Celluloid Charm: Hobby Horse Stick Pony Rare

Children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head (of wood or stuffed fabric), 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 (as in the nursery rhyme Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross) or stick horse. As early as 1819 history has recorded children playing with this toy but I suspect they were around much earlier.

William Wallace Winslow's illustration of a stick pony aka hobby horse aka cock horse.