We’ve been following the Plzeň club Hobby Horsing Plzeň from the very beginning. And we have to say, we’re amazed by the progress this club is making. Not so long ago, we were seeing their first tentative posts on social media, and this year we already had the honour of seeing them finish in leading positions at the Czech Championship, including first place. A great deal of the credit for all this goes to Andrea. Even though she is still learning about Hobby Horsing herself, she is absolutely the right person in the right place. She accompanies her riders to every competition and supports them both physically and mentally. Andrea is an active athlete, and we really like the direction in which she is guiding her riders. To find out more, we asked her a few questions.
Why Hobby Horsing?
First of all, I’d like to object to being called a coach. On social media, I call myself the First Lady of the Hobby Horsing Plzeň Club — purely as a joke, of course. I’m the person who makes sure the riders have somewhere to train, something to train over, and that they actually show up for training. But I’m also the person who won’t let them turn training into a chat circle and instead makes sure they work up a proper sweat during a warm-up inspired by running and athletics training. As the girls’ “cavaletti holder,” I set up obstacle exercises and show jumping courses for them. And the girls themselves would say that Andrea is the one who keeps them going when they’d rather just be chatting…
What were the beginnings like?
“Mum, I want a horse, and I’ve saved up for one.”
You come running home from a long run, sweat pouring off you, thinking about biting into an orange, taking a shower, and putting your feet up for a moment — and then your child bursts in with a very clear announcement about a new pet.
“Oh, absolutely, sweetheart. You’ve saved up for it, and it’ll live with us on the second floor in our apartment building, the hay will go in the cellar, and we’ll take it for walks around Plzeň’s main square.”
It was Covid, and despite every effort to keep my daughter entertained — she had been used to doing sports in clubs every day and going to the riding arena — I still watched her browsing social media every day.
And there, on social media, she discovered the big hit from Finland. Girls were sharing tutorials for making horse heads on sticks and using them as sports equipment. The luckier ones were jumping in gardens; the others were doing it in their flats. Some were sewing the horses themselves, others were helped by their mums. Towels and blankets fell victim to the first Hobby Horses.
As soon as the new, completely original piece of sports equipment was finished, it was time to get going. Armchairs and chairs served as standards, and a broom became the obstacle. Online calls with friends followed, along with shared experiences and comparisons of sporting results.
But a home-sewn horse wasn’t enough, and the sentence that started it all really did come true. There was a long — very long — period of browsing and choosing from LarDen’s selection, followed by anxiously watching for the postman, who had no idea that in the rather light parcel he was carrying a horse for one impatient young lady. The first original LarDen Hobby Horse was home.
Out of consideration for the neighbours, we only practised jump training in the flat for a few days, and then we started taking the Hobby Horse outdoors. Long walks, natural obstacles, fast starts, and even attempts at the first dressage routines — which, because we didn’t know the rules, became rather successful choreography on the theme of “dancing with a horse.”
Within a short time, we added a classmate to our outdoor Hobby Horse trips, and a few weeks later, thanks to the easing of Covid restrictions, a mother and daughter began travelling all the way from Klatovy to join us with their Hobby Horse.
And then there were five of us: Emma, Lucka, Laura, Vanes and Mel. 😊 Sometimes we “trained” in town on public playgrounds, sometimes we organised trips into the countryside. The riders set off on their horses at the front, with the mums following on foot, no matter the distance or how much climbing was involved. The riders always had a wonderful time — and what was priceless was that they were doing sport and moving in the fresh air.
It seems that the difficult year of 2020 gave rise to the little club Hobby Horsing Plzeň.
We returned from our first competition — Rohatsko 2020 — with a gold and a silver medal.
More and more riders began joining our regular outdoor training meet-ups through social media, so by 2021 there were already about 20 enthusiastic young riders connected with Hobby Horsing Plzeň. Some regularly came from really far away — from Klatovy, Mariánské Lázně, Tachov…
How often do you train each week?
We meet regularly on Wednesdays. From 3:00 p.m. we train girls under ten and beginners, and from 4:00 p.m. we have a group for girls aiming to jump one metre. On top of that, we add occasional Saturday training sessions, mainly used by girls preparing for competitions.
What brings you the greatest joy?
We bring home medals from every competition, but for me personally, the greatest joy is when we finish training and the girls don’t want to go home. They want to stay together, keep jumping and keep training, because they enjoy this sport so incredibly much.
What matters most in preparation?
Here we’re probably talking about competition preparation… The most important thing is willpower, the desire to win. The girls may be less physically fit, but the “I want to” factor turns them into incredible fighters. It fascinates me to quietly watch that development.
There are also a number of non-competitive girls in the group. Their diligence and willpower come from their desire to improve for themselves. They work hard within the boundaries they set for themselves. What is incredibly important is that they know why they come to the group, and they enjoy pushing past their own limits. Their own progress in Hobby Horsing clearly has a positive impact on their thinking outside Hobby Horsing too — in their interactions with other children, and at school.
What age group is it for?
In its sporting form, Hobby Horsing Plzeň is intended for girls aged 8 to 15. We are considering opening a playful group for little jumpers from the age of 4. It’s true that two boys have also passed through our history — one four-year-old and one six-year-old. Six-year-old Filip is bravely collecting medals and rosettes in the colours of Hobby Horsing Plzeň in his competition category. Most of the girls ride real horses, but even those who don’t have the opportunity to attend an equestrian club fit into our team perfectly.
What does the future hold?
From the beginning, we’ve had one major concern — finding an ideal training space where we can train on weekday afternoons. As soon as we manage to find a permanent home in the right gym or hall, we would like to welcome new club members and training partners. For the 2024/2025 season, we have rented space in Městská sportovní hala Krašovská, and we are very grateful to the venue for their accommodating approach.
We bring home medals from local competitions. We came home with a haul of medals, trophies and rosettes from the 2024 National Championship in Kladno. We also successfully tried the open classes at the 2024 German Championship (September, Frankfurt am Main). Our coach is also a certified Hobby Horsing judge, and some of the girls have already passed their coaching exams. We are developing. We are learning.
We take part in qualifying competitions for the Czech Championship, and we are looking forward to the 2025 National Championship in June in Brno.
It remains true that competitions are lovely, but the Hobby Horsing cherry on top is the sparkle in the girls’ eyes when they don’t want to leave an ordinary training session.
We wish the Plzeň Hobbíks many more great jumps like the ones so far, and we’re very much looking forward to friendly meetings at competitions and training camps.
