There was a time when all it took to care for a horse was to provide hay for it to eat and ensure there was plenty of water in its trough. Those days are now gone, with owners taking their horse care responsibilities more seriously.
Here we take a look at how mobile tech solutions are helping owners pamper their beloved ponies and thoroughbreds.
Equilab
Many of the tech systems we highlight here are used by both professional trainers, who prep horses for meets at Aintree or Cheltenham, as well as amateur riders who own just the one trusted steed that they take for occasional canters.
Equilab is one such piece of technology, providing users with all the data and info they need to best look after their horse. This allows pro trainers to track the progress of their thoroughbred racehorses’ training and recovery, as they build up to meets where odds are thrown into the equation by racing enthusiasts and tipsters.
Meanwhile, amateur horse owners, whose beasts will never feature on betting odds lines, can use the app to ensure that their horse is sleeping well at night and getting the exercise they need.
Horse Riding Tracker
Any serious runner or cyclist always keeps track of their training and racing progress on apps like Strava or Zwift, and now horse riders have a product especially for them. Horse Riding Tracker does exactly what it says on the tin, allowing people to track where they have been on their cross-country hacks, monitoring the amount of kilometers covered, calories burned, and the animal’s heart rate.
Nightwatch and Trackener
Wearables are all the rage in sports and fitness, and so it was only a matter of time before the horse world got in on the act.
Trackener is a comfortable and skin-tight sling which is not dissimilar to the ones worn by top football players. The device beams back data to its accompanying app, which gives more insight into whether a horse is stressed, needs something adding to its diet, or requires a visit from the vet.
Nightwatch goes even further, integrating its tracking technology into the traditional tack that horses are used to wearing, like a halter or collar, so a horse is not made uncomfortable by alien looking tack.
If money is no object, then these are the best mobile tech solutions for a horse owner, although it should be said that the free apps they compete against are fast catching up in terms of their capabilities.
