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Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

nytimes.com

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Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#151

Post by elliekelly »

pjc50 wrote: post #40

So as an occasional (male) rider of real horses, there's something I've always wondered about: how did the recreation become so gendered? Up until about the middle of the 20th century there was still utilitarian and military horse riding. Men would learn to ride. Now it seems to be culturally associated almost entirely with young upper-middle-class girls or middle-aged women. Is this the result of toy marketing (My L…

A little over a year ago I (female who had never ridden a horse) did a ten day ride across Spain and into Portugal. All of the Americans in the group were women but all of the Spanish and Portuguese riders were men. I definitely got the impression they viewed horse riding much the same way Americans would view motorcycle riding.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#152

Post by lopmotr »

mises wrote: post #107
lopmotr wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't even need a potential career path. Especially now that many people can be unemployed for life and still survive, being able to enjoy an unproductive hobby is itself a useful goal.

> many people can be unemployed for life and still survive Unless you mean housewiving, no one can be unemployed for life (save perhaps welfare queens). I still consider housewiving to be a job; it is quite a bit of work. To what are you referring?

In my country, you can. I expect most developed western countries are the same. They won't let people starve to death. There's always a safety net of free food and housing no matter how destitute you are. I guess that's what a welfare queen is. But you could also call it enjoying the utopia of a world where productivity is much greater than what's needed to sustain our lives. Whether you're forced into that by being unemployable or by choice, a hobby could be much more satisfying than watching TV all day.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#153

Post by gullywhumper »

johtso wrote: post #87
pjc50 wrote: post #40

So as an occasional (male) rider of real horses, there's something I've always wondered about: how did the recreation become so gendered? Up until about the middle of the 20th century there was still utilitarian and military horse riding. Men would learn to ride. Now it seems to be culturally associated almost entirely with young upper-middle-class girls or middle-aged women. Is this the result of toy marketing (My L…

This discussion reminded me of a video I saw a while back. It's a song that gives a moving glimpse into the male dominated urban horse culture in Dublin, Ireland. It's amazing to see shots of teenage boys racing their horses through city streets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19A53SyAUak

The Atlantic had a photo essay about a riding club in North Philadelphia a couple years back. I don't know if they race, but it's still pretty crazy to see people riding horses in Philadelphia:

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/02/fletcher-street-ri...

Here's the club's site:

http://www.fletcherstreeturbanridingclub.com/main.html

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#154

Post by rusk »

pakastin wrote: post #96
rusk wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My facile observation for the day: I think horse riding is less enjoyable for men due to differences of anatomy.

Have you ever ridden one?

Yes. I actually have very large balls so it was quite uncomfortable. With training I believe this is less of an issue but I was put off at that point.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#155

Post by lmm »

wemdyjreichert wrote: post #120
lmm wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Self-defense. Know two other guys who have possibly had their lives (or at any rate, probably hospital visits) saved in street fights and muggings. There are also countless juniors who have been able to fend off bullies. Some martial arts have some application to self-defense, but I don't think that's the real distinction - people don't seem to treat e.g. Naginata as a less serious martial art even though you'd nev…

> Some martial arts have some application to self-defense, but I don't think that's the real distinction Many of the martial artists whom I know began training for purposes of self-defense. Some began as adults, and some were placed in training by their parents after being bullied. > cycling That's totally out of the scope of this conversation; I made no claims as to the seriousness with which cycling ought to be tre…

> Many of the martial artists whom I know began training for purposes of self-defense. Some began as adults, and some were placed in training by their parents after being bullied.

There's a difference between saying that something helps with with being bullied (many disciplines achieve that by offering a structured environment, a framework to develop experience, consciousness over one's body, controlled confrontation, and a controlled experience of pain; I personally found taking up fencing helped me a lot) and saying it's a practical self-defense technique.

> That's totally out of the scope of this conversation; I made no claims as to the seriousness with which cycling ought to be treated. I think most sports are given too much credence.

Very few people regard martial arts as "more serious" than other sports. You dodged my example of naginata; do you consider martial arts that can't be used for practical self defense to be "less serious"?

> Most sports involve pushing yourself physically. This does not involve such exertion and improvement.

I wouldn't be so sure - maintaining precise control over one's body can involve a lot of physical effort. Often making something look effortless is part of a sport's aesthetic, but actually involves a lot of hidden effort to achieve. Consider figure skating or gymnastics, or indeed "real" dressage.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#156

Post by superwayne »

Kiro wrote: post #68
superwayne wrote: post #63

There is also a virtual equivalent to hobby horsing called "virtual stables". A virtual horse is just a webpage for a fictional horse. There are usually pictures of the horse that hobbyists find on the internet/buy on forums/illustrate themselves [1]. The horse obviously also has a name and usually a description of its personality. Horses sometimes age "in real time" but most stables seemed to have a somewhat arbitra…

Is this exclusively a Finnish thing? I'm unable to find anything about virtual stables like this outside of the links you've posted.

No, the hobby originated in the US but it seems to be more popular in Europe. I'm only familiar with the Finnish community, but I was able to find a German horse registry: http://www.moorwiesen.de/register/?&lang=en

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#157

Post by 7402 »

pjc50 wrote: post #40

So as an occasional (male) rider of real horses, there's something I've always wondered about: how did the recreation become so gendered? Up until about the middle of the 20th century there was still utilitarian and military horse riding. Men would learn to ride. Now it seems to be culturally associated almost entirely with young upper-middle-class girls or middle-aged women. Is this the result of toy marketing (My L…

> Up until about the middle of the 20th century there was still utilitarian and military horse riding.

Interestingly, the earliest fighting of the first US war of the 21st Century featured soldiers on horses. Horseback riding is apparently now part of Special Forces training. [0]

[0] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/22/horses...

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