Hobby Horse championship held in Finland
FINLAND - Hobby Horse enthusiasts from all over Finland gathered in Vantaa for the annual championships.
Now this is a kind of championship you don't often hear about. It's a competition involving hobby horse enthusiasts.
In Finland, people who love hobby horses, and there are plenty of them, gathered in Vantaa on Saturday for the annual championships.
The main event took place at a packed sports hall. An estimated one-thousand spectators watched about 200 participants.
The riders were almost all girls between 10 and 18 years of age. They faced-off in sports that simulate traditional equestrian events, like dressage and show jumping.
The vast majority of the hobby horses are handmade - colorful creatures complete with names like Chattanooga Choo Choo and Panda.
They're exchanged and sold by owners at events and through social media. Some of them have been known to fetch more than 200-dollars.
As many as ten-thousand people are currently estimated to be involved in hobby-horsing in Finland.