Of all my traditional training tools, I always end up practicing with the horse bench. My sifu would not let men touch another weapon until we could perform the form to his satisfaction. He always stressed its importance.
Arm/wrist strengthening -(i'm telling you....try swinging this thing around. or try sitting in a parallel horse stance and grab the bench by the bottom of two legs and hold it out in front of you arms parallel.)
coordination - used both as a long range weapon and short with kicks, dives, rolls and rolling the bench across your shoulders.
history - intro for young students into chinese tea ceremonies and ettiqute(sp?)
I just wanted to see if other KF people used the horse bench and wondered if it was such a large part of training.