Finnish horse culture has gone through many of the same changes as horse cultures in other “western” countries, where the roles of horses have changed from work to recreation. Before the 1960s Finnish horse culture was based on the use of a single native horse breed in agriculture, forestry, transportation, trotting races and military. Today the number of horses is down to one fifth of the top figures of the 1950s, but there are many breeds now that have new roles in recreation, tourism, sports, and therapy. Especially the popularity of riding has increased in the last two decades, giving women and children more visibility in the present horse culture. In this paper I discuss how the changes in Finnish horse culture have affected the human-horse relationship and how the cultural meanings given to horses have changed from the 1930s to the present. Click here to access the full article.