Why rocking horses played an important role in the past

Did you know that rocking horses played a very important role in the lives of children before the invention of the automobile? Unlike today’s youth, the children of yesteryear were taught early the skills they would need in just a few years. One of those skills was horseback riding. Rather than wait until a young child was about 6 or 7 to learn to ride a live horse, children as young as 2 and 3 were introduced to the rocking horse.

The Rocking-Horse Maker: Nine Easy-To-Follow Projects

The rocking horse as we know it today was not like the rocking horse that children learned to ride a real horse on about 100 or more years ago. No those mechanical beasts were made to be ridden hard and fast.

The rocking horse taught children balance. There were even ones designed to mimic a jumping horse.

A fully restored one today would cost more than most live horses. They run about $4K and up. The larger the horse, the larger the price tag. Yes there were rocking horses made for adults too.

Restoring Rocking Horses