6 Nov 2006 - The Mechanical Horse

Rider 1 - ELAINE BUTTON

On the 28th October, some members of our group made the journey to Bishop Burton College nr Hull, to gain experience of the fantastic mechanical horse (whose name is Burtie).

Everyone took their turn on the beautiful black equine wonder, a fantastic horse that doesn't need mucking out or feeding.

The overall view of the training aid, was how much you became aware of your body's movements through each transition, of walk, medium walk, trot, and medium trot.
When on a living horse it is very difficult sometimes to feel just what your body is doing and where it needs to be so as to be in the correct position for the right paces.It can be difficult at times to keep the horse in the same rhythm long enough at the same pace to get the feel of your own movements but, on 'Burtie', you felt every movement you did, and if you didn't do it right then he just stopped. And you had to try again to get it right.

Eventually we all got the hang of it, and it was such a wonderful experience which has made us all more aware of what our body is doing when on a horse and what we need to work on to correct our riding positions.

So the learning curve with 'Burtie' was well worth it and, if we had the chance again, I'm sure we?d all sign up for another go.

Also, on behalf of the group, we would like to say a big thank you to Bishop Burton college for their lovely facility, and to Elaine and Mick for attending and organising such an enjoyable day.

RIDER 2 - PAUL KITCHINGMAN

On 28th October, a party visited the Bishop Burton College. Regretfully two of the squad members could not attend due to other commitments. It was nice to have Kerry, a very committed RDA helper and Megan, one of the young up and coming riders to take their place. Megan is certainly one to look out for in the future. Megan?s mum, along with her family, kindly took me down to Bishop Burton after the session and gave out buns and cake making it a party atmosphere. There was lots of chattering among the group.

This was my first visit to Bishop Burton and more important it was my first time on a mechanical horse. My curiosity was running wild. I was fascinated as to how this experience would compare to riding a real horse. Everyone took their turn. I was keenly observing how they coped. Instructor Elaine was putting the riders though their paces. She was observing the rider?s position in the saddle and checking their balance. Going from walk to trot working and medium trot and down through the paces of the mechanical horse, stretching hands out using no stirrups, they were certainly tested to the full. Barbara?s son had a go with instructor Elaine giving him instructions. I found the movement a little strange at first and I could not get the sensors to work on the side of the horse to enable the horse to go faster so Elaine helped by pushing the manual buttons.

The visit did achieve its goal of giving the rider the experience of going at quick pace in a safe environment. It enabled the rider to concentrate on their position in the saddle and maintain good posture. It also gave the instructor at close quarter the opportunity to give advice on how to make small adjustments to improve the rider?s posture and position in the saddle. I found the experience useful and it fitted in with the other things we are doing to improve our riding, I would be willing to visit again. Thank you to Elaine and Mick for organizing such a nice day out and a chance to meet up with our friends.

RIDER 3 - LYNNE BURNLEY

I really enjoyed it, because it gave me the chance to work on my position without having to worry about steering and it helped me improve my balance at different gaits, upwards and downward transitions, because, when you are actually on a horse, you have to concentrate on a lot of things - staying on the track, the distance between horses, and riders, hitting the markers, being at the right speed, where your hands are, having the horse on the right bend, checking stirrup lengths, girth ? whereas, on the mechanical horse, you don't have to worry about all that. You just have to concentrate on your leg position. We did our balance work on the horse without stirrups, which was great because I didn't have to worry about falling off and I got to try medium trot which really felt fast, and the walk felt really active. I wish our group had one. I would certainly pay for more sessions on it and have asked to go next time,

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