Mirabelle Soleil Whitman, 13, tells Inside Edition she has been competing in hobby horse competitions since she was 11 years old.
Hobby horsing, which is popular in Finland, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom, is starting to take off in the United States.
In hobby horsing, participants hold onto a stick horse to mimic equestrian movements like walking, riding and jumping. Similar to traditional equestrian competitions, there is a panel of judges critiquing contestants’ style, technique and creativity.
“For some of us ... the hobby horses are almost like real animals,” 13-year-old Mirabelle Soleil Whitman tells Inside Edition.
Whitman is from Wisconsin and has been competing in hobby horse competitions since she was 11 years old.
“A lot of my friends hobby horse with me so that’s pretty cool,” Whitman says. “I am all for (the motto) 'do what you love, don’t care what other people think.' There’s so many weird things we as humans do that are also really fun and so this is one of them.”
Hobby horses or stick horses have been around since the 16th century.
