HELSINKI (AP) — The 400 contestants at a sports arena in Finland show jumped, barrel raced and pranced in a dressage competition. They just didn't do it with live horses.

What organizers called "the biggest hobby horse event in the world" took place Saturday in Finland's western town of Seinajoki, which hosted the annual national championships for the sport that simulates the gymnastic elements of real-life horseback riding.

Teens and young girls, mostly 10-to-18-years-old galloped, jumped and pranced with their homemade stuffed horse heads on a wooden stick in the physically demanding competi...