In folklore , a hobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. In England , they are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, mummers' plays and the Morris dance. The word hobby is glossed by the OED as "a small or middle-sized horse; an ambling or pacing horse; a pony".
The word is attested in English from the 14th century, as Middle English hobyn. Old French had hobin or haubby , whence Modern French aubin and Italian ubino. But the Old French term is apparently adopted from English rather than vice versa.
This appears to have been a name customarily given to a cart-horse, as attested by White Kennett in his Parochial Antiquities , who stated that "Our ploughmen to some one of their cart-horses generally give the name of Hobin, the very word which Phil. Comines uses, Hist. Samuel Johnson , Dictionary of the English Language , , glosses: "A strong, active horse, of a middle size, said to have been originally from Ireland; an ambling nag.
Hoblers or Hovellers were men who kept a light nag that they may give instant information of threatened invasion. Old French, hober, to move up and down; our hobby, q. In medieval times their duties were to reconnoitre, to carry intelligence, to harass stragglers, to act as spies, to intercept convoys, and to pursue fugitives.
Henry Spelman d. Hobblers were another description of cavalry more lightly armed, and taken from the class of men rated at 15 pounds and upwards. The Border horses, called hobblers or hobbies , were small and active, and trained to cross the most difficult and boggy country, "and to get over where our footmen could scarce dare to follow", according to George MacDonald Fraser , The Steel Bonnets, The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers.
