Horse Riding Gear Ideations

The next design direction we approached was “horse riding gear”. The case owner loves horse riding, and it also help them with their core stability. Although they expressed no immediate issue with horse riding, we did consider that there might still be ways to optimize the experience.

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We asked the case owner if there is any way that the experience could still be made more comfortable. To which the case owner said that the biggest difficulty still is to find a saddle that is a good compromise between the comfort of the rider and the back health of the horse. A saddle that offers more comfort and back support will put more pressure on the horse’s back. So, a saddle with a deeper seat would help the case owner with their core stability but would probably be worse for the horse.

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We also quickly discussed whether the hanging arms during horse riding was an issue. Because horse riding is a dynamic movement, this is actually not an issue. Furthermore, we discussed shovelling and other tasks regarding horse maintenance, but the conclusion was that the case owner’s husband does most of the tasks and shovelling is not a problem. If anything, the movement of shovelling works well for the case owner.

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So, overall, horse riding could be optimized, but probably only at the costs of the horse’s health. And because according to the case owner “the horse breaks easier than me’, the current compromise of their comfort and their horse’s health is alright.