Horse Rider

iPhone · iOS 15 and later

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.

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 rest is what you would expect: each horse’s record with its jabs, worming, passport and microchip; planning a ride and seeing it on the calendar; tracking one on a map with distance, time and pace; 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 device only, PIN protected
ScreensHome, calendar, planner, tracker, profile, medical, farrier, feed, tack, first aid, gallery, notes
StatusWorking app, on the simulator and building for device

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 reminders, the farrier cycle and its costs, the feed chart, the tack room, the gallery and planning a ride in advance. It comes in two lengths, monthly and quarterly, and the app shows the price for your country before you buy. It renews until you cancel it in the App Store.

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 one piece of personal information involved is your email address, held so the subscription can be recognised as yours. 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.

Opening the app Home
The month so far, and whatever is planned next.
The account Your horses
Both horses on the account, with breed, age and weight.
The feet The farrier
Shod or barefoot, the cycle, when it is next due, and the log behind it.
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 record Medical
Jabs, worming and the dentist with their due dates, and what has already lapsed.
Riding out Plan a ride
Which horse, what kind of ride, how long and when, totted up before it is saved.
In a hurry First aid
Colic, laminitis, choke and wounds — sorted, searchable and free, permanently.
In a hurry What to do
A topic opened out into numbered steps, and clear that it is reference rather than a vet.
Settings Theme, PIN and units
Light or dark, a PIN if you want one, miles or kilometres, hands or centimetres.

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