RACING AGAINST FRIENDS at a charity dinner, trying out the tack at a major saddlery store, or replicating riding the course at Badminton — mechanical horses are great fun and make many seemingly impossible things possible. However, they also have a serious role to play in rider training, education and rehabilitation.
Today's simulators are used by equestrians of every level and in sports as varied as vaulting, polo and eventing. They are informing equine research into rider biomechanics, helping to educate jockeys about newwhip rules and they continue to evolve as a rider support tool.
Bill Greenwood developed the first Racehorse Simulator (RS) back in 1990. He had been approached by a well known jockey who wanted to maintain his riding skills and fitness while recovering from injury. This led to the creation of the Racewood brand, a British company that is still the world's only business making mechanised simulators for consumer use.
From that first, basic unmotorised model, the development of simulators has been immense. These
