Abstract:
The apparatus has a circulating moveable cable. The cable runs around a drive cable pulley and a guide cable pulley. Several gates are suspended from the cable. These gates are mounted to the cable by coupling units. In operation the gates abut the horses from behind and induce the animals to walk forwards.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     Applicant Claims Priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119 of German Application 20 2004 007 167.3, Filed May 5, 2004.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a apparatus for walking specifically horses, having a plurality of moveable movement inducing units adapted to act onto the animals in order to cause these animals to move forwards, which movement inducing units are coupled to a conveying apparatus.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     It is generally known that for instance horses should not be let to stand for a prolonged time space relatively unmovable in a stable because when standing such a long time in the same place their physical health will be impaired.  
         [0006]     In order to counter such a situation apparatuses for walking for instance horses have been developed which conventionally are designed as a carousel and have a wheel with a large diameter and a vertical axis. The horses to be moved, that is walked are coupled to the wheel and the wheel is thereafter made to rotate so that the horses walk along a circular path, that is, must walk. It is also possible to have gate-like guiding grids mounted to such a wheel. Such horse walking apparatuses are disclosed e.g. by the DE-A-28 52 777, DE-C-39 35 142, DE-C-197 46 562 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,919. The EP-B-0 146 604 discloses a training course for animals in which mobile units move along a rigid guide.  
         [0007]     Due to the continuous walking of the animals along a circular path the joints of the legs will be, however, continuously strained in a non-uniform manner which leads to a damages of the physical health. A training course with guides and individual mobile units is quite intricate and costly.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Hence, it is a general object of the invention to provide a apparatus for walking specifically horses which allows a largely uniform loading of the joints.  
         [0009]     A further object of the invention is to provide a apparatus for walking specifically horses which comprises a circulating moveable cable which is supported by at least two cable pulleys located of a distance from each other, which movement inducing units are coupled b means of respective coupling units to the cable which is adapted to serve as supporting means and also as driving means for mentioned movement inducing units, and of which cable pulleys at least one is connected to and adapted to be driven by the drive motor. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]     The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a simplified perspective view of a horse walking apparatus according to the invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the horse walking apparatus illustrated in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the horse walking apparatus illustrated in  FIG. 1 , without the building;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a cross-section through the horse walking apparatus illustrated in  FIG. 1  with the building;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a section through the clamping means of the coupling unit;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a view of a guide-like designed gate;  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  illustrates a detail of the drive of a cable pulley;  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is a simplified view of a tensioning device of a cable pulley; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  illustrates cable supporting rollers arranged in a rocker. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]     The conveying apparatus of the illustrated horse walking apparatus comprises basically a circulating cable  1 . This cable  1  is supported by two cable pulleys located at a distance from each other, namely a drive cable pulley  2  and a guide cable pulley  3 .  
         [0021]     A building  4  is indicated in  FIG. 1  by broken lines, see hereto  FIG. 4 , in which building the above-mentioned components are located.  
         [0022]     The drive cable pulley  2  is driven by a motor  5 , it could be driven by various drive transmitting members; in the preferred embodiment. The drive shaft  6  of the motor  5  is mounted to a wheel  7  having a tire ( FIG. 7 ). The drive cable pulley  3  has a outer circumferential ring  33 . The tire wheel  7  about this outer circumferential ring  33  is thus in a frictional engagement with the outer circumferential ring  33 , conclusively the drive cable pulley  2  is driven by the motor  5  wherewith the cable  1  is moved in a circulating manner. The direction of movement of the cable  1  is identified for the one of its section by the arrow  8  and for the other one by the arrow  9 .  
         [0023]     Several movement inducing means in form of a grid-like gate  10  are suspended from the cable  1 . These gates  10  are connected through coupling units  11  to the cable  1 .  
         [0024]     Each coupling unit  11  includes a C-shaped bracket portion  12 . A claming device  13  is arranged at the end of the bracket portion  12  located adjacent the cable  1 . This clamping device  13  has a first clamping plate  14  which can be moved by a threaded clamping bolt  15  against a second clamping plate  16  so that the cable  1  is clamped between the two clamping plates  15 ,  16 . The C-shaped bracket portion  12  is pivotally mounted to the second clamping plate  16  and rotatable in a direction perpendicularly to the direction of movement  8  and  9 , respectively of the cable  1 .  
         [0025]     The gates  10  are pivotally mounted through a pivot pin  18  to the C-shaped bracket portion  12  at the end of the coupling unit  11  remote from the cable  1 . The pivot axis of the pivot pin  18  extends in the direction of movement  8  and  9 , respectively of the cable  1 .  
         [0026]     The guide cable pulley  3  is supported in a supporting frame  19  displaceable in a direction  20  which coincides with the direction of movement  8  and  9 , respectively of the cable  1 . To this end the guide cable pulley  3  is supported in a sliding block  21  which is arranged in a track-like fashion in a elongate supporting beam  22 .  
         [0027]     The sliding block  21  is connected to a cable  23  which runs around a cable pulley  24  and carries a weight  25 . By means of this weight  25  the cable  1  is held taut. The tension of the cable  1  can be adjusted by a adding or removing of individual weight units.  
         [0028]     It is to be noted that the illustration in  FIG. 8  is extremely simplified, because the cable  23  could be placed around several further (not illustrated) cable pulleys or guide pulleys.  
         [0029]     The cable  1  is additionally supported by supporting rollers  26 ,  27 . Several pairs of such cable supporting rollers  26 ,  27  are installed, whereby every supporting roller pair  26 ,  27  is arranged in a rocker  28 . Every rocker  28  is supported in a support  30  in a manner that it can rotate around a rocker axis  29  extending perpendicularly to the direction of movement  8  and  9 , respectively of the cable  1 .  
         [0030]     The apparatus comprises thus a horse walking path which is determined by the course of the cable  1 . Walking path defining belts  31 ,  34  are arranged at both sides of this walking path, in order to keep the horses from sideways deviating from this walking path.  
         [0031]     The gate  10  is of a grid-like design. As grid a grid composed of metal wires can be used, which wires are connected to a source of a electrical discharge, so that, when necessary and analogue to enclosures of cow pastures by electrically charged wires, a horse can be incited to walk.  
         [0032]     The embodiment described and illustrated in the Figures includes only two cable pulleys  2 ,  3 . However, also designs having three, four or more pulleys are foreseen, so that a apparatus with quite large dimension is possible, so that a given walkway caw have a length of several 100 meters. Such a walkway can be of a arbitrary shape, e.g. in case of three cable pulleys of a triangular shape or with four cable pulleys of a square shape.  
         [0033]     While there is shown and described a present preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced with the scope of the claims. Thus, the disclosed apparatus can also be applied e.g. for walking racing camels.