In a modern version of the centuries-old tradition of mock beasts, riders and their steeds will gather at the Queensland championships next week for ‘fun, fantasy and fitness’

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There are “obby osses”, hooden horses, morris dancing horses and any number of “mock beast” traditions, dating back centuries, where humans carry horse heads on a stick.

In the Eumundi School of Arts hall, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, they’re riding plain old hobby horses. Only they’re not so plain.