It was a story that many people thought was a quirky April fool when it appeared on the website of Horse & Hound magazine.
But it is no joke that the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) is to “embrace the hobby horse craze” by introducing a competition with £300 prizes for the young winners.
The sport, which is popular in Finland and increasingly spreading to other parts of the world, involves riding a toy horse made from a wooden stick with one end decorated to look like a pony’s head.
Riders – usually young girls – compete by trotting, galloping and cantering around a ring, sometimes leaping over jumps.
At the BSPS championships children will each perform a freestyle show of no more than two minutes, with 50 marks for coordination, balance, energy and body control. A further 50 marks will be awarded for “overall performance of the show with energy and appeal”.
Competitors will be divided into three age classes: three to five, six to nine, and 10 to 12.
The rules state: “There is no specific dress code but trainers or gym shoes should be flexible to point your toes. Your hobby horse can be plaited or unplaited.”
A BSPS spokesperson said: “The BSPS wanted to embrace the hobby horse craze as an addition to our fabulous children’s entertainment programme, which sets the society apart from others in providing all-round family fun.”
Hobbyhorsing competitors often give their wooden companions a name and a backstory, including the breed of their horse, its bloodline and temperament.
The BSPS said: “We are a children’s society and, as such, it is important to ensure that we make sure our championship shows are fun for all our smaller members. We hope that this will raise awareness of our extensive children’s entertainment programme at both the BSPS summer and winter championships.
“All the children’s entertainment is free and includes a playbus, craft room, iBox bus, football competition, fancy dress, disco and fashion show, and parties for the adults, and enables the BSPS to stand out against other major society shows.”
Horse & Hound magazine, which broke the news on 1 April, was forced to issue a statement on its website clarifying that it was a real story.
It stated: “This year, our April fool story was about the earliest example of ‘matchy-matchy’ horse and rider gear, dating from about 35000BC.
“While most readers correctly identified this as a spoof story to mark the day, some assumed that the story published later the same day about the BSPS introducing a hobby horse championship was also an April fool, when it was not.”
