Half girl, half horse and with a stick – the augmented hybridity of hobbyhorse enthusiasts

Abstract

This study theorises hybridity in consumer research by focusing on the phenomenon of hobbyhorsing. This sport took shape 20 years ago and is rapidly spreading among young women with both offline and online activities. We develop an interpretative analysis of how the human, the material and the animal combine in hobbyhorsing. Our findings highlight the forms of hybridity these consumers display. Further, we identify how others perceive hobbyhorsists’ hybridity through either attraction or repulsion. The paper contributes to interpretive consumer research by going beyond conceptualisations of hybridity as metaphor or as the convergence of consumers’ online and offline lives. The hobbyhorsists’ augmented hybridity challenges the anthropocentric view of consumers in the field.