The fundamentals of riding drive our success. As a beginner rider, we spend countless hours learning the basics so we can advance our skills. This training philosophy is also part of the digital training aid called Equestic – a SaddleClip that supports riders in their journey with their horses to enhance their training through data. The Tech Equestrian had a chance to learn more from US Marketing & Development lead, Francesca Toms in a recent interview. 

European Origins
Equestic is headquartered in Sint Anthonis, Netherlands and founded by Leon Rutten, who has a background in dressage. Equestic is a global company and has staff in Europe and the US. “We are available to our users everywhere,” said Francesca. “Our online presence and dedicated staff enable us to focus on our number one goal of supporting our riders and their horses to be more proactive in their training.” 

“What is special about our company is that every single member of our staff is a rider themselves,” shared Francesca. “Our founder, Leon Rutten has an extensive dressage background and has also competed up to 1.45m in show jumping, before switching to eventing and riding through the 2* level.” Leon’s cross-discipline experience has helped develop a product that can be utilized across each discipline.

Equestic was launched in the Netherlands in 2018 and internationally in 2019. The need for a monitoring device came about when Leon’s event horse was rehabbing from an injury. He needed a way to see how the rehabilitation was progressing and couldn’t find a product on the market that satisfied his need. This ultimately spurred the idea and creation of Equestic. 

Practice in Motion
“My background with horses is that I started riding when I was 5 years old and have continued ever since,” Francesca said. “I’m an event rider by origin for 10 years, and I compete regularly.” She adds, “I have always found horses to be incredible and any way we can support them is essential to further our training in a positive direction.” She finds that Equestic is an ideal tool to help equestrians in their journey with their horses by using the data to aid in their training outcomes.

The SaddleClip is designed for riders from many types of disciplines. “The majority of riders are in the disciplines of dressage, eventing, and show jumping but we also have Western equitation, trail riders, endurance, and others.”

Perform with Care
The goal of the SaddleClip is to be tuned into training with care as a rider. “It is difficult for riders to sometimes determine what exactly they are doing during a training session, as the human brain cannot track in the same way that a data device can,” she cited. “We often overcompensate with our training by going one direction more and this can cause injuries from improper symmetrical development. Also, changes in rhythm and impulsion can often be early signs of an injury, so we are tuned in to help detect these small changes.” The tool can’t specifically tell you if your horse has an injury or not, but it can help identify potential problems and provide the data for the rider to further investigate. “The overall goal of the SaddleClip is to provide riders a digital tool to monitor their training in a new way and to help them to implement proper training for their horse. Our mission statement is ‘Perform with Care’, and we very much stand behind this statement as we want the best for horses and their riders,” stated Francesca.

Top Features of the Equestic SaddleClip are: 

• Overall symmetry on push-off landing and rhythm evaluation through trend

• Left versus right directions and how much time is spent on each

• Time spent on a circle versus straight

• Duration spent training each gait

• Number of transitions made and which ones

• Impulsion throughout the training and trend over longer time

• Rhythm stability for specific training and trend over longer time

• Number of jumps during a training

• Ride logging/tracking

• Notifications when the trend significantly changes (detection of a potential injury)

User Feedback
“We have some very well-known riders using the product that have gained insight into the training with their horses.” Those include George Williams – Olympic level Dressage rider and USDF President/USEF High Performance Dressage Coach, Kimmy Cecere – 4* Eventing rider, Andrew McConnon – 4* Eventing rider, Amanda Perkowski – Grand Prix rider for Helgstrand Dressage, Callie Jones – U25 Grand Prix Dressage rider, and Amanda Gomez – Grand Prix level Show Jumper. 

“We have many users that have seen the difference the Equestic SaddleClip makes for them. We have over 600 reviews on Trustpilot, the most of any sensor on the market today.”

The reviews have been shown that all the features have been helpful in different ways, read examples below:

“...The SaddleClip has helped keep my training consistent as my horse and I transition to a new training structure overseas. My favorite feature is the direction tab, which gives me real time feedback about which direction I am training more, as well as how many jumps I’ve jumped. Equestic gives me confidence in my program for the young ones as well as my seasoned partners.”
- Kimmy Cecere, 4* Event Rider

“The Equestic SaddleClip has been a valuable tool in my daily training with my horse, Finn! I have been incorporating bended lines in the warmup phase to work on symmetrical balance to the left and right. Before using the SaddleClip I was training more to the right resulting in a weak left side, but since using the SaddleClip I have been using the data to train more effectively and have improved the rhythm, push off and landing symmetry!”
- Callie Jones, U25 Grand Prix dressage rider

“Overall, the clip has been able to help me clearly define where I should focus my horses in the goal of making them gymnastically even and symmetrical. I have always known my horse Sonata to be a bit stronger on the left rein, and the analysis of the clip has been spot on in diagnosing this. It has shown so far that she lands 5% harder on her left diagonal pair than her right, making sense of the feeling I have in the contact.”
- Amanda Perkowski, Grand Prix dressage rider 

Product Positioning
There are similar products on the market today, however, the difference with Equestic is that it is focused on user-friendly functionality. The app interface was designed to be easy to interpret and action on. The Clip-Ride-Go mechanism of the SaddleClip interferes less with the horse and rider physically and allows them to conduct their ride as naturally as possible. The benefit of the SaddleClip is that it is small, mobile, and easy to charge. The charge lasts for 6-8 rides and the SaddleClip itself is water-resistant making it a good choice for a variety of conditions. 

Horse Tech Advancements
“I think we are going to see more and more technological devices come into play. There are several on the market, but some are easier to use than others.” Horse sport can be very difficult, and it helps to make sure your horse is always at their peak for the tasks you are asking them to do. “Data and a proper team to interpret the data is key,” mentioned Francesca. “I believe we will see more advancements through devices and a simple device like the Equestic SaddleClip provides the visibility and advantage of measurement.”

“In the future, I think we will see a bigger emphasis on using data tracking for areas like dressage and eventing competitions in addition to equitation because there will be a bigger emphasis on making sure horses are performing their best. I think data trackers will become more common like owning iPhones!” said Francesca.

Equestic at Top Events
In the near future, Equestic will be at the Mid-Atlantic Dressage Festival (MADFEST) & Lexington CDI2* in Lexington, VA May 19-22, in addition to numerous eventing competitions along the East Coast. 

Follow Equestic on:
Instagram @equestic
Facebook: @equestic