Minehead Hobby Horse a 'fearsome bit of theatre'

An 8ft (2.5m) long hobby horse has emerged from its stables in Somerset to celebrate the start of May.

Each year the horse, as it is known, frolics through the streets of Minehead, Dunster and Alcombe visiting bars and pubs accompanied by drums, accordions and dancing followers.

Shaped like a small boat, with the head of a masked man protruding from the middle of it, the Minehead Hobby Horse is thought to date back to the late 18th Century.

Paul Wilson, one of the organisers, said he had been following the horse for more than 50 years and is "besotted" by this "fearsome bit of theatre".

May Day celebrations to mark the beginning of summer date back hundreds of years but the origins of the Sailors Hobby Horse emerging on the eve of May Day and parading around the district, are unclear.

"I first came on 1 May 1972 and was besotted with this tradition," said Mr Wilson.

"The tune is absolutely brilliant and seeing this lifeless sack just lying there and then coming to life, it's a fearsome bit of theatre."

Looking more like a small upturned boat than a horse, the "Traditional Sailors Horse" hits the streets very noisily at dawn on May Day every year, before returning to its stable on 3 May.

Damian Miller, a fellow organiser, admitted that for anyone suddenly faced with the garish leaping horse covered in colourful rags, there is a "scare factor".

"A lot of people are amazed by it and think 'what is this thing coming towards me'," he said.

"It's very in your face, and the thumping drums get the adrenaline going and it all adds to the mystic. People don't understand it and fear it."

Weighing in at about eight stone (51kg) Mr Miller said there is only one person inside "carrying" the horse and "so far" they have all been men.

"We are a bit male dominated but the women have built their own pink hobby horse but it doesn't take part in the May Day tradition," he said.

"In fact there are three Hobby Horses in Minehead so there's a bit of friendly rivalry between the two Sailors Hobby Horses."

According to the Traditional Sailors Horse website, "it is considered bad manners to ask to see under the skirts".

"We don't publish where the horse is going to be so many of the locals lying in bed, hearing the drums and the excitement will be wondering where is the horse. We want to maintain that excitement," said Mr Miller.

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