iPhone · iOS 15 and later

Horse Rider

Horse Rider is a working iPhone app for the person who does the yard as well as the riding. Everything it holds — the horses, their records, the farrier log, the feed chart, the rides you have tracked — stays on the phone rather than on somebody else’s server, and the app can be put behind its own PIN.

The screen that justifies the app is the feet. A vaccination lapses once a year and the vet writes to you; the farrier is due every six weeks, nobody writes, and a fortnight over is a horse long in the toe with a shoe about to come off in the field. One card per horse: shod or barefoot, the cycle it is on, when it is next due, and the log behind that. The due date is arithmetic on the visits that actually reset the cycle, so a lost shoe tacked back on last Tuesday does not buy another six weeks. Costs sit on the rows, and the card totals the last twelve months — the largest predictable cost of keeping a horse, and a number nobody can otherwise produce.

The feed chart exists because somebody else reads it. It is grouped into morning, midday, evening and late night, the amount sits to the left of the feed name because that is the thing being measured out, and a note like “soak for fifteen minutes” sits on the line it belongs to rather than in a block at the bottom. Amounts are words — one scoop, half a Stubbs, two slices — because nothing on a yard is weighed. Copy a chart onto another horse and adjust the one thing that differs.

The tack room is about the saddle. A saddle is fitted to a horse at one moment in that horse’s life and the horse then changes shape; a saddle that fitted in March is a pressure point in September, and the horse reports it by napping, which gets read as behaviour. So each piece carries a check interval where one makes sense, and one tap marks it checked today.

The calendar puts rides, birthdays, jabs, worming, the dentist, the physio and the farrier each on the date it falls, with a filter for each, so a day with a ride, a birthday, a worming and a trim on it shows all four.

The rest is what you would expect: each horse’s record with its passport number, microchip, height, colour and markings, jabs and worming, the yard, the vet and the insurer; planning a ride; tracking one on a map with distance, time and pace, which keeps measuring with the phone locked or in your pocket; notes along the way, typed or spoken, and an incident log for where, what and who was there; and a first aid library for colic, laminitis, choke and wounds that is free and always will be.

PlatformiPhone, portrait, iOS 15 and later
StorageOn the phone, with an optional PIN
ScreensHome, calendar, planner, tracker, profile, medical, farrier, feed, tack, first aid, gallery, notes
StatusVersion 1.3.0, in the App Store

Free, and what a subscription unlocks

Tracking a ride, the horses on your account and the whole first aid library are free and need no subscription. The first aid pages never will: colic does not wait for a payment screen.

A subscription unlocks the yard — each horse’s record with its jab and worming due dates, the farrier cycle and its costs, the feed chart, the tack room, the gallery, the calendar, the spoken notes kept against a horse, and planning a ride in advance. It comes in two lengths, monthly and quarterly, and renews until you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the period, from the Manage subscription button in the app or in the App Store.

Monthly See the App Store renews every month
Quarterly See the App Store renews every three months

Prices are not listed here, because they can change. Check the App Store for the up-to-date price, in your own currency, before you subscribe — it is the App Store that takes the payment. Most of the apps give new subscribers an introductory offer: an introductory period at the start, before the first payment is taken. How long it lasts can change, so again, check the App Store for the details.

Cancelling takes nothing off your phone. Your horses, their records and every ride you have tracked stay exactly where they are; the paid screens simply stop opening.

The horses, the rides, the routes, the photographs and the notes are never uploaded, and there is no advertising, no analytics and no tracking. A few things go to my own server, and only when you use the feature that needs them: your email address if you claim access you have been given; a notification token, with the phone model and app version, if you switch notifications on; and a random install ID that lets an App Store purchase be matched to you. None of it is shared or sold. See the privacy policy and the terms of use.

Every screen in the app

Ten screens, three at a time — swipe, or use the arrows and dots. Tap a screenshot to see it full size. The apps are still being developed, so screens may look different in the version you download — these shots are not always updated the moment something changes.

Opening the app Home
The month’s rides, horses and photos, and a tile for everything else.
The account You and your horses
Your details, someone to ring if you cannot be reached, and both horses with breed, age and weight.
The record Medical
Jabs, worming, the dentist and the physio with their due dates — one overdue — and the weight readings.
The feet The farrier
Both horses’ next visits, the cycle and what it is actually averaging, the farrier’s number, and the log with its costs.
In a hurry First aid
Colic, laminitis, choke and wounds — sorted, searchable, with the emergency vet at the top, and free, permanently.
The yard The feed chart
Morning, midday, evening and late night — with the soak time on the line it belongs to.
The yard The tack room
Each piece and its check interval, and which are overdue — a saddle two months over, here.
The calendar The calendar
Rides, birthdays, care and the farrier as dots on the month, with a filter for each, and the chosen day’s entries underneath.
Riding out Plan a ride
Which horse, what kind of ride, how long and when, totted up before it is saved.
In a hurry What to do
A topic opened out into numbered steps, and clear that it is reference rather than a vet.

Interested in an app like this, or in something else for iPhone, iPad or Android? Get in touch.