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Michelle Cogger and Metal Mickey.

Contact : 0780 308 5866

He’s the perfect horse. For children. For beginners. For advanced international professionals. For show jumpers. For eventers. For smooth, ultra-cool dressage competitors. For the young. For the old. For handicapped and disabled riders. For the short. For the tall. He’ll even look after your average Happy Hacker.

Metal Mickey >>

He’s a horse simulator aka Metal Mickey, a specially designed and built life-size, 15 hh mechanical riding horse.

“He is really perfect in every way,” says Michelle Cogger, 27, one of his designers, owner and groom. For Metal Mickey even has real life horse’s hair for his mane and tail.

“He’ll do practically everything a real horse will do. Except he’s 100-per-cent safe. On a real horse the rider is always worrying about riding as well as what the horse may or may not do. With Metal Mickey you only have to worry about your own riding position and technique.

“The other big advantage is that the trainer is standing next to you. Not in the middle of a school or training area. If you’re not sitting upright, the trainer can not only tell you but also show you exactly how to improve your posture, how to straighten up , how not to collapse your tummy and so on.

“If you’re putting too much weight on one part of the horse, she can show you how to adjust your position. If your leg is not straight, she can help you to stretch your leg .This helps you to stretch your inner thigh and open up your hips helping you to keep the weight in your heels”

Metal Mickey, however, is not an equine armchair. He can walk, do a working trot and a collected trot as well as a working canter and a collected canter. His reins are also so sensitive he can even respond to half-halts . But be careful you don’t grip with your legs or he might run off with you!

Unlike real horses, he also has an emergency stop button so that if the rider is suddenly nervous and wants him to immediately stop whatever he is doing, he stops. Michelle has had simulators for almost ten years. She first had the idea of creating her own real-life mechanical horse when she was 18 years old.

She first started riding real-life horses, however, when she was just three-years-old.

“I was born in London but my parents thought the country would be a better place to bring up children so we moved when I was three. The house came with a couple of fields so after a handful of lessons years previously my mum bought herself and my brother a horse. I soon started spending all my time down the stables and begged mum to buy me one. We soon made a deal that if I did the water for six weeks without moaning she would buy me my own pony. I don’t think it was the full six weeks but she bought me a pony called Blue.

“Horses soon took over my mothers and my own life with all the shows we could get dressage sj xc ode and pony club team events and the 100’s of lessons. I’m so grateful to my mother for her time and dedication in helping me be the best I could.

Michelle Cogger with Bagheera >>

“My best horse was a bull fighter from Spain called Quijote, she was my favourite because despite having such a terrible start in life being gored by a bull ,having to retire, losing a foal and being retrained as a dressage horse she is still such a kind honest horse and so willing to please.

“We were very successful in our competitions reaching inter 1 together.

“Quijote has fans in high places. Jill Day head of trainers in the BD absolutely adores her. Stephen Clarke used us for his lecture demos and told me if we ever had the chance to have a foal to grab it with both hands. David Hunt bought her to England “

“I had the opportunity to do an embryo transfer with Quijote and Bagheera was born .She’s rising two now. “I have had lots of horses in between Blue and Bagheera .Each one I have had a lot of fun with and success along the way”

In addition to Metal Mickey, who is based at Hammerwood, East Grinstead, Michelle has two other simulators at her home near Stanstead Airport.She gives lessons and training sessions to average as well as advanced and professional riders. She also does a lot of work with disabled and handicapped riders.

Some days she is giving lessons as early as 5.30 am. Other days she is working as late as 11 pm.

So will you and your simulators turn an average rider into an Olympic champion?

“No,” says Michelle. “ For that you need the money for a quality horse but he will make an average rider an effective rider – and a safe rider.”

What more could you ask? Michelle Cogger Michelle's two horses, the grey and the chestnut, are now for sale. For details etc, please contact her direct on 0780 308 5866.