Kurt Systems’ racehorse training and monitoring vehicle

Turkish racehorse and camel training equipment specialist Kurt Systems has a special mobile racehorse-training vehicle. This mobile race trainer offers a moving enclosure in which a horse can walk, trot or gallop (up to 60kmh) in a controlled environment. The vehicle houses an array of heart, blood, oxygen and fitness monitoring equipment and precision hydraulically controlled accessories, such as a silicone saddle to simulate jockey weights. Performance engineering specialists Roush Technologies built the first groundbreaking bespoke vehicle and the 4-ton diesel -powered machine is brimmed up with innovative and unique vehicle systems. The cabin is spacious and accommodates up to 3 crewmembers. It is mounted rearward of the horse, with a centrally mounted driver’s seat, plus additional seats for a trainer and a veterinary Veterinary medicine specialist. Included in the vehicle systems are12-volt and 240-volt electrical supplies, to power systems such as computerized heart, blood, oxygen and fitness monitoring.

To steer the horse in the same direction as the vehicle, the open fronted stall section of the vehicle needs to be linked to independent hydraulic steering, combined with electronically controlled reins. The reins are enclosed within two forward curving booms on the body structure, controlled by the driver. The chassis and running gear contain a complex, box-section, cross-braced frame, with suspension derived from a Ford F150 series truck. A Volvo 2.4litre, five-cylinder diesel engine powers the vehicle, it drives through a conventional automotive automatic gearbox and is delivered via hub reduction on the rear axle only. Speed is precisely controlled from walking pace up to race conditions, up to a maximum 60kph (16 metres per second). The body of the vehicle is fabricated mainly from GRP and the forward ‘stall’ area enclosed by soft, padded, pneumatically controlled arms, which surround the horse when required.



Source