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Kim Whitelegg puts Daphne the Friesian horse through her paces.
A Matakana equestrian centre has just installed a new high-tech European water treadmill for horses that is only the second of its kind in New Zealand.
The $200,000 Horse Gym 2000 Aquatrainer was imported and installed at Stable88 in Leigh Road by engineers from Germany and is used to improve horses’ fitness with minimum strain on their joints.
Horses are led into the large sealed glass box and on to its non-slip rubber treadmill, which they then walk on as water gradually fills the device up to a maximum of just over one metre. Walking in the water makes the horses lift their legs more, strengthens their backs and improves fitness generally.
Business partners Michelle Amery and Kim Whitelegg decided to import the Aquatrainer as part of the horse rehabilitation and fitness services they offer after seeing it in Europe and realising there was nothing like it locally.
“Things like this were unheard of 10 years ago in New Zealand, and not really heard of in the UK, but Germany and the Netherlands have had them for a long time,” Kim says. “There’s only one other in New Zealand, in Hamilton, where they do a lot with the racing industry. We’re a bit more boutique here, and we get a lot of eventers and dressage horses.”
Michelle says that with 38 per cent of the NZ equine population in Auckland and the north, there’s definitely a market for state-of-the-art horse health facilities, and they are already getting referrals from vets.
As well as the Aquatrainer, Stable 88 has also imported a Vitafloor vibrating floor – a stationary treadmill which is used to stimulate blood circulation and hoof growth – and a horse solarium that can warm up back muscles, help disperse lactic acid after exercise or dry horses off quickly in winter.
“When we built this place, it was always with a view as to how we coudl provide the absolute best facilities, to support horses to do the job they’re doing for us, Michelle says. “Every horse owner knows what it’s like to pin your hopes on this partner you have got, and when they’re unsound, it’s tragic.”
As well as using the water treadmill and other facilities for their own and clients’ horses, Michelle and Kim can also import them if other stables or equestrian centres want their own.
“We’ve got the distribution rights for a number of products,” Michelle says. “But we only sell what we have used here and love ourselves.”
She adds that, once they’ve got used to the water treadmill and vibrating floor, horses love getting their high tech fitness fix.
