Mechanical reproduction of the horse movement from a hippotherapy cycle

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology for obtaining the basic movements of a horse for children hippotherapy is presented. These were determined from actual measurements acquired from different body parts of a horse that influence the desired effects for therapy. Measuring results were analyzed to identify those movements that help the therapy. Accelerometers placed on several spots on the horse allowed recording measurements of the motion of an actual horse rider during the walking and trotting gaits of the horse. Based on those, the planar trajectory and main tilts of the motion of a horse rider were obtained. The main goal of this project is to reproduce the closest movement via a 4-DOF parallel mechanism.