Has anyone tried the "Home Horse"?

[Alterration]

I assembled it the night before last. For the uninitiated- wasn’t tough but a socket set or good wrench set is necessary. You may have to hammer the base onto the base (it’s a tight fit).

After the initial “I’m terrified ride”, I got it. I do have the height set pretty low so that I can mount easily while I’m figuring it out.

The circular exercise was clear that I’m pretty tight through my hips and lower back. And as I loosened up - holy cow does my lower back pop and crack!

My barnmates came and tried it and we decided that it’s a keeper!

[walktrot]

@Jackie_Cochran

Neurologists know that nerves can grow, and that nerves can develop new connections. Nerves do not do this unless there is a new demand that the nervous system has not adapted to before. The HH seems to be giving my nervous system the proper demands that inspire my nerves to grow and develop the new connections I need to move properly.

I have permanent nerve damage in my right arm as a result of shredding portions of my brachial plexus. I went about 7 months before we got a response. One nerve had started to reattach. My neurologst told me the details.

Nerves grow 1 mm/day.

The myelin sheath wraps around the nerve. MS is one result of damage to the myelin sheath and the nerves inside. If it repairs itself the function will return, but it can reoccur.

You can stretch a nerve so it still works and damaged areas will regenerate.

A nerve can break. If the ends are close enough they will eventually find each other and regenerate. Function will return. If the ends are too far apart they won’t degenerate. My infraspinatus is permanently nonfunctional.

Neurologists usually do two types of test. Conduction measures how fast and strong the signal moves through the nerve. EMG determines if muscles are responding to nerve signals.

When I got back back to riding it took my horse a couple of days to figure out that if he pulled his head to the left I couldn’t pull it back to the right.

[Alterration]

Home Horse report, a few days in.

I’ve mastered mounting and dismounting and can do it easily by myself without support. I was kind of worried about that as my original use case was “by myself”.

It is definitely helping to open my hips, and today as I was doing the exercises I felt a super interesting grind somewhere around the middle of my lumbar spine. Usually when your back pops like that it stops, but this was every time.

So…yay? Another area that is maybe screwy on me? Might be related to the hip tightness? Might not be.

None of this really shocks me, given all that I’ve put my body through (rode a lot of green horses, had a lot of falls) but I’m surprised at what is surfacing. Grateful that it’s being surfaced so that I can finally get through it. I’ve been trying so hard to ride well and I feel like I’m fighting my body.

[kanter]

Has anyone figured out the saddle tree shape/size that works best on the HH? Unfortunately the saddle I got to try on it seems to be a medium/narrow tree and it is not a good fit at all. Even with a nonslip pad I nearly hit the floor when I tried to use stirrups because it just tipped right off. It doesn’t contact the HH with much of the surface area on the bottom. I know part of it is that I am still unstable, but I’d prefer to have something that fit a little better so I’m less likely to fall off!

[NaturallyHappy]

I have not figured out the saddle piece. And I’m not really comfortable putting my nice saddle on it, anyway. I get on it with just the wooden saddle it comes with. I got stuck on it w the neoprene cover it came with😀. I had a clean saddle pad stacked in it to carry to the barn. I got on it w that…,it was pretty comfortable and not too slippery.

[Jackie_Cochran]

If the HH was a live horse I suspect it would need a hoop tree.

I am using a RiderGrip on the seat section of the HH since I am allergic to neoprene (just like poison ivy to my skin). So far I have been using my ancient 44 year old Crosby “Wide Front” PDN which is WAY to narrow for the HH but the RiderGrip seems to keep it in place, so far. As a matter of interest I have a Crosby “Prix de World” Lynn Palm saddle whose nail says it is a medium wide tree, and it is much wider than my “Wide Front” PDN, but still does not “fit” the HH.

Today I made an addition to my HH, a 2’ long bubble balance tool that I just put on the HH platform. Now my husband can be SURE if I am centered or off to one side, before he always sounded doubtful, and my body just did not believe him as I always felt like I the HH was leaning way to the right when my husband said I was centered.

I got so exhausted from using the HH that I decided that I had to start over and instead of 20 minutes a day I am just doing 1 minute a day. It is going to take me FOREVER to get my riding muscles stronger using the HH.

On a positive note about riding simulators after 2 weeks using my Anywhere Saddle Chair (ASC) four times a day for two minutes each time my riding teacher was amazed, my torso was erect my last lesson instead of me being hunched over, my usual posture on horseback. I recommend both simulators, the ASC mostly works on my core muscles and I feel the effects in my waist and 4" above and below my waist. You want a stronger core? Try the ASC.

[Bogie]

I have used both a MW and a W tree saddle on my home horse but I do not use stirrups.

[gardenie]

How’s it been going?

[Jackie_Cochran]

I am aiming at three rides a week now. Lately I have been lucky in getting lessons on a real horse. That is the center of my plan because there is nothing that seems to replicate riding a horse at a walk, it isn’t just the movement, it is also the communication with the reins.

The most I’ve done lately on the HH is once a week, 5 minutes on, 30 minutes off, then around 7 minutes on. This is as tiring to me as riding in the car to the stable, walking around the stable, helping groom my lesson horse MJ, helping tack up, walking to the ring, riding 30 minutes, walking back to the barn and riding in the car going home, which altogether takes an hour and a half.

Shannon worked with me about keeping the bubbles centered from side-to-side and front-to-back last Sunday. When I got decent siting down in the saddle I went into 2-point. After a little bit Shannon told me that the HH platform was horizontal in all directions.

My side-to-side balance seems to be a little better on horseback, at least when we do turns in place I no longer have to shift the saddle back to center.

My current rather nebulous plans are at least one ride on a horse a week, preferably two, then a short session on the HH building up the time on the HH very slowly and cautiously, working on my balance, and if I do not ride a horse twice that week doing a session on the Anywhere Home Chair which really works my core muscles.

I got too ambitious. I got exhausted. One step forward, four steps back, collapse with exhaustion, then start over again much slower while doing less.

Such if life with MS.

[gardenie]

There is nothing better than a real horse ride. Glad to hear you are feeling improvement from the horse substitutes though!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I got to introduce my grandsons to my HH this weekend.

I just saw the eldest get another ride on the HH, apparently he wanted to “ride” it again before they leave.

The youngest is still a little guy. He was not too sure about it.

[wsmoak]

How is everyone doing with their Home Horse?

Are there any referral or discount codes available?

I am about to order and just wanted to check first!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have FINALLY taken out most of the shims I put under the platform to limit the swaying. I just put one back in so the platform showed as flat with the bubble balance.

On horseback my balance is better. I ride in a Pegasus Butterfly jumping saddle and each ride I had to recenter the saddle a few times, especially after turns in place. For the last 3-4 weeks my saddle has stayed centered even when I forget to ask my riding teacher to tighten the girth.

I am riding the HH for 5 to 12 minutes, once or twice a week. My endurance on horseback seems to be better, my last lesson I managed to do the posting trot 5 or 6 times getting further around the ring each time.

On the HH I balance (the bubble balance REALLY helps show this for my spotter) from side to side and front to back. I “walk” some, do some 3-point and try to get up into 2-point. Not much but it is helping me.

After my “ride” on the HH I am not good for anything else, just like I am not good for anything else after I ride a horse.

[kanter]

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. (I don’t know of any referral or discount codes, unfortunately!)

I am still enjoying mine. I haven’t been using it quite as much since my new trainer has given me some exercises to do standing on the ground with a prop. I tried to mount the prop (towel) to the HH and used painter’s tape to rig it up. That worked great for a while (weeks,) but then I realized that the tape could harm the finish, so I took it off. Luckily no harm done. I’m trying to figure out a way to attach a towel on the base without risking damage to the finish. (Or perhaps something else to mark where my feet should be—maybe yoga mat material?) Unfortunately the towel will slide around if I don’t attach it somehow.

I also got a bubble level, a 360-degree one. Wow, that is handy at showing me how what I feel is straight and level is not straight and level! I glued some extra ThinLine I had (from shoe insole trimmings, luckily I kept them) to the bottom of the level so it won’t slide around on the base while I am doing circles and things. I wish the level could be mounted higher because I have to bend over a bit to check it, but I think it would be tricky to get it truly level while mounted somewhere above the platform.

I’ve also still not found a saddle for it, though I can’t say I’ve tried very hard lately.

Overall, I would still recommend. It’s nice for my back.

[kanter]

I just wanted to add that I did figure out a way to get the saddle I had to sit securely enough to use stirrups while it is on the Home Horse. I talked with Chris at Land Rover, and he recommended using either two of the HH neoprene pads or a very thick neoprene exercise pad like this: https://www.bigdweb.com/neoprene-shaped-thoroughbred-exercise-pad

I made what I had work. I put my ThinLine+ pad on the wood seat first, then put the HH neoprene pad over that. The saddles are much more stable this way.

[outerbanks77]

Bumping this up because I am probably going to order a home horse soon. Wanted to see if people are still liking and using theirs!

[NaturallyHappy]

This is a great idea. I missed this somehow. Thank you.

[Bluey]

A friend that broke her back years ago has one she uses every day.
She was paralyzed for a while, then regained full function but was not really all well.
Since she starting using one, reports if she misses a day, she gets stiff and sore.
As long as she uses it twice a day, she is relatively limber and pain free.
Nothing else has worked as well as that for her back health.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have recently had 2 cataract surgeries and 2 root canals plus a jaw infection.

I have gotten up on a real live horse ONCE since the first week of October. Because I have a Home Horse I got to get into a saddle 7 times since then. First I could not ride because the eye doctor did not want me to be around all the dust, then my mouth acted up and kept acting up. But whenever I felt physically better I could ride my HH for a short while even though I needed to stay away from dust, my eyes hurt or my jaw hurt.

If I do not ride a horse I have noticed that my balance gets a lot worse, as in I start staggering for no reason. Riding the Home Horse does not replace riding a real horse but it means that my riding muscles do not get weaker and weaker every week I cannot get a riding lesson.

Riding my HH has helped my sense of balance a great deal, especially my side-to-side balance.

I have noticed that having a long bubble balance on the platform of the HH really helps in finding out when I am balanced. I also use the “double bridle” extension you can buy with the HH and I found that my 6 lb.+ veterinary dictionary behind the post of the HH really helps me balance from front to back (otherwise I feel like I am going down a STEEP hill) or when I use a saddle which can also mess up balancing from front to back.

I am SO GLAD I bought my Home Horse. The universe has not been very cooperative with me getting up on a horse, but with my Home Horse at least I can sit in a saddle that does move under me as I try to mimic riding a walk or trot (I am still working on replicating the movement of the canter.) That has really helped me mentally this fall and winter and it helps me keep some of my riding muscles fit.

My life would be so depressing right now without my Home Horse. At least with it I can get in a saddle and sort of ride in spite of the cold, the rain, my riding teacher getting sick and my lesson horse hurting from something (he is over 30 years old).

Besides it looks so pretty in my living room with my old PDN Wide Front saddle on it. I can just sit on my couch and drink in the beauty of that saddle when I am not up to riding on it.

[kanter]

I’ve ridden my Home Horse more than I’ve ridden a real horse lately. It’s been great while I’ve been looking for a new place to ride yet again.

I also ended up buying one of those thick neoprene pads from a local shop. My saddle sits better on it than the combo of pads I had originally used.