Please go to
http://ponyaccess.com/
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518
When you learn to ride a bike, you expect a few grazes and bruises. When you learn to canoe, or sail, you will get wet. Learning to ski, you will fall over. But if you are sensible, and you start skiing on a gentle nursery slope, or riding a bicycle in a local park, or sailing on a small lake or reservoir, you may get some bruises, but you will get home OK at the end of the day.
The iBex is about making pony based activities as safe as learning to ride a bicycle. A bicycle does not have a mind of its own, though it may seem that way when you are learning, nor do boats, skis or canoes. A pony does. If it is scared, its sole defense mechanism is to run like mad.
Nothing can train an animal not to panic. I use the analogy of a pony being accidentally shot with an air rifle or stung by a wasp on the backside. It is not going to stand still, it will run. Anyone sitting on the pony, or in a vehicle attached to the pony, is going to be in serious trouble, and there is nothing they can do to stop the pony. In battle, horses have had their lower jaw blown off by bullets, and they still run. If blowing the jaw off doesn't stop them, no bit however savage is going to.
The only realistic option is to pray. It can do no harm.
The iBex Saddlechariot is different. It can't stop the pony, but it can ensure that you don't go with it. The release cord does what it says on the tin; releases the pony. The pony may be charging round like a lunatic, but you will be sitting in safety.
The release cord can be operated by the driver, or by someone walking with the vehicle, or from a distance by remote control or by all three simultaneously. When released, the iBex brakes are automatically engaged.
The loose pony is not a problem. Every pony or horse based activity deals with loose animals. I start every day with a loose pony, Obama, in the field. Obama doesn't mug elderly ladies or steal children's mobile phones, he ambles around eating grass. If you release Obama on grass, he stops and eats it. If you release him on a road or a beach, he sets off to find the nearest bit of grass, stops and eats it. It is hard to think of a safer attitude to roads than to get off the road and stand on the verge.
You can do stupid things with an iBex, but you can do stupid things with a bicycle, or a boat, canoe or skis. But with all of them, you can start in safety. It gives a safe, entry level, pony based, activity.
