Mackenzie for some advice, she said the advice was simple: ignore the haters and have fun.
