Horseback riding simulators are intended to allow people to gain the benefits of
therapeutic horseback riding
Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) encompasses a range of treatments that involve activities with horses and other equines to promote human physical and mental health. The use of EAT has roots in antiquity, and EAT applies to physical health issues in ...
or to gain skill and conditioning for
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
activity while diminishing the issues of surrounding cost, availability, and individual comfort level around horses.
Horseback therapy has been used by many types of therapists (i.e.: physical, occupational, and speech therapists) to advance their physical, mental, emotional, and social skills.
Simulators used for therapeutic purposes can be used anywhere (i.e.: clinic or a patient home), do not take up much space, and can be programmed to achieve the type of therapy desired. 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.
Commercial products
Products that attempt to accurately imitate the movement of a real horse and are sometimes used for therapeutic purposes as well as for developing
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
skills or conditioning are the
Equicizer
The Equicizer is a mechanical horse that is non-motorized and is controlled by the rider's own movement. Invented by Frank Lovato, Jr. in 1982, it is used by people all over the world for exercise, training and therapy. It has been used in man ...
, an American-developed mechanical product that resembles the body of a horse, imitates the movement of a horse, and can be used at slower speeds for therapeutic and rehabilitation purposes.
Another product that resembles and moves like a real horse is the line of
Racewood
Racewood is a British company that specialises in creating horse riding simulators. It was established in 1990.
Types of simulators
To this day, Racewood has made 8 different types of simulators as follows:-
*Walking & Trotting: Allows the ri ...
Equestrian Simulators, with 13 models to imitate actual movement of horses in various disciplines, including a simple walk and
trot
The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...
model.
Simulators that do not resemble horses but imitate certain aspects of equine motion are popular in some Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, in part because land for keeping actual horses is quite limited. One such commercial product is the Joba, created in Japan by rehabilitation doctor
Testuhiko Kimura and the
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
. The Joba does not resemble a horse, but rather just looks like a
saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
, with plastic handle and
stirrups, attached to a base that allows it to pitch and roll, exercising core muscles.
A similar product manufactured in the US is a stool-like device called the iGallop, which was commercially available in the mid 2000s and moves in a side-to-side and circular motion with various speed settings. However, it was criticized for not delivering the results claimed.
Research
Cerebral Palsy
There has been increased research regarding use of horseback riding simulators compared to conventional therapy methods. One 2011 study by Borges et al. compared children with
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...
and postural issues who received conventional therapy to similar children who received therapy involving a riding simulator. The results from this study showed that children who received riding simulator therapy exhibited a statistically significant improvement regarding postural control in the sitting position, specifically regarding the maximal displacement in the mediolateral and anteroposterior directions. Parents of these children noted that their children executed activities of daily living that demanded greater mobility and postural control better than before.
In a 2014 study by Lee et al., 26 children with cerebral palsy were divided into two groups: a
hippotherapy group and a horseback riding simulator group. The children in each group underwent the same kind of therapy for the same amount of time using either a real horse or the simulator. Conventional physical therapy sessions were attended before each hippotherapy or horseback riding simulator session. It was found that both static and dynamic balance improved for the children in both groups following their 12-week-long programs and there was not a statistically significant difference between the results from the two groups. This indicates that using a horseback riding simulator can be as effective as hippotherapy for improving balance in children with cerebral palsy.
Stroke
Another area of research involves horseback riding simulation with stroke patients. Trunk balance and gait were assessed before and after the stroke patients were treated using a horseback riding simulator. Because stroke patients are not able to keep both feet on the floor and weight distributed equally between them, it is very easy for them to lose trunk muscle strength and control of the trunk on one or both sides. In a 2014 study, 20 non-traumatic, unilateral stroke patients underwent therapy using a horseback riding simulator. Their therapy included six 30-minute sessions a week for five weeks. The Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) used to assess the patients before and after their therapy showed that they had better trunk control in a seated position following their sessions. Upon gait analysis, improvements in the areas of velocity, cadence, and stride length of the affected and non-affected sides were all observed. Additionally, the percentage of time spent in the double support phase was decreased. More research studies in which more subjects are tested for longer amounts of time are currently being investigated.
References
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Equine therapies
Physical therapy
Exercise equipment