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Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:09 pm
by piedmontfields
A young boarder at the barn told me about this app, Equilab. It is free and downloadable from the Apple App store.

It's a fun way to record info about your rides, including distance covered, amount of time in w-t-c, amount of left vs right rein work. You can also add notes on each ride. For example, yesterday Emi and I covered 6.5 miles, with 24 minutes of trot, 13 minutes of canter and 44 minutes of walk (we hacked to the XC field and then did some work).

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 12:17 am
by piedmontfields
OK, maybe this is just a silly geeky thing! Today we hacked 3 miles at the walk. Easy day under glorious sunshine!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 3:08 am
by demi
You got my interest...I just downloaded it. It looks like a fun and easy way to keep track of things. I just started Rocky back to work today, after a couple of weeks off so I just lunged. It’s supposed to rain for the rest of the week :( so I may not get to use the app till the rain stops.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 4:58 am
by Xanthoria
Hey looks pretty cool- I just downloaded it!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 5:00 am
by Xanthoria
Ok just tried it - awesome app! Tons more data output than I expected. I’ll be using this a lot!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:19 pm
by demi
I used It yesterday for longeing. It gave me the total time worked plus number of minutes each at walk, trot, and canter. Also number of minutes in each direction. The neat part was that it showed tracings of Rocky’s steps in the satellite view of my arena with each gait in a different color. I worry about the affect on joints with too much longeing on small circles so I always try to keep the circles at 20 meters. The satellite view showed that my circles were very close to 20 m.

This would be a good way of checking geometry in riding.

As Xan points out, there,s lots more data, too, but I haven’t figured out what it all means yet.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:10 pm
by Xanthoria
Demi did you attach your phone to the horse to lunge him then? I was just thinking of the same thing...

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:17 pm
by demi
Just to clarify my above post: I run my longe line through the bit ring and hook it to the side ring on the surcingle. This makes it too short to do a 20 m circle so I have to walk a small concentric circle to keep Rocky’s circle at 20m. Plus, I walk the circles up and down the arena. I have to pay attention to keep the circles uniform. It shows up nicely on the Equilab app but the file is too large to post the picture on here.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:26 pm
by demi
Yes, I attached it to the surcingle. I turned off the volume and vibration just in case!

You’ve probably noticed that there are selections for longeing, hacking, dressage, etc

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:27 pm
by Xanthoria
Oh it has sounds and vibes? I didn't notice! How did you attach to surcingle?

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 7:30 pm
by demi
My phone has sounds and vibes not the app:)
I put the phone in a slim fanny pak with an elastic belt, shortened the belt and ran it thru the surcingle rings

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 5:53 am
by StraightForward
I tried it, but felt like with that and the video, tech was distracting me from my ride too much, when it's the time I should be taking a break from tech.

It would be a great record keeping tool for an trainer though.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 12:50 pm
by Imperini
I saw another thing a while back that actually attaches to the girth and measures how high the horse is picking up their feet, and a bunch of other info. Looked really cool, but was very expensive.

Anyhow I got this on my android to try out now I have to figure out how I'm going to attach my phone to myself for my ride. I have one of those armbands to hold a phone but my upper arms store most of my upper body fat so it's rather uncomfortable to get it tight enough not to flop around.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 12:55 pm
by Xanthoria
Used it lungeing last night. Good data! I spent too much time going to the right but I did get enough canter work in. I put my phone in a slim zip coin purse with a wrist loop to secure - purse stayed tucked under the surcingle perfectly.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 5:58 pm
by demi
Imperini wrote:I saw another thing a while back that actually attaches to the girth and measures how high the horse is picking up their feet, and a bunch of other info. ...


Imperini, there’s a bunch of data like that on the Equilab app. I haven’t figured it all out yet but under “details” in your workout history, there are graphs for beat(bpm), speed(mph), stride(ft), and elevation(ft).

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 6:00 pm
by demi
StraightForward wrote:I tried it, but felt like with that and the video, tech was distracting me from my ride too much, when it's the time I should be taking a break from tech.

It would be a great record keeping tool for an trainer though.


I can relate. But for me, this is way easier than videoing my rides with a cell phone camera. But, of course, the videos would be way more helpful...

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 12:05 am
by piedmontfields
Demi, you are so right.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Sun May 06, 2018 3:56 pm
by Imperini
I was able to try it out yesterday. It says Pal and I are still too slow.. Here I thought we were doing good lately :lol: Really neat though, I'm excited to use it again today. I just strapped it to my arm and it felt weird at first but I didn't notice it when I got going.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:43 pm
by piedmontfields
What do you mean by "too slow" Imperini?

I'm noticing that in a typical arena session, I spend about 10 minutes in canter, 15-20 in trot, and 20+ in walk (between warm-up, breaks and cool out).

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 2:09 pm
by Imperini
I was looking at the meters per minute and comparing it with another site that showed a typical range for each gait. According to that we are waaay off but I'm not so sure because I rode with the app on for our play day yesterday and we were trotting and cantering at what I would consider a pretty good pace and just barely got into the suggested ranges. I wouldn't ask for the canter we were doing in an arena setting ever so I wonder if the averaging really distorts the values.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 2:16 pm
by HafDressage
Okay so I'm totally obsessed. I love it. Even if it's not 100% accurate, it still gives me some idea of what is going on and definitely helps me understand some of my flaws. For example, I seem to track left (his easy side) more than I track right, which is totally unintentional. I'm putting screen shots below for those who haven't seen it. I'll definitely be using it more in the future....although both days I've forgotten to turn it off, so it picks up like an hour of me just walking around on foot (although it does keep it separate from my riding stats).


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Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 3:16 pm
by piedmontfields
I love how you all are teaching me how to use this app! I keep learning about more screens from this thread :-)

HafD, I like the turn summary, too. I tend to work longer on the hard side (which I'm okay with to some extent), but I don't want that to be too out of whack.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 4:28 pm
by Xanthoria
I can't find that screen with the color coded bars of gaits - I only see one with single colors but gaits on different levels?

I did just find a radial graph of gaits, distance, duration and turns which is cool AND it lets you compare your graph with what I guess is an average training for a particular discipline? Very useful.

Wish I had put my phone on the horse for my recent jump lesson - does anyone know if it counts jumping efforts?

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 7:20 pm
by Imperini
I found the navigation through the app a little weird at first but I think I'm getting the hang of it now.. of course I'm probably missing whole screens or some other interesting thing :lol:

If you go to an individual training there should be a Details button that will get you to the section that gives you the color coded bar.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 11:25 pm
by demi
I used it again today and found it to be VERY useful for my particular situation. I need to build my own stamina and having the break down of walk/trot/ canter minutes will let me know if I am improving. For now I am just going to try to increase my trotting. When I see significant improvement in the time I am able to trot, I’ll start working on canter.

Xan, there is a “show jumping” category in “training type” . Maybe that will work for your jumping lessons.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Wed May 09, 2018 5:16 pm
by Xanthoria
I tried the show jumping category last night and no luck: didn't add jumping efforts. And boy, were there some ridiculous EFFORTS! :shock: :mrgreen:

That would have been super handy though - I always stop jumping when he feels tired, but tracking his progress/stamina there would be nice. I'll ask the developer to add, if poss.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 12:43 am
by piedmontfields
So when I look at my works and compare them, we are most like "an event horse" (compared to a dressage horse, we do more distance, longer trots, longer canters, similar changes of direction). Not science but kind of fun!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 2:06 am
by Xanthoria
I totally learned I need to canter a lot more. And go left more. And just ride longer!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 11:45 pm
by demi
I am using the app every time i ride now and have data for 8 rides (I would have 10 but twice I forgot to “start” the ride). I think it is quite accurate. I have only done 6 dressage rides and 2 longeing. I havent done any trail or hill work in the last two weeks as I have been trying to build my stamina for dressage, but the app has been very helpful in that respect. My rides are 30-40 minutes, and only 10-12 minutes of trot. I was really surprised by that because I was sure I was doing 15-20 minutes of trot. I can see the big clock in my barn from the arena, and I start trotting after 10 minutes of walk. It sure seemed to me that, except for a few minutes walk break here and there, I was trotting the whole rest of my rides, which would be 20-30 minutes.

The app is keeping me honest, and I now have solid data on which to base my improvement (or lack thereof!) After the initial disappointment of facing the reality, I am now psyched to build my stamina. I’ve doubled my trotting time since I started keeping track. The type of trot I am doing is “strong and forward” as opposed to the “baby trot”.

I still haven’t figured out how to compare my rides with others....not sure I want to know at this point anyway :lol:

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 6:03 pm
by Dresseur
I downloaded it and I keep forgetting to try it :lol:

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 3:29 am
by HafDressage
demi wrote: My rides are 30-40 minutes, and only 10-12 minutes of trot. I was really surprised by that because I was sure I was doing 15-20 minutes of trot. I can see the big clock in my barn from the arena, and I start trotting after 10 minutes of walk. It sure seemed to me that, except for a few minutes walk break here and there, I was trotting the whole rest of my rides, which would be 20-30 minutes.



Okay me too on this one! I would swear to you I canter my ENTIRE ride for like at least 20 min total. With breaks of ccourse, but still the overall quantity being high, but the app says it's usually only about 10 minutes, which really makes me realize that we can do a lot more to improve our fitness.

So I have found one weakness to the app (other than forgetting to turn it off), I think that when you are on an uneven surface it doesn't always pick up the direction that you are traveling correctly. When I ride out in the grass ring, which has a slight slant to it, it seems to think I'm going left or right all the time, wwhen in reality I'mm going both ways. In the ring, however, it's very accurate.

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 12:58 pm
by Imperini
HafDressage wrote:So I have found one weakness to the app (other than forgetting to turn it off), I think that when you are on an uneven surface it doesn't always pick up the direction that you are traveling correctly. When I ride out in the grass ring, which has a slight slant to it, it seems to think I'm going left or right all the time, wwhen in reality I'mm going both ways. In the ring, however, it's very accurate.


I have an issue with the direction/turns too and sadly I've decided that I have to ignore the direction portion because sometimes mine says I go the same direction the entire ride, or the entire time I'm trotting or cantering (with counter canter loops so there should be a change of direction there). I know sometimes I might go slightly one direction more than the other but I also know I don't go the same direction the entire time.

Regardless I'm still finding the app helpful and wow yeah I thought I did a lot more canter too but apparently it's usually just around 5-6 minutes or so total :oops:

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 1:58 pm
by piedmontfields
I am still enjoying the app. I tell Em it's evidence that she can use with her attorney if she has any complaints :-) I agree that the turn summary does not seem accurate, particularly with serpentines. I find that I tend to do a lot of 4 mile rides, whether in or out of the arena, but should really up the work to more like 6 miles for at least a couple of days a week. Cantering more than 15 minutes in a ride seems to be our challenge point, but that might be my habit more than her (or even my) fitness.

Geeky useless data point: In May, we covered 65 miles!

Re: Equilab -- anyone else using this app?

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 5:16 am
by Moutaineer
Downloaded... I will be interested to try it!