There are tons and tons of fitness tracking apps out there, but the one that I can’t live without for my riding is Equilab. Equilab is an app for iOS and Android that allows you to track your rides, see how long you spent in each gait, see trends, keep track of training for multiple horses, and also has social features so you can collaborate with your barn and plan rides. It also has a safety feature that allows you to send your ride to emergency contacts so they know that you are safe.
I’ve been using Equilab for a while now and I absolutely love it. I use it on 95% of my rides (sometimes I don’t bother because we’re just hacking around and having a fun ride, so I don’t use it then unless I’m trying to just keep track of how long we’ve been riding) so I thought I would write about it and share it with others.
After downloading Equilab, you can make your own profile, add your stable, and add horses. Adding your stable is great if you’re at a boarding facility because it gives you access to social features with other Equilab riders that are at your same stable. I’ve never used these social features because no one else at the boarding stable we were in last year had this app, so I can’t speak much about them. But from the information on their website, they seem useful!
One of my favorite features of Equilab is the ability to add multiple horses. You can see in the screenshot above that I have both Glory and Raven in my Equilab so that I can track which horse I’m riding and what I’ve done with each one.
When you add a horse, you can set a photo for them, set their name, breed, gender, and more. You can also turn on the “Share With Stable” option, which shares this horse’s information with anyone in your stable. You can add notes which are shared with the stable members as well (a great way to share any changes to your horse’s feeding regiment!). If more than one person rides this horse, you can add a rider in the horse’s profile after setting it up. Then that rider can track their information on that horse and see their own trends.
Once you have your own profile and a horse set up, you’re ready to start riding! If you don’t see the screen on your app, you can tap on the “Start” option down on the bottom right of the screen, and that will bring up the screen in the above image. If GPS is on, you’ll automatically see a map of the area you’re in. To change horses, simply tap on where the horse’s name and photo is shown and select which horse you’re working with. Then, in the area directly to the right of the horse’s name, you can tap to select what type of riding you’ll be doing.
There are a TON of options for the type of training that you’re doing, even more than would fit in the screenshot I took. Select the one that fits for today’s ride and tap “Done” to go back to the Start screen.
Once you’re all set up, you just tap on the large green “Start Riding” button, put your phone in a tight-fitting pocket, and enjoy your ride! The app tracks how long you’ve been riding, and how much time you spend in each gait. It can even show you a map of your ride, as well! Once you’re done, take your phone back out and tap the button to Stop the ride. Then you can add notes, track the rider performance and horse performance, and even track the type of footing your rode on.
Above is a saved ride I did on Glory. You can go back to your previous rides and get a breakdown of your gaits, how many strides your horse took, your speed, and even how many calories you burned! The app will also show you a map of that ride. (You can see in the one above that I rode back up to the barn once we were done in the arena!)
The main Start screen also has a button with a “+” symbol in it that allows you to manually enter a ride in another screen, so if you forget to turn your app on but you know what you did for your ride, you can enter it later.
Also on the Start screen is the safety tracking option. This is so, so valuable for anyone who rides alone, especially if you’re out in fields or on a trail. When Safety Tracking is on, your location is shared with the safety contacts you’ve set. Those contacts can follow your ride and know when you’ve safely gotten home.
So that’s my brief overview of Equilab! I don’t use it to its full capabilities, but it’s one of my favorite apps. I use the ride tracking all the time so that my best friend and I will know how long we’ve been riding for and so I can track my progress on Glory’s fitness and stamina.
What’s your favorite horse-related app? Let me know and I’ll check it out!
