Top 10 Blog Posts of 2021
Training, Buying/Selling and Community Apps take Center Stage to Fill the Connected Void
The challenging global health landscape drove innovation and increased tech adoption with equestrians in 2021. The Tech Equestrian saw a 60% increase in site visits year over year from equestrians seeking to learn more about ways to leverage technology in the 16+ categories the blog features. So what were the Big Trends? We saw an increase in training apps and solutions allowing for more access and alternatives to in-person training. In addition, the buying/selling providers grew this year along with more community apps and horse show solutions to make venues safe and efficient in communicating class logistics. Equestrians also wanted to know how to make their barns ‘smarter’ and discovered an easy ‘one-stop shop’ e-commerce vendor dedicated to horses.
We start from the number 10 post and work towards the most read post in 2021 – don’t miss this review of what’s new and what’s next in horse tech and don’t forget there are plenty of providers who are also featured on the right hand side of this page under ‘sort by category’ or visit the ‘Resources’ tab. Stay informed all year with The Tech Equestrian dedicated to delivering: Insights for the Connected Equestrian.
RIDELY App: Your Digital Solution for Training, Tracking and Goal Setting
Ridely, a training app originated in Sweden and recently launched in the US in October last year, now boasts 50,000 video plays and more then 100,000 user-logged rides per month, shared Nicole Graf, US Country Manager. It’s now a complete tool for equestrians, with hundreds of training videos with the world’s best riders in various disciplines from beginner to advanced level. It also incorporates an innovative calendar-based journal where you can keep track of your training and everything around your horse. You can set goals and monitor your progress through photos and video.
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EQUILAB: A Top Tool to Elevate Your Training
“Equilab is designed for riders of all levels – from competition to leisure riders and everything in between,” said Johanna Wingstrand, Marketing Coordinator at Equilab. With currently over 1 million users worldwide, the app has many features including tracking your ride, planning your daily activities, the ability to join an equestrian community, safety tracking, stable chat and more. Not only does the app make it easier to set goals and follow them but it also provides the rider with a deeper understanding for what is happening during the training. This information will build a profile and find patterns in the trainings and alert you to problems that you might not have been aware of.
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Meet Corro: The One Source For All Things Horse
Founded and led by horse people for horse people, Corro is the most dependable shopping destination for all things horse. Corro’s e-commerce platform brings together horse-tested and horse-approved products with transparent pricing, fast shipping, Autoship options, and superior customer service. From stable to saddle, polo wraps to fly spray, Corro is revolutionizing how people shop and find the best product options for them and their horses, and will help streamline any horse shopping routine.
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HORSE MATCH: A Modern Way to Shop for Horses and Essentials
“Searching for my horse was a painful experience,” CEO and co-founder of Horse Match, Summer Gentry shared. “I knew there had to be a better way, especially with so many innovative and easy solutions in the consumer world for all types of purchases and I wanted to create a Tinder (online dating app) for horse shopping,” she said. Launched in January 2021 the app provides a simple, easy solution for buying a horse. “I wanted to make it more fun and much easier for all parties involved with buying and selling,” said Summer.
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The Pegasus App: Your One Source for All Things Equine
“The Pegasus App is first and foremost a social media platform,” explained Jen Tankel, CEO and co-founder. The app is designed solely to bring the community together to organize, share, trade and sell with one another. Leveraging a social media platform, Pegasus' main feature is to provide equestrians a full social media community experience that is exclusive to and designed specifically to service the equine community. It includes popular social features including groups, forums, friends, private messaging etc.
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BRIDL: The Essential Digital Equine Marketplace
Marie Marks, Founder & CEO of Bridl, has made it her goal to offer a solution that allows for a safe, effective, easy and transparent exchange of horse ownership. “I want to ensure that riders, dealers, trainers and those who enjoy equestrian sports – competition horses and horses in general – purchase and sell in such an easy way,” she said. Bridl is becoming the leading tool on the market for equine transactions whether it is for the direct sales or the lease of a high quality sport horse.
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Clinics Pro and Ringside Pro: Tech Tools for the Competitive Equestrian
Clinics Pro launched in the spring of 2020 and given the fact that the pandemic curtailed any type of in-person events, the goal was for equestrians to submit a hunter/jumper video to USEF judges for feedback. “I approached a group of judges I personally know to start the pilot and I uncovered the fact that this was a revenue generator for judges who were sidelined due to lack of live shows,” said founder Emma Fass. Ringside Pro changes the ‘hurry up and wait’ horse show experience which will soon be a thing of the past once Ringside Pro becomes a staple at horse shows. Designed to enable horse show managers to send text messages to exhibitors to keep everyone informed will be a game-changer.
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SMART BARN: Turn your Horses Home into a Technology Enabled Oasis
From the founder and creator of The Equestrian App with over 25,000 global members, Patrick Husting took his smart app model to his barn. “I have all these technologies in my home today that control the lights, security and temperature through cameras and sensors which are all controlled from an LCD screen or my phone and I wanted to extend them to my barn,” shared Patrick. “I took many of the great features that are in The Equestrian App and remodeled them to work for any barn owner that not only has horses, but livestock and to hang it on the barn wall.” You can use a tablet that can control smart devices and it also helps you be more efficient in managing your barn and tasks.
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SHOWASSIST: People-Centered. Show-Driven. Your Digital Horse Show Aide
Launched in July 2020, the free to download ShowAssist app is used at rated hunter jumper horse shows in the US and Equestrian Canada and offers two fee structures for users to post jobs. “There are communication issues in the industry and we are trying to help solve that by connecting owners/trainers/riders with service providers using technology that is specific to their needs,” shared Deidre McAuley-Hayes, co-founder and horse show mom to her daughter, Malachi. “The app also offers service providers flexibility; you can work as much or as little as you want to work.” The goal is to build connections and create a healthy work environment with the use of the app. Matching competitors to service providers at horse shows is now so much easier thanks to ShowAssist.
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3 Best Auto Tracking Cameras for Horse Riding
With auto tracking cameras, it will not only be easy to shoot riding videos — you will also have the opportunity to record training sessions, gather your riding videos, see your progress, and even hold live online lessons with your instructor. This post compared 3 solutions to help you choose which one works the most with your training needs.
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Thank you for following and reading the blog this year!
- Juliana & Faith
Blog post cover photo credit: Andrew Ryback Photography