Hobby horsing is a Finnish sport with gymnastic elements, where you simulate show jumping and dressage on a stick horse. But a “Hobby Horse” is anything but a dusty pony on a stick from grandma‘s attic! Because the modern Hobby Horses inspire young and old alike with their detailed shape, the mane blowing in the wind and the realistic shadings. In this book you will find a sewing pattern for sewing a Hobby Horse, but there are also many ideas and instructions for creating accessories, starting with halters and bridles, blankets, riding whips and tournament bows to sporty clothing for hobby horsing.

This book explores the ways in which the early modern hobby-horse featured in different productions of popular culture between the 1580s and 1630s. Natália Pikli approaches this study with a thorough and interdisciplinary examination of hobby-horse references, with commentary on the polysemous uses of the word, offers an informative background to reconsider well-known texts by Shakespeare and others, and provides an overview on the workings of cultural memory regarding popular culture in early modern England. The book will appeal to those with interest in early modern drama and theatre, dramaturgy, popular culture, cultural memory, and iconography.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.