Has anyone tried the "Home Horse"?

[Jackie_Cochran]

“Swimmy headed”. I go around with just a trace of vertigo, not enough to be swaying in the breeze but definitely enough that if I do not pay attention to where my feet are I can end up staggering when I walk.

My brain is like this most of the time from reclining in bed, sitting, standing and walking, and when I ride a horse.

Another thing, looking at the Home Horse with the double bridle bit extension and two pairs of reins standing in my living room, the Home Horse is definitely on its “forehand”.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I was supposed to get a riding lesson this morning.

It started raining pretty heavily. While I will ride when it is misting with occasional light rain this was a real rain.

No problem, I “rode” my Home Horse with my husband’s help getting on, centered (hard for me to do today,) and off.

I lasted 4 minutes this time before I got tired. I was constantly trying to find the central balance point and failing miserably. I did a tiny bit of “posting”, some 2-point, imitation walking by moving my seat like it moves on a walking horse, kept contact with the snaffle rein some and I tried to replicate the movement of my seat at a sitting trot but it just is not the same without the bounce from the horse.

Yesterday I found a pair of nylon cored half inch hole stirrup leathers and my pair of old Eldonian stainless steel Prussian sided stirrups. I put them on my Crosby “Prix de World” Lynn Palm jumping saddle. After my “ride” today I got my saddle and put it on my Home Horse for my next “ride” later today.

I am going to try the saddle earlier than I had planned because I noticed that even though my feet were flat on the platform they were moving toe up, then heel down and side to side as the platform yawed underneath my feet. My riding teacher would have been yelling at me about my feet it I had done that with my feet during my lesson. Maybe if my feet are in stirrups a few inches above the platform I can at least keep my feet still in the stirrups, or so I hope.

I better wear my jodhpur boots and half chaps.

The saddle will make it even more interesting getting on and off.

[NaturallyHappy]

I got stuck on my HH today😀! When I ride it long enough, I finally realized it moves away from the wall where I place my hand to stabilize myself. I was able to grab a ladder back chair and drag it over so I could stabilize myself. I also tried the neoprene rubber seat for the first time. That seemed to make it more difficult to get on and centered.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I used my saddle on my PM “ride”. Without my husband’s help I would not have been able to get on or off.

My side-to-side balance was marginally better, but my front to back balance–well I am glad it cannot tip over. I over balanced to the front several times. I tried putting my feet in the stirrups and failed, it was MUCH harder than finding my stirrups on a horse since there is no horse’s barrel between my lower legs. My husband had to put my stirrups on my feet. It was hard to get my seat out of the saddle enough so I could 2-point.

I lasted 5 minutes using the saddle. I got very tired from this second ride and had to take a nap.

I talked with Chris (its inventor) and he suggested getting a rubber pad like one that people use on carpets under their desk chairs. That might help you keep it in one place @NaturallyHappy but I don’t know yet. My HH also migrated across the floor some with it on the flattened cardboard box I use under it right now.

I am so glad my husband can help me with it. We both agreed that I have no business getting on and off it by myself since my balance is so bad. Oddly getting on the saddle was harder than getting off the saddle, and both times I had to tip the HH all the way to the rear to get my right leg over the saddle’s cantle.

The HH is causing me to use muscles I rarely have to use when riding a real horse. I have not gotten sore yet but I have not ridden on it for very long. With a grand total of riding the HH nine minutes and resting for hours between my “rides” I am just about as tired as I would have been if I had gotten my 30 minute riding lesson this morning.

Right now I can see the HH being a good introduction to the saddle, it moves so much under me that a moving horse will feel so much more stable under me. To a beginning rider the motion of the HH will feel much more scary than the movement of a quiet lesson horse.

The only thing it cannot replicate is the bouncing back of a horse when doing a sitting trot, the movement of a bucking horse, and of course I cannot feel the thrust of a horse’s hind leg since there are no legs on the HH.

“Riding” the HH makes me tired. I sure hope riding it makes me fitter for riding horses.

[ZuzusPetals]

Hey, not to dampen enthusiasm for this device, but a Bosu balance ball is the same idea, minus the post and seat. So if you’re unsure about the HH’s expense, or whether you could commit to it long-term, a $100 Bosu will give you an idea of the workout and muscle groups.

[NaturallyHappy]

My HH really works my obliques like nothing I’ve ever done before. I’m sore. And it works my badly damaged neck muscles. I need to follow up on your collar!

[Jackie_Cochran]

You have given me a new goal. Find and work my obliques, maybe that will stop the Home Horse from yawing under me so much.

[Bogie]

I find it much more comfortable to use with a saddle, fwiw

[equinelibrium]

I was thinking the same thing, but of course you would need to add the saddle part. My MacGyver brain is thinking of ways you could do this inexpensively. I’m currently picturing a Bosu ball with a bicycle-seat-post type pole centered in the middle. You could make the top part of a saddle stand I’m imagining something like this but instead of the triangular brace to the wall there would be one on the front and back, attached to a pole that would slip in the pole on the Bosu ball like the saddle post of a bicycle. You could put any saddle on it (but you would need a saddle or it would be a medieval torture device!). You could adjust it to whatever height you wanted and adjust the wobbly-ness of the device by adding/lowering the amount of air in the ball.

It’s a beautiful piece of equipment and I’m sure worth every penny, but what can I say? I’m a cheapskate and love making my own things.

[Jackie_Cochran]

My body told me to rest from “riding” my HH today. I was getting really tired from riding it.

I got to thinking about something I heard Chris say the last time we talked on the phone. I told him I was using the flatened cardboard box it came in to protect the floor. His comment was “good, it gives it a cradle.”

I went to out stash of shipping materials and found some KodiaKotton packing cushions. I stuffed them around the base of the HH front, back and sides. This seems to give a limit to how much the HH can move. I also found some old foam shims that I put under the cantle of my saddle since the RiderGrip does not cover all the seat on the HH.

Hopefully tomorrow, when I try it, I will have a slightly easier time. Wiggling it with my hand it seems to move more within the range of the movements of the horse’s back.

I have to start new physical challenges GRADUALLY. With my bad balance my body was not completely happy with how it was yawing all around. I was surprised I did not get sea sick. The memory of anything that resembles the movement of the HH under my feet was when we were on a passenger liner moored in the water of the harbor of Rio de Janairo, Brazil in the early 1960, when a storm with pretty big waves moved in. The anchor held and the ship was heaving this way then that way, and most people had to use the rails in the halls to not fall down. The dining room was not as crowded as usual that night even though we were doing a New Years Eve celebration. In spite of daily dramamine I did get sea sick that night.

Tomorrow I will use it again with my additions and report on how it goes for me.

[NaturallyHappy]

The HH really challenges my neck muscles, so I am happy I bought it. I can’t keep my head up when riding, so I am hoping this will help w that. It also makes me use my obliques in a different way, which I mentioned. It reminds me of a hula-hoop when I was a kid. I can do side planks, but this works them differently. Very interesting piece of equipment. The Bosu ball idea above is great…I have less than zero talent to put something together like that.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I won’t be able to try my hopefully stabilized HH today. My husband brought back a cold from his business trip last weekend. I eventually got it.

For people with MS regular old colds, the ones that people are taught to ignore and keep on going to work, school, etc., can be serious illnesses for people with MS, serious as in colds have been known to cause exacerbations–attacks.

My balance is wonkier than usual. I am so much more tired than usual.

Maybe in a few days I will feel steady enough on my feet to get on.

The weather is NOT cooperating with my riding. This will be the third week that I don’t get my riding lesson because of rain, much needed rain (we are abnormally dry and on the verge of being declared in a drought), but usually the rain waits until after I have my lesson.

Maybe I will get a homework ride in on Monday, if it does not rain. If it rains it will be a shrug and an “oh well”. This is a year in which every single drop of rain is a treasure to be fully appreciated and received with gratitude.

When I finally feel well enough to get on my HH I will report on the results of my packing material “cradle”. At least I can “ride” the HH if the weather is bad. It does not totally replace being up on a horse but some of my riding muscles get used and strengthened instead of turning into mush.

Right now my HH is in my living room with reins on the double bridle extension and my Crosby saddle on it. Every time I pass it I pause and look at it because with the saddle on it turns it into a beautiful small “sculpture”. Grain leather Crosby jumping saddles are so PRETTY to look at, the only jumping saddle that looks more beautiful to me is the OLD Pariani jumping saddles that looked both beautiful and sexy (LOTS of room for my long femur though I probably would need a 16.5" seat instead of the 17" seat I need in the Crosby.) The flap molded over the knee rolls gave it a really clean look as opposed to modern saddle flaps that look pieced together, can’t saddlers find big enough pieces of leather to give us decent flaps on the saddles anymore?

[scislandsprite]

Theoretically, would a standard exercise ball have the same effect as the HH, or at least similar? I can’t DIY stuff for the life of me and I feel like I’d destroy my Bosu trying to attach stuff to it but I also have one of the big exercise balls that’s all set and ready to go

[NaturallyHappy]

For me, the HH is very different from an exercise ball. I also am miserable at most DYI. I do a lot of balance exercises and the HH is different. I bought it primarily to work on my ability to hold my head up and still when riding. I think it’s helping as my neck is sore. It also works my obliques in a way nothing else I do, does.

[Jackie_Cochran]

It has been a while. I was just starting to get over my cold this week then one of my teeth broke. It sort of had to be dug out. My body ended up wonkier than usual for a few days from this last “insult” to my body.

Today I got to try out my Home Horse with the stabilizing shims under the base. I lasted maybe a minute when I finally got up on it. My saddle is on the HH so I put on my boots and half chaps and helmet.

It did feel a little bit more stable once I was seated. I did not pick up my stirrups since I was not up to the pitching and swaying that would come with picking up the stirrups, so my feet were flat on the platform. I did not pick up the reins either. I was not ambitious, I just sat or tried to replicate the forward and back movement of my pelvis for riding a horse at a walk.

I did try a new experiment. I wanted to see if the Home Horse “reacted” if I looked down. Keeping my seat still I started off with my face vertical and looking forward, then I tilted my head maybe 5 degrees so I looked down. This resulted in a really subtle shift to the “forehand”, not much, hardly noticeable, but I felt the HH roll slightly to the front. Since the weight of the double bridle extension plus two pairs of reins tends to put the HH on its “forehand” anyway I will have to experiment with this later without the bridle extension on.

My body really appreciated the greater stability of the HH with the stabilizing shims in place.

[gardenie]

When I got mine, I concentrated on riding it first before even thinking about reins. Good to hear your getting there!

[kanter]

Oh my, I’m glad you’re feeling up to trying it again! I tried the rein attachment out for a short while when I first got my HH, but I have taken it off for now. I get plenty of benefits from just riding the HH without the reins, like gardenie. Eventually I’ll put them back on, but there’s plenty to think about for now!

It’s still helping me reduce the stiffness in my back. I can tell a big difference when I go out of town (can’t take it with me, unfortunately.) I think my core strength has improved as well. I got a saddle to put on it (all I had were Lane Fox-type saddles, and they just didn’t seem to balance very well. I decided to get a cheaper practice saddle that was built more like a dressage saddle, though it actually appears to be an English show saddle, so we’ll see how that feels.) I can’t wait to try it. I was using a ThinLine bareback pad as a cushion, but I’ve actually started to remove all cushioning for short periods because that makes it even more challenging.

[NaturallyHappy]

I haven’t put a saddle on it yet. I just use it as is … I can tell if really works my neck muscles. I’m not sure about my core yet, but I think it’s making a difference. I think it’s improving my coordination, as well.

[Jarpur]

I went to the HH website, where the directions say to have a helper hold onto the horse while the user mounts. Is this really necessary, every time, even after a user becomes accustomed to the HH? Is it unsafe to attempt to mount on one’s own?

"1. To mount your Home Horse it is important to have someone stand in front of the HH to actively spot you and hold it and you steady as you attempt to mount. "

[kanter]

No, it isn’t necessary for me. I never had someone there to help me mount the HH. I did keep a sturdy, solid object within easy grabbing distance the first few times, like a sturdy desk. I don’t need anything now.