Toy riding apparatus

A toy riding apparatus, comprising:

• rider bearing means for bearing a rider during a riding motion;
• base means, said base means including support means extending upwardly from said base means for supporting said rider bearing means;
• and
• suspension means for suspending said rider bearing means from said support means, said suspension means including a plurality of elastomeric band means which are connected between said rider bearing means and said support means.

A rocking horse, comprising:

• a base made of blow-molded plastic, said base including an integral step and four support posts extending upwardly from said base, each of said support posts having a plurality of vertically spaced holes therein;
• a rider support device shaped like a horse, said rider support device including a body made of roto-molded plastic and a saddle made of roto-molded plastic, said saddle having a thinner wall thickness than said body;
• four support device pins attached to said support device at spaced locations thereon;
• four support post pins, each of said support post pins extending into one of said holes in one of said support posts, respectively;
• four elastomeric bands, each of said bands including two spaced retaining sections on either end of said band which each have a hole therethrough, two spaced elastic band sections which extend between said retaining sections, and a web section which extends between said retaining sections and said band sections, said retaining sections being made of a first rubber and said band sections and said web section being made of a second rubber, said first rubber being harder than said second rubber, said retaining sections being thicker, in a first direction defined by the axes of said holes, than said band sections, and said band sections being thicker in said first direction than said web section;
• wherein one of said support device pins and one of said support post pins extend through said holes of said retaining sections of each one of said bands, such that each of said bands is rotatably connected to said rider support device and one of said support posts, and said rider support device is thereby elastically suspended from said support posts by said bands.