Custom
The Hobby Horse
Ribbons, a tail, and a drum at dawn.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Harbour and street procession route
- Legend from
- Recorded c.1830
- Best time
- 30 April to 4 May
- Tone
- Light-hearted
Five in the morning, May Day, and a ribboned beast is dancing on the quay.
Each May in Minehead, rival hobby horses come out: the Sailors' Horse and the Town Horse. Each is an eight-foot canvas-covered frame with a swinging rope tail, carried by a masked man and followed by melodeon, drums and collectors called Gullivers. They begin on Show Night, 30 April, at the Quay, and at dawn on May Day they are out again, later visiting Dunster. They have a day off on Sundays. Some say it was made to frighten off Viking raiders, but the earliest record is from 1830.