Horse-riding

What was announced as a 2050 pipe dream by Kawasaki, the company's hydrogen-powered, four-hooved, all-terrain robot horse vehicle Corleo is actually going into production and is now expected to be commercially available within a few years.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has pulled the covers off perhaps the most outrageous concept vehicle we've ever seen. The Corleo is a two-seater quadruped robot you steer with your body, capable of picking its way through rough terrain thanks to AI vision.

Sadly, this is not a rollercoaster for horses. And despite its dystopian hover-chariot looks, it's actually designed to be a kinder and safer way to prepare young horses for the often-damaging shock of beginning a race training program.

Often the most impressive motorhome of an RV show is a car carrier, but the king of CMT 2020 was built to carry a simpler form of horsepower: the whinnying kind. RJH dazzled show goers with a bus-sized motorhome sized for six people and five horses.

​Horses aren't like dogs. Whereas the one is always around the house, the other spends much of its time off in a pasture. So, how is a horse-owner supposed to keep track of what their animal is doing? Well, a group of Swedish entrepreneurs believe that their HoofStep system is the answer.

​In equestrian riding, it's important to keep one's heels pointing downward within the stirrups – if the heels move up, the rider has less control. This can be difficult to learn, however, which is why Gallop Equine has created the sensor-packin' Bluetooth-connected SmartBoot.

The team behind Megasus Horserunners has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a horseshoe alternative it says will allow for more natural hoof movements, and can be easily clipped on and taken off as required.​

It may look like a bit of disco bling for the equestrian set, but the Tail Lights Rider Safety System has a very serious purpose.

Looking for an objective measure of your horse's performance? Well, that's where Balios comes in. It's a saddle-mounted gadget that tracks the movements of your trusty steed.​

As a child, Brooklyn-based metal sculptor Adrian Landon played with Lego a lot. He also learned about horses from his polo-playing dad. That background set the stage for Landon's latest work of art, a stainless steel life-size Mechanical Horse that gallops in slow motion at the press of a button.

If you regularly take off into the hinterlands on a bike or horse, there's a chance you could crash and not be able to summon help. That's why David Coleman developed the Ridersmate. If you fall off your bike/horse, it automatically sends a text message to let people know that something's amiss.

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has created a set of bespoke titanium horseshoes for a Melbourne race horse using additive 3D printing. According to CSIRO, this is a first for horse racing and demonstrates the potential for the technology.