hobby horse vs preoccupation

hobby horse

noun
  • A topic about which someone loves to talk at great length. 

  • A child's toy consisting of a (usually wooden or cloth) horse's head mounted on a stick. 

  • The Irish hobby, an extinct breed of horse. 

  • A puppet-like costume used in some traditional dances and festivals that gives its wearer the appearance of a man on horseback. 

  • An early bicycle with no pedals or brakes; a draisienne. 

preoccupation

noun
  • The state of being preoccupied or an idea that preoccupies the mind; enthrallment. 

  • The act of occupying something before someone else. 

How often have the words hobby horse and preoccupation occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )