Imagine an equestrian sport where the horses are, well, hobby horses.  That’s right, stuffed horse heads attached to sticks. The type of toy you might well have “ridden” as a kid and which closely resemble the Quidditch sticks of Harry Potter.

But Hobbyhorsing is a serious sport in Finland where more than 10,000 athletes (mostly girls) take part. Competition in both dressage and jumping take place. Yes, the dressage looks a bit like a Monty Python skit, but the show jumping takes some real skill. I’m not sure I could ever jump 54″ with or without a Hobbyhorse.

The girls look like they are having a great time and I’m sure their parents are grateful that these horses require no food, no board, and produce no manure.

To learn more about hobbyhorsing, check out the Instagram hashtag #kepparitkunniaan, which translates to “respect the horses” — where the growing popularity of hobbyhorsing is most dramatically revealed