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Horses need daily exercise to be less vulnerable to injury, better behaved, and achieve better performance. When it’s difficult to find the time to ensure your horse is well-conditioned with daily exercise, a horse exerciser can be the ideal solution. How much do they cost, and which one is best for your needs?
Benefits and Types of Horse Exercisers
Mechanical horse exercisers eliminate the need for a human horse hot walker for every horse. The horse exerciser doesn’t require a horse to be attached to the machine to operate. This provides horses with the opportunity to move naturally. As well, not being tethered to the machine means a horse can’t break free from it or cause the machine to stall.
Exercisers help horses to reduce stiffness and injury through the quick release of heat and help normalize vital signs following vigorous exercise.
There are several types of horse exercisers available, each with their own benefits. Horse owners can choose between indoor and outdoor models, ceiling or floor mounted, and round or oval.
Indoor and Outdoor
Both indoor and outdoor exercisers have several benefits. Indoor exercisers allow for training and conditioning in all types of temperatures, without the worry of having to interrupt or delay exercise.
Outdoor exercisers provide the opportunity for horses to receive the health benefits of sunlight and fresh air while they receive the exercise they need.
Ceiling and Floor Mounted
Ceiling-mounted exercisers allow you to maximize the floor space in your training area. It also allows for year-round exercise and temperature control when installed indoors. Floor-mounted products occupy floor space, but still offer the same health benefits to horses, in addition to allowing exposure to the outdoors.
Round and Oval
The shape of a horse exerciser can definitely impact their health. The round exerciser is as beneficial for daily exercise as it is for injury rehabilitation and allows impulsive horses to relax and develop a gait that’s pure and consistent. When in an oval shape, an exerciser allows the horse to maintain a straight spine for 80% of the time they travel in it.
What to Consider
The cost of any horse exerciser will depend on its size, and your budget will most certainly determine which type of exerciser you purchase. Consider how many horses you will be exercising daily and for how many sessions.
Radius is another important factor. Considering your work plan, decide whether you’ll be doing trot and canter paces or walking your horse. The former will require a larger diameter exerciser.
Horses who are being rehabilitated will also benefit more from the lower stress of an exerciser with a larger turn radius.
You’ll also want to consider the disposition of your horse or horses. Calm horses who don’t mind the noise, action, and unfamiliarity of a machine will be best suited to different exercisers than those who tend to spook easily.
Average Costs, Models, and Options
Very generally speaking, the cost for a horse exerciser can range from $10,000 for a basic unit to over $50,000 or more for units with walls and roofs.
The Type HE
Professional horse exercisers like Vitafloor’s Type HE can range between 50 and 72 feet or larger and can accommodate between three and eight horses. The features of the Type HE include:
- Direct drive
- Dual or single speed control
- 2-way switch
- Emergency stop
- Silent operation
- Various automatic direction change options
- Track sprinkle system
- Variable strength shock system
The FlexRciseR
Vitafloor’s FlexRciseR offers two-in-one functionality, able to be used for light canter and trot speeds as well as an oval walker. The FlexRciseR offers the significant benefit being able be expanded to any diameter and any number of horses, as well as:
- 3-meter height, which is unreachable by horses
- maximum training speed as high as 15 mph
- Emergency relays located in control box
- The most flexible and dynamic system on the market
Ceiling-mounted exercisers from Vitafloor are available in diameters between 50 and 72 feet or larger upon request. They attach to the building structure, allowing you to install a lunging pen in the center and providing year-round temperature-controlled exercise and additional benefits, such as:
- Silent AC direct drive motor
- Impact-proof and horse-friendly push fence
- Two programs or fully programmable control box
- Hot dipped galvanized parts
- Automatic direction change
- Variable speed control
The Q-Line
The Q-Line horse exerciser type LBE is another option from Vitafloor. Available in diameters ranging between 40 and 50 feet, it can accommodate between three and six horses. Many features like a sprinkle system are included, and the unit allows for:
- Emergency stop
- Multiple automatic direction changes
- Walk and trot programs that can be adjusted for speed
- Mesh push fence
- Direct drive
- Track sprinkle system
- Flexible strength shock system
Trusted by Countless Equestrians, Rehabilitators, and Veterinarians
Vitafloor is the inventor of equine vibration technology and an industry leader in the development and manufacture of other top-quality horse training, health, and performance products. Vitafloor’s superior products are being used in over 25 countries and can be found in equine rehabilitation facilities, as well as in the barns of competitors, breeders, and vet clinics.
In addition to our lines of heavy-duty horse exercisers, we are proud to offer equine solarium systems, arena irrigation systems, treadmills, enclosures, safety wall gates, and so much more. Everything we sell has been meticulously researched, designed, and manufactured to ensure the optimal safety and fitness of horses of all ages, abilities, and fitness levels.
To learn more about our equine exercisers and other superior equestrian products, look through our website. You can also reach out to our experts in Vitafloor offices around the world by locating your country on our contact page.