About Hobby Horse Adventures...
Hobby Horse events in the UK started when Elowen (10) started asking me to take her to Hobby Horse competitions and events in the UK after she had seen some online, in Finland.
It all started when she saved up to buy a handmade horse usually imported from abroad or beautifully hand made by a few UK sellers (it really is just a few).
Our garden was (and still is!) a wasteland of poorly constructed jumps made out of plastic chairs and sticks and play equipment upended to create a hobby horse jump! As time progressed her friends starting calling round to play with their hobby horses. Then it fast became heading out on hacks to the local park or looking for lifts to ones further away.
I never like to ignore an opportunity to encourage fun, so I looked into local hobby horse competitions and found at that time there were none. I looked at Finland and earmarked the weekend thinking I could make her dreams come true and take her. She wanted to enter which I thought was a bit far fetched. When I looked into flights I could not find an airport anywhere near the hobby horse Finnish Championship and the trail over time ran completely cold.
My kids were running round our local stable arena with other kids on the yard jumping horse jumps. I didn’t want them to hurt their legs on the wooden poles and this started me thinking.
We attend regular local pony shows and a local kids pony club event. I wondered if I could hire an arena for Elowen and her friends so that at least she had somewhere to go and let off some steam as a one off. The cogs started turning… I suggested to friends at our local stables that perhaps we could put our heads together and run a hobby horse event and see if anyone else wanted to come from local yards. I think they thought I was mad and I got a few funny looks and rolled eyes…
By the next day I had convinced my friend Lisa and her daughter Lucie to help me run the hobby horse activities and come up with ideas and voila, Hobby Horse Adventures was born. Elowen came up with the logo and name in her bedroom, in about 5 minutes as kids do.
An initial soft launch on Facebook saw a plethora of responses and it seemed everyone had the same story – kids doing it in the house and garden with nowhere to go – considering Finland. So we knew we were on to something.
Since then it has been a whirlwind of constant ideas and opportunities. Lisa handles the admin, Lucie comes up with the courses and lay out and judges along with my step daughter Violet. I do the marketing and Elowen arrives, hobby horses and leaves…. but she does say Thank you Mum, I Love You and I had a wonderful time today.
We cater for all aspects whether neurodiverse or an elite hobby horse hobbyist and we find ourselves in a position where children just come along for the fun and smiles that hobby horsing gives them. Yes, there is a competitive nature but its not a negative one. Beginners, advanced and even the elite attend and there really is something for everyone.
Our team work hard day and night to advertise and prepare for all our hobby horse events, competitions, stock shipping and so much more. We are always looking for new regions, new venues, new companies and people to share and support what we are doing.
We are a friendly, passionate, driven and fun bunch of people that enjoy making all the children so happy and fulfilled.
