The hobbyhorse culture involves both hand embroidery, as your garden variety toy horse is created manually, and a certain level of agility, since the riders are expected to perform both the role of a rider and that of a horse to manage a realistic performance.
In Finland, Alisa Aarniomäki has been credited with successfully promoting toy horse riding to the level of a nationwide hobby. Aarniomäki, who previously tried riding real horses, found making and riding hobbyhorses a wonderful way to express herself. Ever since, she has been filming her hobby and posting pics and videos on social media, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.
Predictably, Aarniomäki received a lot of negative feedback, especially in the beginning. Many fellow Finns wondered why she kept doing such idiocy, while she admitted to having been pelted with rocks during her "equestrian" toy rides in the forest.
In 2016, several hundred equestrian enthusiasts marched through central Helsinki with their hobbyhorses, shouting "respect the hobbyhorses!" Additionally, Finnish hobbyhorse riding championships have been organized since 2012 and involve both hurdle jumping and concourse.
Finns' quirky love of toy horses was recently captured in a film, Hobbyhorse Revolution, directed by Selma Vilhunen. Vilhunen argued that there was much to admire in the hobbyhorse community, which allegedly had a "powerful internal democracy."
Hobbyhorse Revolution made its Finnish debut on March 31, after winning two main prizes at the Tampere Film Festival in March. The movie's international premiere will be at the Vision du Réel Festival in Nyon, Switzerland on April 23, followed by its North American premiere at HotDocs in Toronto, Canada on May 3.
Remarkably, though, Finnish viewing figures of Hobby Horse Revolution remain rather modest. Producer Sanna Kultanen told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that the film only attracted less than 600 spectators during the premiere weekend.
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