What is "hobby horse"

alt. 1 (context originally English) The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse. 2 A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse mounted on a stick. 3 (context figuratively English) A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length. 4 A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback. 5 An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne. n. 1 (context originally English) The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse. 2 A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse mounted on a stick. 3 (context figuratively English) A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length. 4 A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback. 5 An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne.

A hobby horse is a costume or character involved in traditional customs such as the morris dance and mummers' play.

Hobby horse or hobbyhorse may also refer to:

• Hobby horse (toy), a toy horse, consisting of a model of a horse's head attached to a stick
• The Hobby Horse, the magazine of the Century Guild of Artists from 1886 to 1892
• Irish Hobby, an extinct breed of horse
• A 1972 band around Mary Hopkin

The term hobby horse is used, principally by folklorists, to refer to the costumed characters that feature in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. They are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, Mummers Plays and the Morris dance in England.

A hobby horse (or hobby-horse) is a child's toy horse, particularly popular during the days before cars. Children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head (of wood or stuffed fabric), and perhaps reins, attached to one end. The bottom end of the stick sometimes had a small wheel or wheels attached. This toy was also sometimes known as a cock horse (as in the nursery rhyme Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross) or stick horse.

Hobby horses feature in the worship of Rajasthani folk deity Baba Ramdevji, a reference to a story about his childhood; wooden toy horses are popular offerings at his temple at Ramdevra. They also figured in the public rites of the Romanian Călușari.

Image:Steckenpferd 1542.jpg|Woodcut illustration from Dryander, Der Arzney gemeiner Inhalt, 1542 Image:Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. 059.jpg|Detail from Children's games by Pieter Breugel the Elder, 1560 Image:DiegoSpanien.jpg|Portrait of the infant Don Diego by Coello, 1577 Image:Hobby-Horse.jpg|Child with a hobby horse Image:Mexican paper mache horses 02.jpg|Mexican papier-mâché hobby horses