Complex sentence: The new apparatus is more stable, wider, and longer than the older vaulting horse--approximately 1m in length and 1m in width--giving gymnasts a larger blocking surface, and is therefore considered safer than the vaulting horse used in the past.
Split into simpler sentences: The new apparatus is more stable, wider, and longer than the older vaulting horse, approximately 1 m in length and 1 m in width, giving gymnasts a larger blocking surface. This apparatus is thus considered safer than the vaulting horse used in the past.