As long as man has ridden horses, children have played with horse toys. Right from prehistoric times, it is likely that children would have mimicked their parent riding, perhaps straddling a stick and pretending to hunt, fight or ride as a means to gather food and provisions. As today, this playtime would be an important part of a child’s development.
“The honourablest and most commendable games that ye can use are games on horseback” King James I to his son”
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes
As simple manufacturing skills developed, the stick develops to become a hobby horse – an evolved “stick” with a wooden horse shaped head and possibly some real horse hair for a mane.
Full size model horses were used in medieval times to help knights develop their fencing and jousting skills and to train their “cavalry”
Rocking horses evolved during the19th centaury and industrial revolution when, all of a sudden, we became more wealthy, had more leisure time and mass manufacturing techniques developed such that relatively sophisticated horse toys could be manufactured relatively cheaply. At this point rocking and hobby horse style toys were made out of wood and other “natural” materials. So popular was the rocking horse that Queen Victoria commissioned a dapple rocking horse from a renowned manufacturer
So, until the last century, man relied on the horse as a means of transport, for hunting, for war and, as today, for sport and recreation. Horse riding has been critical to man’s success until very recently in historical terms – clearly why rocking horses are an enduring gift and have a special place in our hearts
Today, further improvements in manufacturing techniques, such as injection moulding, and materials have spawned further variation of rocking horse, starting from the inexpensive plastic model produce in the orient…
Wooden rocking horses, whilst expensive, are still produced and often remain in families for generations, not only a toy but a lovely piece of furniture to be admired (and used – when nobody’s looking) once the children have grown