The users.

The Users

The users are people. People vary. Anyone can use the iBex. If ponies don't interest you, you can treat the pony and iBex as a transport system to get you to what does interest you. That is fine. The pony is still being useful, and that will save its life.

If you want to learn more, the system is open ended. It is pure fun to drive at high speed cross country, but beginners need to start on the easier bits. Everyone starts with an assistant leading the pony. Anyone who wants can try steering the pony themselves, and when they show they are competent, they can drive on their own. A remote controlled instant release system can be operated by one of the helpers to ensure the pony and any spectators are safe. The user can operate the instant release to ensure their own safety.

There is no formal initial assessment. Saying you want to have a go is good enough enough for us. If you are nervous, releasing the pony is always an instant option. If you want to progress, it is up to the user to determine the pace with the helper ensuring the pony's interests are protected. If you want to drive up Rowtor on your own in a wheelchair, this is the vehicle to do it in. It is great fun. Been there, done that, got the T shirt.

The iBex can give users a bit of fresh air, or an extreme cross country challenge, and anything in between. But the choice is theirs. All the options are open, and we will make sure they stay that way.

Training Users

We require no prior assessment of users. Anyone who can get to the location where the pony and iBex are operating, can use the service.

Some users are just naturals, with an instant communication with the pony, ie they can communicate with MY pony better than I can. Some just want to see the scenery. The project can cope with both. With a remote release system, radio controlled, the users can go as far as they like with a helper in sight to supervise.

And if they want to go further, who am I to stop them. A solo trip over Dartmoor is possible. I have disabled friends who drive all over the place, and one who races wheelchairs at perfectly ridiculous speeds. Telling her she can't go out on her own is probably more dangerous than letting her. 

The lady driving the early prototype outside the Double Locks in Exeter was asked to remove this picture from a major horsey website because it was inappropriate to have pictures of disabled people  on the able bodied section of the website as quoted below

I think the OP correctly surmises that this post should be in the "rider's with disabilities" forum. Ari, if you kindly alert your own post and ask the mods to move it so none of us has to make an "alert"?

In photos, one hopes that turnout is suitable for public presentation. 

This comment is one of many that has inspired my work. I don't think the person who wrote the comment had that intention.