The best apps for horse owners and riders

Horse apps by job

Search "apps for horse owners" and you get long lists in no order. Sort by job instead. Pick the job you need done, then try one app for it.

Ride tracking apps

A ride tracking app records your ride with the phone's GPS. You get a map, distance, time and speed. The better ones also split the ride by gait, so you can see how long you walked, trotted and cantered.

Equilab

Equilab is the best-known horse riding app for tracking. It runs on iPhone and Android. It records the route, splits time by gait, and keeps a log of every ride for each horse. Riders use it for conditioning, to keep a young horse's workload steady, or to learn how far the Sunday loop really is.

Strava

Strava is a general fitness tracker, but it lists horseback riding as an activity type. Pick it if you already use Strava for running or cycling and want everything in one place. You lose the gait breakdown. You keep the maps, the activity feed and the friends who already follow you.

What to look for in any app for horse riders that tracks rides:

• Works with no signal. Most trails have none. The app should record the whole ride and upload later.
• Battery use. A long ride on full GPS can drain a phone. Check how it handles a three-hour ride before you count on it.
• Logs per horse, if you ride more than one.
• Privacy settings for where your rides start and end. More on that below.

Barn and health record apps

A horse management app replaces the barn binder: feed, farrier, vaccines, deworming, dental, vet visits and Coggins. The job is simple. Put each horse's history in one place and get a reminder before the next thing is due.

Horse Report System and BarnManager

Horse Report System is built for exactly this. Each horse gets a profile with health and care records and reminders. BarnManager does the same for a whole barn, with records shared among the people who care for the horses. Both suit boarding barns, trainers and owners with several horses.

A plain notes app

If you have one horse, the notes app already on your phone may be enough. Make one note per horse. Keep a running list with the farrier's last visit, the last vaccines, the deworming schedule and the vet's number. Set phone reminders for the next farrier visit and the next shots. It is not pretty, but it is backed up, searchable and never gets shut down.

What a barn management app should do:

• One page per horse, with photos and a short description.
• Feed by meal, with supplements and any changes noted.
• Farrier, vet, dental and deworming history, each with a reminder for the next visit.
• Vaccination records and Coggins results you can show at a trailhead or a show.
• Sharing with your barn manager, trainer or horse sitter, with limits on what they can change.
• Export. Your records should leave with you if you change apps or barns.

Weather and footing

Riders check weather more than most people. Rain changes footing, heat changes how long you ride, and lightning ends the ride. A radar app answers "can I fit in a ride before that storm?" better than a daily forecast does.

MyRadar and Windy both show live radar and hourly rain. The National Weather Service site works on any phone and gives hourly forecasts by location. Turn on lightning alerts if your app has them. For footing, the last 24 hours of radar tells you whether the arena or the trail got rain overnight.

Finding trails

AllTrails lets you filter trails for horseback riding and read recent reviews from other riders. Look for notes on trailer parking, water crossings and gates. Then check the park's own site for the current rules. Many parks keep horses to marked trails or close them when wet.

Learning apps and resources

Learning apps replace the lesson you cannot get to this week. They do not replace an instructor who can see your horse.

• USEF Learning Center. The US Equestrian Federation's video library on riding, horse care and competition, across many disciplines.
• USDF e-TRAK. The United States Dressage Federation's online education library. Useful well beyond dressage for flatwork basics.
• YouTube. Search a trainer's name plus the problem. Stick to trainers with a real track record and watch more than one opinion.
• Audio lessons. Apps such as Ride iQ play a trainer's voice through earbuds while you ride. Keep one ear open and the volume low on the trail.
• Event streaming. ClipMyHorse.TV and Horse & Country stream shows and clinics. Watching good riders for a full class teaches more than clips do.

Tack shopping

Most used tack moves through Facebook groups and general marketplaces such as eBay. There is no one app to install here. What matters is how you use them. Ask for measurements, not just photos. A saddle listing needs the tree width and seat size. A blanket needs the chest-to-tail measurement. Pay through a method that lets you dispute a charge, and pick up locally when you can.

Finding riding partners and horse friends

This is the job most horse apps skip. Ride trackers have activity feeds, and some have a community tab. They are built around your own rides, not around meeting people. Local Facebook groups work, but posts sink fast and you cannot search by what people want.

What to look for in an app for finding riders:

• Profiles that show the horse, not just the person. A steady trail horse and a green four-year-old need different buddies.
• A way to say what you want: trail company, barn friends, a weekday-evening riding buddy, or a breeder to talk to.
• Distance you control, from the next barn over to the whole state.
• A chat that opens only when both people are interested, so your inbox stays quiet.
• Clear rules on photos, location and reporting.

PawOrPass

Pip 12

Welsh pony · Bend, OR

Every ride gets logged. Looking for weekend trail company at a walk.

• Trail rides
• Barn friends

Sample profile

PawOrPass is an upcoming swipe app where every profile is an animal, horses included. It is coming soon to iPhone and Android. You make a profile for your horse, then paw horses near you and pass on the rest. When a rider paws back, it is a match and a chat opens. Riders use matches to find trail company, barn friends, or breeders to connect with. You can browse without a horse of your own and add one later. Read how it works for horses on PawOrPass, or start with the guide to finding a trail riding partner.

How to pick a horse app

• Name the one job first. "Track rides" or "remember the farrier" beats "manage my horse life."
• Check it runs on your phone. Most apps above are on both iPhone and Android, but read the store listing.
• Try it on one real ride or one real week of chores before you pay for anything.
• Look for export. You should be able to get your rides and records out as a file.
• Read the last few months of reviews, not the overall rating. Apps change hands and go quiet.
• Check the privacy policy for what happens to your location. See the next section.
• Count the subscriptions. Three apps at a few dollars a month add up to a bag of feed. Keep the ones you open every week.

Your barn, your location, your data

Horse apps ask for more personal data than most apps. A ride tracker records where you keep your horse and when you are usually away from the barn. A barn app holds vet records and sometimes registration numbers. Check these before you give any app your barn and location.

• Location permission. Allow it only while using the app, never always. A ride tracker needs GPS during the ride and not at 2 a.m.
• Ride maps. Set rides to private by default. If you share routes, hide the start and end so the map does not point at your barn.
• Who sees your records. Shared barn records should have roles. The horse sitter does not need to edit the vet history.
• Account deletion. The app should let you delete your account and data from inside the app or on a web page. PawOrPass has a delete account page for that reason.
• Data sharing. Read the privacy policy for the word "partners." If your location goes to advertisers, pick another app.
• Photos. Photos can carry location data. Most apps strip it on upload, but a photo texted to a stranger may not be stripped.

On PawOrPass, "near you" means the city you type in. The app does not ask for device location, so there is nothing to track. The privacy policy lists what is collected.