Photos courtesy of Steve Male.

Making your horse

There are no hard and fast rules about making your pantomime horse but here are a few helping comments.

Firstly and most importantly the costume must be safe. It also needs to be fairly light otherwise should the weather be hot it will become extremely hot inside when you are running!

The Head

We built the head on a simple hard hat to which we attacked a light frame made from wire netting to give the general shape of a horses head.

Once this was complete we then covered the structure with papier maché and in turn covered this with the same material that we made the body from. Adornments such as eye lashes and eye were made from painted ping pong balls and coloured pipe cleaners.

Other horses heads in 2007 were made from cardboard boxes which had been slightly reshaped and covered in material. This worked equally well. Whatever base is used it is important to get the centre of gravity right so that the person at the front end of the horse has a horse head that is balanced and not too front heavy.

The Body

The body that we made is in three sections:

Two pairs of trousers. Very simple design, large enough around the waist for the largest competitor and some form of belt or braces to prevent embarrassment in the heat of battle! These really need to be fairly loose because it can become quite warm whilst running.

The main part of the body consists of two side panels extending from the top of the neck (upon which the head sits) along the sides and to the rump. These two sections meet over the back of the neck and along the back. There is an additional section starting at the base of the tail roughly in a heart shape to cover the rump of the horse ( and the person in the rear half!)

We have paper patterns for this at the Vets Surgery in Cromwell Road , Whitstable (please ask for Carol – tel. 01227 272213) if anyone wants to borrow (and return them) to get the basic idea.

This year we are insisting that the belly of the horse is closed – if only by a couple of straps or pieces of Velcro to prevent the person in the rear half standing upright during the race. – See Race Rules Page. It is probably safest to have these ties not too strong just in case anyone needs to get out of the costume in a hurry.

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If you have any difficulties please contact the event organiser on

Email- info@whitstable-races.co.uk

Or telephone 01227 27 22 13 and ask for Carol

This is very much a fun event and any horse may be decorated or carry sponsorship as appropriate. All that we ask is that everyone takes care to be SAFE.