Rocking Horses - History of

Rocking horses have been enchanting young and old for over three thousand years.

Wooden toy rocking horses first appeared in seventeenth-century Europe and King Charles 1 of England rode one of the earliest examples of a rocking horse when he was a young boy. His rocking horse survives to this day. Socrates is another great historical figure who galloped about with his children on their rocking horse.

Imitation horses were placed on wheels, pulled by string or transformed into a wood stick horse to fuel the imagination of the rider.

While toy rocking horses have amused, trained and educated children of all ages for centuries. In the Middle Ages they served a serious purpose for budding knights who practiced jousting on wheeled horses and later on carousels.

Rocking horses were enormously popular throughout Great Britain especially during Georgian and Victorian times. They also flourished in Germany and in America until the middle of the Twentieth Century, when production of fine wood rocking horses almost disappeared.

A revival in England during the last twenty years has seen a remarkable resurgence of this historical and much beloved toy. Today, antique wooden rocking horses have become collectors' items while new artists have emerged with their own personalized approach to this fine tradition.