Wealthy city workers are splashing out on the ultimate rocking horse - a £40,000 simulator which enables them to 'ride' in the comfort of their own home. The advanced, virtual reality riding. Our most popular simulator; The Dressage Simulator accommodates riders of all levels from beginners to the advanced. This horse allows you to practise advanced dressage movements, such as: Piaffe, Passage and Half Pass and can also be used for basic arena work. Horseback riding simulators. Additionally, difficulty level can be set by the therapist and increased gradually in subsequent sessions to reflect the patient’s progress and abilities. Some people use these simulators as personal exercise machines to tone core muscles in an easy and low-impact manner.
Wealthy city workers are splashing out on the ultimate rocking horse - a £40,000 simulator which enables them to 'ride' in the comfort of their own home.
The advanced, virtual reality riding machine combines a mechanical horse with a host of electronic sensors and a screen.
Its makers say the Ridemaster Pro enables horse lovers to use normal riding techniques to trot, canter and prompt any number of advanced manoeuvres.
Unlike a real horse, owners do not have to budget for food, horseshoes or stable fees, and can go riding in the dry, warm environment of their house.
Horse play: The Ridemaster Pro is the ultimate rocking horse. At £40,000, the virtual reality machine allows the user to 'ride' in the comfort of their own home
The Ridemaster Pro, which is made by Racewood Simulators, is proving a hit with those who live in cities or who want to ride but don't want to brave the elements.
Designer and company managing director Bill Greenwood said: 'Private individuals buy them who don't have space for a horse in central London.
'With one of our simulators you can ride at any time of day in a centrally heated or air-conditioned environment.
'You don't need the space or a dressage arena because it's not physically going anywhere - you can put it in a small room or in a garden shed.
'We also sell to Scandinavian countries where the weather is miserable and raining and to Dubai where it's 40 degrees centigrade and too hot to ride.' Racewood Simulators, based in the village Tarporley, Cheshire, says the Ridemaster Pro simulates a real 15.2 hands high (5ft 2ins), medium-build horse.
Creature comforts: Unlike a real horse, owners do not have to budget for food, horseshoes or stable fees, and can go riding in the dry, warm environment of their house.
The 'horse' is described as being perfectly schooled and capable of doing advanced movements such as 'medium trot, medium canter, lateral work and rein back'.
The publicity material states: 'The neck is movable and the leg aids are detected by 'on the girth' and 'behind the girth' sensors. All movements are mathematically correct.' Mr Greenwood added: 'It is extremely sophisticated. There are all sorts of ways in which the simulator is better than a real horse.
'You can only ride a real horse in a dressage situation for an hour or so and then the horse gets tired.
'Before you ride a real horse it may take an hour to get ready whereas our simulators are so convenient - you can just take them for a ride straight away in the digital environment.
'And vets bills and food and stable costs are definitely higher than our electricity bills.
'Lots of people buy them so they can practice when they couldn't go out.
'The simulators are not only great for learning and practising, they are great fun - in fact they are quite addictive.' The company sold a simulator to an American woman living in Washington state who was told that because of her brittle ones she should not ride a real horse again in case she fell off.
Mr Greenwood, 55, said that he planned to introduce real landscapes to ride through.
He added: 'I'm basically an engineer and I don't really ride a real horse but I have always wanted to ride through the Rocky Mountains.
'That kind of software is something we are looking at.' The fully interactive Ridemaster Pro retails for £33,850 plus VAT while a simpler version called the Riding Simulator costs £16,400 plus VAT.
Check out the Ridemaster Pro in action below:
Forget mucking stalls. Don’t worry about the rising price of hay, or whether your horse has enough turnout. These horses come with an on/off switch.
Interactive mechanical horses were first developed to help jockeys recover from injuries suffered during racing and jockeys are still one of the major users of these simulators. However, manufacturers have begun to target other genres of riding, touting the advantages that riding a simulated horse can bring to both novices and experienced equestrians. Now polo players can hone their skills, dressage riders can experience flying changes, passage and piaffe, and soon riders will be able to practice their jumping skills, too.
Exercises beyond the typical horseback riding positions can be applied with stretching, strengthening and balancing in a safe controlled manner. Riders can increase their strength, stability, flexibility, balance, confidence and over all well being.
Two companies that offer mechanical horses are Racewood Ltd, a British firm, and Equicizer, a US company.
Bill Greenwood the Managing Director of Racewood Ltd developed the first Equiciser in 1990 following an approach from a leading jockey who wanted to maintain his riding skills while recovering from injury.
The Racewood Simulators run off of electricity and is available in eight different models (soon to be nine). The interactive models come with a full video element that allows you to interact with pre-programmed environments, sort of like the car racing games in arcades.
The neck is fully movable and the horse has sensors to detect “on the girth” and “behind the girth” sensors.
The Polo Pony Simulator helps riders practice their shots. This version includes mouth sensors that respond to realistic ‘checks’ on the reins, to bring the machine to a steadier canter or to a complete stop; just like a well-schooled pony! To highlight a player’s correct position in the saddle when playing their shots, additional sensors are located on the mane and beneath the saddle at the ‘knee role’ position. A light is illuminated when the correct sensors are contacted, confirming that the ‘brace position’ is applied.
The best part of the Polo Pony Simulator is the ball delivery system. Using an artificial polo field that works on a conveyor belt, the polo ball is constantly returned past the polo pony after every shot. A player can hit up to fifty shots per minute providing he has the strength, skill and stamina to match the machine. It is perhaps this feature that makes practising polo on the simulator so compelling for the experienced player.
The Equicizer Simulator
The first Equicizer was developed in 1982 by Eclipse Award winning Jockey/inventor Frank Lovato, Jr. Frank, who always felt there should be a riding simulator, built himself a horse made of wood and springs to simulate riding as a means to rehabilitate himself from a badly fractured leg he had received from a racing accident.
Horse Riding Simulator Exercise Machine For Kids
The Equicizer requires no tools or electricity. The simulator’s spring designed mechanism is activated and controlled by the rider’s level of effort and fitness. When in motion, the Equicizer simulates a real horse’s movement, allowing riders to exercise, stretch and practice technique and improve body posture and positioning, fitness and confidence in a safe controlled manner. It provides a safe low impact exercise. Riders can use any saddle or ride bareback, with or with out stirrups, use their hips, or “core” seat, and leg muscles to initiate the walk, trot or canter motion. This exercise works all those horse riding muscles in your legs, abdomen and back.
Each Equicizer is entirely hand-crafted item, built from quality wood and hardware, then padded and covered with plush durable carpeting available in a variety of colors. Its unique features include a hand-carved head cut from select wood, with a beautiful deep wood grain finish in complementary colors.
Horse Riding Simulator Exercise Machine
Watch Tobey Maguire train for his role of Red Pollard in the movie Seabiscuit. The Equicizer was used extensively throughout the movie, both to train Tobey and in the close ups of him racing.
These look like a lot of fun. But as for me, I think I prefer my horses to be flesh and blood. For one thing, these mechanical horses are a mere 15.2 hands, way too small for my long legs. And I’d miss the feeling of wind in my hair and sun on my back. Not to mention, I like my horse to have opinions, too.