Pretty hobby horse for a girl

DIY Hobby Horse for a Girl - This would make such a cute gift idea!

With Christmas only days away I was looking for a fun project that would also double as a Christmas present for Leah. I came across a few tutorials for hobby horses and thought it was a fantastic idea! So I decided to make my very own pretty hobby horse for a girl!

DIY Hobby Horse for a Girl - This would make such a cute gift idea!

I’m so happy with how she came out and I can’t wait to see Leah riding around on her! Thank you to Attempting Aloha and her Glamourous Hobby Horse tutorial which was what my pretty hobby horse for a girl is mostly based on. You can check out her tutorial for how to make your hobby horse even prettier!

Here’s what I used for my pretty hobby horse for a girl:

one set of big googly eyes (from Michael’s)

one set of fake eyelashes (from Dollarama)

one pair of fluffy socks (from Dollarama)

one silver beaded garland (from Dollarama)

one 3/4″ dowel cut 30″ long (Michael’s)

one sheet of sparkly felt (Michael’s)

one ball of hot pink yarn (Michael’s)

stuffing from one old pillow

Instructions for making a pretty hobby horse for a girl

Stuff one sock with the stuffing from an old pillow. (Luckily I just bought myself a new pillow last week, so this was perfect timing!)

Then stuff the dowel inside, sew a loose yarn stitch around the base of the sock, add a whack load of hot glue to the dowel where the end of the sock is going to close around it, tighten the yarn stitch to close the sock and press it all together. I was really worried about if this would work, but it seems pretty sturdy!

Cut out two ears from the felt, about 3.5″ long. Fold in half and stitch about 1″ up the middle while pinching to give the ears some depth.

Sew the ears in place.

Use the glue gun to add the googly eyes about 5″ from the nose of the sock. Attach the fake eyelashes. (I’ve never purchased fake eyelashes before so I have no idea what’s normal, but mine came with glue already on them, so I just peeled them off, and stuck them right to the googly eyes) Then use yarn to sew on nostrils.

Again use yarn to sew on the noseband. I used 5 rows of yarn and made a stitch on the underside of the head to keep it in place.

Cut the beaded garland to about 36″ long and again use yarn to attach it to the side of the horses head on both sides for the reins. Mine lies loose on top of the dowel so that Leah can hold the reins while she gallops around.

That’s pretty much it for the head! Now for the hair…

Cut a piece of cardboard about 12″ long and wind tons of yarn around it.

Loop some yarn around one end as tight as you can and tie a knot.

Use sharp scissors to cut the other end to make kind of a giant tassel like ponytail.

I made two 12″ long ponytails, and one 3″ long ponytail.

First, using yarn, sew on the 3″ ponytail just behind the ears.

Then sew on the first 12″ ponytail like this:

And then sew on the other 12″ ponytail in the opposite direction, like this:

Give her a bit of a haircut at the top of her head so that the seams of the ponytail are less obvious.

I also made another 4″ long ponytail for the tail and hot glue gunned it to the other end of the dowel. And this is what my pretty hobby horse for a girl ended up looking like:

I think Leah is going to have a blast riding her around!!