Children absolutely love rocking toys, especially wooden rocking horses! And, I don’t blame them one bit!

Rocking horses have been enchanting both the young and the young at heart since the 17th century. A rocking horse is a captivating toy, a beautiful addition to any room, and a future heirloom. Rocking horses are also an excellent heirloom.

We were privileged to have no ordinary rocking-horse.

Ours was a rocking horse with wheels! I really think that they are the best! I still have photos of my sister and myself both rocking and pushing it along. In fact my parents could not stop me pushing it in order to get a picture of me, so you see they found a boulder and set in front of the front wheels. Now, that picture really makes me laugh. I was so annoyed to see the obstruction that I was obstinately still pushing against that immovable object when they took the photo and my expression is quite comical!

Each child will adore a rocking horse for a period, and then grow out of all such things.

That is no reason at all for not buying your children one, besides adults are constantly charmed by seeing them. It takes them back to a time of innocent enjoyment in their own lives. Is there any wonder that it is a memory to treasure, and many adults will buy themselves a rocking horse to adorn their home, even when there are no children around.

After the child no longer enjoys the horse, it is stored away in the attic until the next child comes along. The seeking it out again dusting and cleaning it in anticipation of the joy of its new owner, is a delight for so many adults and children. What are attics for, if not made for such objects?

Rocking horses in the 19th century were made of timber in block sections.

The body and head were of softwood, usually yellow pine which was easy to carve, while the legs were made from hardwood, commonly beech, with ash used by choice for the rockers.

Rocking horses date back to the Middle Ages and are thought to have been made in Germany. Medieval knights practiced jousting on wheeled horses, but wooden horses made for children came later. Their popularity rose in the 1800s when they began to resemble the sculpted creations we recognize today. The Victorian rocking horses were crafted by hand, but as the Industrial Revolution progressed, the rocking horse became a mass-produced item.

Rocking horses and other similar rocking toys have been around are some of the best classic toys there are. The best examples make wonderful collectibles.

But what is about rocking horses that make them so well loved through the generations? I would say that physically, the rocking motion naturally soothes every child and also helps their development of balance and vision. But, that is only the half of it because in the child’s imagination comes all the association with horses, and beyond that to the magical stories, legends and fables of riders and horses which while gently rocking, the imaginative child can picture and re-live in their minds.

Rocking horses also evolved into spirited racing steeds with lowered heads and outstretched legs. These horses were effective training devices as the young rider could easily be thrown if not riding correctly. Which brings me to make the point in this age of safety worries, that rocking horses as well as any other baby toys should always be chosen according to infant safety criteria and age limit. For small babies, about 4 months old and up, a rocking horse shall have a special seat, these are best if removable and washable.

From earliest history, man has nurtured an exclusive alliance with horses. They are fantastic, stirring animals that can be flighty, frisky and dramatic. Our use of horses has changed as man has developed. Originally untamed horses would have been backed to be used as a means of carriage. As time progressed humans would tame them, as man shifted from scrounger to producer.

Our dependence on horses for transport, for enterprise, shooting, warfare, and sport is just about unheard of and consistent with our relationship with the tail-wagger, notwithstanding dogs are more conventional in a household situation today.

And so it is neither extraordinary that toy steeds, in all manner of incarnations, have been a part of our development and as long as humans has ridden horses, children have toy horses. Since primeval life, it is probable that children would have aped their father on horseback, conceivably with a leg on either side of a pole and assuming to course, wage war or ride as a means to pick up foodstuff and provisions. As today, this playtime would be an necessary part of a kid’s development.

As natural forging techniques matured, the timber developed to eventually be a hobby horse – an prepared “stick” alongside a wooden mare worked head and perchance some real horse whiskers as a hogback.

Full size dummy animals were adopted in medieval times to encourage knights foster their swordsmanship and jousting skills and to develop their “cavalry”.

The rocking horse matured amidst the 19th centaury technical revolution in which time, all of a sudden, people started to become more opulent, had added leisure time and bulk forging methods developed such that rather complex horse models might be produced comparably cheap. At this point rocking and hobby horse type toys were constructed out of timber and supplementary “organic” material. So sought-after was the toy that Queen Victoria commissioned a dapple rocking horse from a celebrated builder.

So, up to the previous hundred years, we relied on the horse as a means of transport, for hunting, for hostilities and, as now, for recreational activity and sport.

Horse riding has been all-important to man’s success up to really recently in historical terms – plainly the reason rocking horses are an lasting present and have a significant space in our hearts

Today, more improvements in production methods. for example vacuum technology, and new materials have spawned new types of rocking horse, starting with the inexpensive synthetic items made in the orient.

Timber rocking horses, whilst pricey, are still still made and time and again remain in the family for generations, not simply a toy but a splendid item of furniture to be admired and played with – when no one looking once the family have grown.

It is, additionally, curious to picture how the principal concept of the rocking horse can be used to alternative present-day childrens gifts. For instance, there are motorbike rocking horses being produced.

A additional technological development of the rocking horse is the mechanised riding trainer.

These stretch from the “bucking bronco” style rodeo trainers which can be seen at fun parks, to serious horse riding riding trainers employed to coach riders at all levels out of danger. All of these products are based on the classic rocking horse

It is very clear that whatever technological change occurs, the simple hobby horse and items derivative of this are going to be with us for a long time.