Have you seen these new horseback riding simulators? They’re marketed as exercise machines that build strength and endurance while simulating the gaits of a horse.

I guess it’s nice to know that someone, other than a horseperson, finally realizes that riding is exercise!

For one of the simulators, the marketing photo that accompanies it features a woman sitting on a machine that looks like an exercise bike saddle with stirrups. In front of her is a large plasma television screen of rolling grass hills. (The television is not included.)

Another one looks like a teapot on an ergonomic chair. A third simulator doesn’t look much different from the mechanical plastic rocking horse I grew up with, springs and all.

They’re the rage in Japan, a place where there’s not much room for horses, and are making their way into gyms in America. They probably do assist in building core strength and balance. Perhaps, like the marketing literature for the latter states, they’re good for rehabilitation after an injury.

Of course, now I can’t see ever using one of these simulators instead of riding a real, warm, independently thinking horse. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned or I hear the call of the open range (as open as it gets in New York), but I can’t ever see substituting a ride on a horse for this inanimate object.  Then again, when it’s 20 degrees and my car is buried under snow, I might think differently. And at $600-$2000, they may cost as much as a horse, but they don’t eat, buck or go lame.