For the majority of us, our everyday lives are becoming more and more reliant upon smartphones and the Apps they contain. Pairing market leading software with innovative physical gadgets, the equestrian world is keeping pace with the rest of society when it comes to utilising the incredible advances in technologies.   

Emily Mumford from Inkpot & Press set out to find out more about what’s hot on the market right now, so here are a few of those apps and gadgets that we thought you might like:

 

Orscana

Orscana is a connected sensor that you can attach to all rug types. It analyses movement (time spent lying down, eating, moving both in and out of the stable) temperature underneath the rug and detects the moisture levels. 

By analysing your horse’s activity levels and combining that with information from local weather reports, Oscana can even give you advice on which type of rug to put on your horse. 

The Orscana App is free to download on Apple and Android devices and is available in 5 languages: French, English, Spanish, German, and Dutch.

 

 

 

 

The Equilab App

The Equilab App automatically tracks your horse’s movements and presents the information it gathers in an easy to understand format allowing you to analyse your training patterns and progress.

You can add your yard and horses and connect with your friends, trainer, vet, farrier etc. With an in-built calendar you can keep your equestrian activities organised and it even has the functionality to share your live position with others while you are out riding. 

1 month, 6 month and 12 month subscription options are available.   Equilab is available on Android and Apple and is Apple Watch compatible.

 

 

 

Seaver Girths and Girth Sleeve

Seaver have created a number of girths and girth attachments that allow you to monitor your horse’s physical data. This includes measuring their heart rate, calories burned, the way they move, their cadence, how long they spend in each gait and on each lead and even the symmetry of their trot during exercise. 

It allows you to measure the distance your horse has travelled and it’s speed in real time, the angle and trajectory of your horse’s jump over show jumps and solid cross country fences and even measures hindleg strength on take off and the energy absorbed by each leg on landing. 

The girth sleeves start at £299 and the accompanying app is free to download and compatible with both Android and Apple devices.

(Credit  Steph Dowle).

 

 What3Words

A countryside essential in our book, What3Words helps you to find, share and navigate to any location in the world precisely.  The What3Words team have given every 3m x 3min of the World a unique 3-word address.

You can use the app to share your exact location with others even when there isn’t an obvious address. Particularly important when out hacking in the middle of nowhere, What3Words is now used by the UK Emergency Services as a recognised way of navigating to people who may be in difficulty wherever they are in the country. 

Available both online and as an app (on Android and Apple) What3Words is free to download.

 

 

 

 

The EquiBioSafe App

Is your go to, to keep on top of vaccination courses/next vaccinations due as well as for relevant and recent disease information and the vaccination requirements for broodmares and stallions. 

Particularly relevant today the EquiBioSafe App will provide reliable advice on equine disease control, wherever you are. The comprehensive biosecurity section covers how to minimize contagious disease risk with practical advice on management of horses, staff, visitors and the environment whilst providing checklists for dealing with sick horses. 

The App is free and available on Apple devices. 

 

 

 

 

The Laminitis App

“Laminitis” the smartphone App provides horse owners with a practical tool to help monitor weather conditions in a way that can be used to warn when grazing on grass poses an increased risk to horses prone to laminitis. 

Local weather conditions are monitored and are used to predict the rise and fall of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC’s) in grass.  When the predicted NSC’s increase, this is shown as a rise in risk. 

Laminitis is available on both Android and Apple Devices and costs £6.99

 

 

 

The CrossCountry App

The perfect aid to help you memorise your Cross Country route and to help you ride it to time.  The App is available on both Android and Apple device, there is the free Lite version where you can view cross country course maps with photos, video and audio.  Take an interactive course walk with course designers and top riders of the world’s greatest cross country courses. 

The paid version costs £14.99 and creates an equestrian course map with GPS.  Add in jumps with photos, videos, text and voice comments and automatic minute markers.  Helps event riders visualise and plan their ride and ride to time. 

Excellent design makes this app a pleasure to use.  Used by novice riders to Olympians, no mobile phone connection or internet needed to record or view once a course is downloaded. 

Many other features make this the ideal choice for cross country riders.

 

 

The Pixem Robot

Your very own auto-follow indoor or outdoor cameraman with a range of 100m, a fully automatic zoom and an unrivalled accuracy when recording videos of you riding without anyone needing to be there with you. 

The accompanying Pixem App is free to download on Android and Apple and allows your Pixem Robot to control your iPhone or iPad camera. 

From £695 www.movensee.com

 

 

 

 

 

Equivisions Wrist Speaker

Equivisions could be the ideal solution to playing your dressage to music, audio tests, podcasts, playlists and radio whilst riding! 

The speaker is no bigger than a large watch and is lightweight so it doesn’t weigh your wrist down or affect your position.   The Equivisions Speaker is Bluetooth compatible so you can pair it with any Bluetooth device including your phone. 

From £35.00 and includes a Micro SD Card, USB adapter and charging cable.

 

 

 

 

 

Dressage TestPro

To call out dressage tests while training. Whether you learn your British Dressage Tests by drawing them in the air, walking around in an arena in your sitting room, listening to recordings or watching tests, TestPro has it covered. 

Developed in collaboration with British Dressage, the Dressage TestPro App presents all of the British Dressage Tests in one place. Allowing you to focus on learning specific movements, run through a whole test, see the overall shape of a test, listen to a run-through of your test and even do a 10 second tap through just before you enter the arena.   

Subscriptions are available and the App offers the flexibility to either pay monthly or yearly (at a discount) to the test packs you would like.

 

 

 

 

Equisense Motion S

Ideal for riders with a methodological approach to work and training who want to measure the heart rate and fitness of their horse, as well as tracking their hacks and learning new training techniques. 

Through its ingenious and ergonomic smart-textile electrode system, Equisense Motion S gives riders the possibility to measure their horse’s heart rate and intensity of work during training.Fastened at the girth, the sensor connects via Bluetooth to a mobile app that records and analyses your data.

Measuring heart rate, training intensity, calories burned and recovery time, the Equisense Motion S works alongside the Equisense App which is packed full of training exercises, an equestrian calendar and training portfolio which you can share with your vet, physiotherapist, trainer and anyone else involved in your horses fitness and training regimes.  Motion S from £360.00.

Huufe by Harry Hall

Offering horse riders and their connections peace of mind when out hacking alone, the Safe Ride feature means an automatic alert is sent to your chosen contact if your phone is still while recording a ride. It gives real peace of mind for you and your family if you ride alone. 

As well as the Safe Ride feature Huufe allows you to track your rides, create a profile, browse and post classified ads, watch training videos whatever your discipline, build horse and stable management profiles and earn Huufe Coins which can be spent on a variety of things from leading equestrian brands.  Huufe is free to download on both Android and Apple devices but the Premium Subscription gives you additional rider safety features.