Hobby horse (toy)
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A hobby horse is a child's toy horse. Children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head, 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 or stick horse.
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for a variant of Ride a cock horse, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose.
In The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the characters' hobby-horses, or particular obsessions, are discussed in detail. Here, Uncle Toby's obsession with the military leads him and Trim - who gets caught up in Toby's enthusiasm - to begin acting out military actions. Illustration by George Cruikshank.
Woodcut illustration from Dryander, Der Arzney gemeiner Inhalt, 1542
Detail from Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1560
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
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"Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross" is an English language nursery rhyme connected with the English town Banbury in Oxfordshire. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 21143.
The statue of the "fine lady" at Banbury Cross
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations, 1901
The old lady on her white horse, according to Denslow