Girls proud to prance in public
A dozen girls waited in line in a Helsinki arena for the dressage competition, ready to show off their riding skills, their faces masks of concentration.
The judge put them through their paces — walk, trot, canter — and then asked them for a three-step reinback, that classic test of a dressage horse’s training and obedience.
The judge looked on gravely, occasionally taking notes.
If anyone thought it strange that the girls were riding sticks, no one let on.
The make-believe world of the hobbyhorse girls extended as far as the eye could see.
Aveterinarian lectured girls on hobbyhorse vaccination schedules, saying “check that the eyes are clear and there is no nasal discharge.”
The girls discussed hobbyhorse bloodlines and hobbyhorse temperaments, hobbyhorse training routines and hobbyhorse diets. There were rhinestonestudded bridles for sale.
Among those listening was Fanny Oikarinen, 11, who lives in a village north of Helsinki, Finland’s capital. Fanny is serious, with long red hair and a tiny silver stud in her nose.
Fifth grade has brought the dizzying social stratification of adolescent girls, the sudden and vital importance of being cute and popular. Fanny said she does not see much point in this.
“The normal things, that normal girls like, they don’t feel like my things,” she said.
But she is at home in the world of hobbyhorses, where boys and grown-ups have no place.
Fanny and her friend, Maisa Wallius, are training for summertime competitions. They have choreographed a two-part dressage routine to a song by Nelly, the rapper. Asked which types of girls are drawn to hobbyhorses, Maisa thinks for a while before answering.
“Some are sports girls,” she said. “Some are really lonely girls. And some can be the coolest girl at school.”
It is impossible to say exactly when the Finnish hobbyhorse craze began, because it spread for years under the radar before adults became aware of it.
In 2012, a filmmaker, Selma Vilhunen, stumbled across internet discussion boards used by hobbyhorse enthusiasts and was enraptured.
Teenage girls had invented a form of hobbyhorse dressage, in which the rider’s lower body pranced and galloped like a horse, while her upper body remained erect and motionless like a rider. This evolved into an elaborate network of coaches and students and competitions, but it was discussed only online, for the most part.
“It was like a secret society,” Vilhunen said.