Horseback riding simulator
The Ridemaster Pro is a £40,000 rocking horse. Sold by Racewood Simulators, the Ridemaster Pro is equipped with sensors, mechanics, and a display for virtual outdoor rides. From The Telegraph:
Horseback riding simulator (The Telegraph, thanks Lyn Jeffery!)(Racewood Simulators) designer and company managing director Bill Greenwood said: "Private individuals buy them who don't have space for a horse in central London.
"With one of our simulators you can ride at any time of day in a centrally heated or air-conditioned environment.
"You don't need the space or a dressage arena because it's not physically going anywhere - you can put it in a small room or in a garden shed.
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That's a pretty steep price considering my local grocery store has one that only charges a quarter.
A quarter? You can ride on at MY grocery store for a penny! Quarter, grumble grumble!
Why is this reminding me of the vibrating Harry Potter magical brooms that got pulled off of store shelves?
Good one Baronkarza23! Don't think it could be put any better.
Great. This removes the best thing about riding, the outdoors, and retains the worst thing, the bouncing up and down.
Hey, that horse is galloping through the Uncanny Valley! :P
DUFFONG @3, Yes! Or even this?
Somehow I think this thing is missing the point. It's a lot like a driving simulator, it can get your feelings going, but you miss a lot of the sensory experience. Sure I play racing games, but if I had the bank, I think I'd just buy a 911 Turbo and head to the track...
Of course if this was like Matrix style, and you could jack me in. That's when videogames have arrived!
Oh, and another thing; what sort of person needs to wear a helmet and tall boots to ride a robot that never goes anywhere. I mean, what do they think is going to *happen*?
Great. This removes the best thing about riding, the outdoors, and retains the worst thing, the bouncing up and down.
Personally, I think the best part is the horse him/herself.
@ #9 ROSSINDETROIT
That was my second thought, but then I was reminded of how, like cops, when they put on that uniform, they start imagining themselves in the uniform and acting out the part. Strapping on that riding helmet and those riding boots in a grocery store would probably lead to alfalfa in your grocery cart with or without a horse nearby.
It woulda been kinda amusing if she was wearing a fighter jet flight suit, you know, locking onto bogies and what not.
I had to find the video.
Does it come with a set of Hitachi attachments?
#12 -- My favourite part of the video is "Sample Text". Is this a secret message to al Queda?
If it isn't programmed to unexpectedly toss you off where you risk breaking your neck then it's not a very realistic simulator.
Some spontaneous shitting/pissing would add to the experience as well.
Now that I've seen the video of this bad boy in action, I can say that's one awesome Steampunk looking horse!
Canter Canter Revolution?
BCSIZEMO@8: Lets not bring 911 into this...
ROSS@5 & MDHATTER@10: I quite agree with both of you.
JBJORDIN@12: Thanks for the link. The full absurdity of this is not evident until you see it in action. I love how the rider just rides in a circle on a patch of virtual gravel. You'd think they would at least provide rolling hills and pastoral landscapes. They actually spent a lot of R&D money on this! And why the hell would you install this thing outside? Just so you can look ridiculous for all to see in your riding uniform? Don't forget the crop! Gotta spend top dollar on all the elite accouterments.
QSD@14: Perhaps it is a command. We are supposed to sample the text somehow...
Canter Canter Revolution?
Thank you for that.
vry nc d... spclly fr ths ppl wh wld rlly wnt t lrn t rd hrs bt dn't hv hrs...
lv*c
wb hstng rvw
That's a fine reminder of how incredibly dumb rich people can be.
Cheers.
In the city...we call our horses 'Bikes'. They cost considerably less than £40,000.
Fie on y'all.
Any simulation is good simulation.
I mean this is only a step...this could be combo'd with an immersive display for some kind of game action....couldn't it?
Make it not a horse, a dragon...
There are gaming possibilities, given a little work, but the core concept isn't bad, that being the simulation of interactive biologically-based physical transport.
CANUCK@22: Ok, make it a wraparound screen, code some fully immersive CGI; make it a dragon that you ride that can unleash fiery breath down on targets below, and charge $.50 per 5 mins and you've got yourself an arcade game I'd take for a spin.
yeah that's what I thought...a kind of "ride the beast" experience...rather than a "drive the car" experience.
the upscale pony play market
...isn't this just a tame version of Namco's old arcade game, "Final Furlong"?
/b
Ummm, forty grand will buy you:
1)A horse.
2)A small field in which to keep said horse
3) A cheap car to drive to your field, where you can see your horse.
There are far cheaper ways to induce an orgasm, and one need not change clothing.
Don't forget the iGallop!
Now there's a fabulous piece of horse inspired hardware...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwocdImA6Z8
And you can buy 'em at Brookstone for only $299
a mechanical bull is much more fun
40k? That's about twenty years of weekly ride-outs in Hyde Park. More if you go somewhere cheaper and less central.
And the whole bloody point of horse-riding is that there is a *horse* involved, not a plastic dummy.
I could maybe see this functioning in a bizarro arcade, but not really as a personal entertainment item. If you've got that much loose cash you might as well keep a horse in the country, or lease one if you're not going to be using it as much.
Horses are significantly less fun when they can't act like idiots because they're terrified of a chipmunk.
#13
If that's what you'd be interested in it for, just go for what's designed for it and a much cheaper route (under 2k after taxes/shipping/whatnot) and get the Sybian.
Heck as Intersection already beat me to mentioning it, buy the iGallop, the Sybian, a new tv, and a new hd digital camcorder to record the "outdoors" and save yourself tens of thousands of dollars even if any of those needed to be replaced/repurchased in the future.
@BAS - "The Great Outdoors" - is that a Ron Jeremy film? You could watch that too.
It would be possible for the rider to wear a virtual reality viewer and then he would see any scenery desired. The device could be improved so that different programs could be connected to the device. Each individual program would co-ordinate the motion of the horse to the scenery seen in the virtual reality viewer. You could have a different program for each type of horse such as, one program for a cowboy horse, one program for a race horse, and so on. The scenery would be appropriate for the horse being simulated. The person riding the race horse would see himself on a race track. The person riding a cowboy horse would see cattle country.
The purpose of this device is to perfect your riding, not replace your horseback riding experience with a mechanical horse! Typically, this gadget is purchased by stables and riding instructors who are trying to teach students correct position and correct timing of the aids to cue a horse to go from walk to halt, trot to canter, etc. so the rider does not have to screw up his own horse while perfecting his aids, seat and timing. The rider also is riding a horse that will respond to the correct aids and ignore the incorrect ones, while a real horse that does not have consistent training will not always respond correctly. Also, it helps riders who are out of shape or have experienced injury gain confidence and fitness before riding a real horse. I don't know if the lesser expensive gadgets would be as effective.