Colganology2: May Parade update

Another new character for the May Parade!

This weekend just gone I created a Tourney Horse.

There are three basic types of Hobby Horse that appear at British folk festivals. The first is the Tourney Horse, which looks like a person riding a small horse. An oval frame is suspended around the waist or shoulders with a skirt or caparison draped over it. These horses often have a carved wooden head with snapping jaws. The Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss is a very stylised form of Tourney.

Among the many Tourney Horses regularly performing in the UK are the aforementioned Padstow 'osses, the Minehead Sailors' 'oss and the 'oss that hunts the Earl of Rhone in Coombe Martin, Devon.

They also appear regularly alongside Morris Dancers and at festivals like the Wassail. In fact there was one featured on the most recent episode of the BBC Countryfile TV programme (You can just see it behind presenter Adam).

The second type is a Sieve Horse, which is a simpler version of the Tourney and only really known from Lincolnshire. They are made from a farm sieve frame, with head and tail attached, suspended from the performer's shoulders.

The third type is the Mast Horse which has a head on a pole. This can be a carved head or, as in the case of the Welsh Mari Lwyd, a real horse skull. The jaw is usually hinged and the person carrying the mast wears a costume to disguise them. I've already made one of these and you can see it here.

My Tourney Horse was a fairly easy sculpt to do but the Tourney itself proved to be a little problematic. I started by making a couple of furry trousered legs that would protrude from underneath the caparison.

I then made the caparison by adding a ring of cardboard to the lid of a fast food container. But how to create the illusion of hanging drapery or leather? I decided to cover it in a patchwork of papier mache.