Equilab: Horse Riding App Reviews

I’ve been using the free version of Equilab for about 6 weeks. I have 2 horses and ride them every day (except on their days off of course). I love the GPS tracker and also that you can have multiple horses and disciplines to track. I do a lot of trail riding and fox hunting and like to see how far we went.
My biggest issue with Equilab is that it doesn’t “remind” you if you forget to finish the ride when you get off, so quite frequently I’ve already untacked and been to the wash stall before I remember we aren’t riding anymore. I really wish it would recognize that there is no action and pop up a notification to ask “are you still riding?”
Also, one thing I’ve noticed is that it really doesn’t always get the gaits right, for instance, I did 30 minutes of trot and canter sets on my Foxhunter yesterday and it says I walked for 20 minutes and only galloped for less than 2 minutes. I didn’t forget to end the ride, and I only walked for about 10 minutes total, so I know it wasn’t calculating walking while I was untacking.
Finally, and others have mentioned this too, there aren’t enough options within the discipline. I’m a foxhunter and there’s no choice for that which is a pretty popular discipline and really what I downloaded it for. I want to upgrade to the paid version, but I would want some improvements first.

I do a fair amount of riding my own appendix horse, and driving a lot of different horses for CDE. So far, I’ve only used Equilab a handful of times with my Apple Watch, and I think I like it. I’ve used Equilab once for my own horse and twice for driving two different VSE (Very Small Equines). Equilab didn’t pick up trotting vs walking for the little guys, but I’m not entirely sure if that was because the route was in close quarters (as in, not over a long distance) or if because VSE paces are just too small for Equilab to pick up. I’ll keep using Equilab and if it’s easier to register the paces over a longer distance, I’ll update my review.

My initial critiques so far: Since I work different sizes of horses for driving, I wish it were a little easier to toggle between the individual equines. Right now, I’m adding new horses based on competition size categories rather than name (eg, VSE single, Horse pair, Lrg pony single, etc). It would be nice if the Apple Watch interface had small squares or something to choose horses from before initiating a ride. I know it’s an extra step but, since I am usually called upon to drive different horses in a particular event, it’s easier for my own record keeping.

So far I like Equilab and look forward to using it more!

We started out using the free features for Equilab but my daughter rides a lot by herself so we decided to try a month subscription. However we were not as pleased as we thought we would be so I personally went into her phone and unsubscribed before the month was over to avoid further charges. Because my daughter logged into her iTunes instead of mine when subscribing, I was not getting notified of the charges being charged through my phone or by email receipt for charges because of using her account. I was going through my bank transactions today and saw were we have been getting charged for the last 5 months when I canceled four months ago. The features for a subscription were not available after canceling four months ago but some how was still being charged for it, so I do not know or understand why I was still being charged. My card was removed from her account after unsubscribing the first time within the first month. So after almost two hours of trying to figure out how this happened with iTunes and making sure that we were absolutely unsubscribed I was told we were not eligible for a refund by the company of Equilab when we requested a refund, but iTunes gave a refund for two months said that’s all they were allowed to do... Pretty shady.

I tried to access premium features to test it out for a trial period to see if it was worth the annual subscription fee. No additional features were accessible for the trial period and I received no help from contacting support. Now I’ve been charged a subscription fee now and there is still no change in Equilab features. I’m trying to figure out how to get my money back because this is absolutely ridiculous. The idea of Equilab seems nice, but didn’t work for me and my facility. All it did was scam a small business out of $80. I am livid. Do not recommend Equilab!

Yes, I emailed support on the 12th and again on the 19th to follow up. Your “support” offered no assistance nor did you cancel my free trial as requested. I was still charged! We have been dealing with historic consecutive ice storms in my area. I don’t have time to sit around and jump through hoops with your support team, I have a herd of horses to care for. You claim to make life simpler for equestrians but after reading through many of the reviews on here, I can see what you are actually good at is scamming people out of their money with an app that doesn’t work as advertised!

I love this and think this is such a great way to track your riding and keep up with your horse’s health! I would really love to do other things but I’m not really into paying for the membership. That’s fine though. Anyway, I’ve noticed that Equilab isn’t quite tracking the time of my loping correctly. I’ve tried to see if I can fix this, but I cannot. I don’t have a huge problem with this, but when I’m not with my trainer I’m with someone else, so my trainer always wants to know what I’m doing. Lastly, in my opinion I think the planning/ calendar part of Equilab should not be for members. It would probably be easier just to tap it and have it all planned out ahead of time. That is all I have to say! Great app and would definitely recommend to all equestrians out there!!!

~Isabel Y.

I've been using Equilab for about a week and I really like it. I used to take notes after my lessons but I forgot. Equilab helped me remember to take notes that I can look back on in the future.
The one thing that really stuck out to me was that there aren't a ton of things for western riders. The only westerb categories for training or discipline is "western riding." I wish there were other western options like reining, horsemanship, ranch, barrel racing, etc.
I also noticed that Equilab doesn't count the amount of time that you lope correctly. That might be because my phone isn't a good spot (I put it in my boot) but I know it's incorrect.
I do really like that it'll show you the path that you took when you're outside. This is cool if you're doing a patten or if you're doing something like reining or jumping.
Again, Equilab is great, I just wish there were more options for western riders.

*update*
After a few days of it not working, access to my timeline and detailed stats has returned- hoping it was just a glitch that has since been resolved. Overall the information provided is really amazing, super helpful to track training rides to ensure even work on both sides, etc. Love Equilab, it should be every equestrians (other) best friend 🐴.

Equilab was amazing the first day I downloaded it; then afterwards I was no longer able to access any of my timeline/tempo/speed etc information. I even upgraded to the paid version to see if that would solve the issue but nothing... I guess it only works the first time to reel you in? Frustrating..

I’ve been using the free version of Equilab for probably a little over a year. I haven’t used the safety tracking feature as I often ride with other people but this is a great app to track your training and ride. You can use the map tracker afterwards to see how straight your lines are or how round your circles are and it’s fairly accurate. I kinda wish you could have different layers so it would be easier to see this but it still works. I kinda wish there was a feature to predict jumping, bucking, and rearing but I understand that something like that can depend more on your phone than Equilab . There honestly haven’t been any updates I dislike and I plan to continue to use Equilab

Sometimes Equilab gets confused and says I rode in places that I didn’t, but I love it! It would be cool if you were able to see the ride itself and where you rode in a sped-up video just to look at maybe courses you did etc. Also, being able to put up photos of barns and/or a map with other barns near you would be cool in case you’re thinking about moving barns or suggesting it to others! Chatting with other riders at you barn to see if you could ask them to hack your horse or clean them or whatever would be cool too! I would also add some more things to “type of ride” like lessoning and height options if you’re jumping. Being able to create and save courses you did/ what courses the barn has would be cool too! You could share the courses you did with other members at your barn and more!!

This is a great app that I have now used several times for in and out of arena rides of different purpose and it’s given me very useful info as I bring my horse and I back into fitness from a bad winter.
Ever since the most recent update, however, it has stopped tracking much needed info like my heart rate (yes Equilab is on my Apple Watch which I always wear), length of stride, elevation of topography, and a few other measures it used to track.
Plus, for the 1st time, it showed somewhere we didn’t ride (because it would have been physically impossible). So I’m concerned about the recent changes made.
I have spoken to many pro and AA friends about Equilab and how helpful I’ve found it, but now, I’m going to wait for these things to get fixed. Please restore these tracking functions.

I love this app! If you are a horse person you need Equilab! I’m a horse/people trainer and it’s so handy for me to track my training sessions! I use the watch app as well. It’s so handy for keeping track of my time training and being able to look back to see how a horse has progressed over time! I take notes, share photos, etc! It also allows my clients to check and see what I did with the horse each session. I can also stay in touch with my horse friends and see what they are doing with their horses! The safety tracking is also an awesome, handy feature! App keeps getting better!
I don’t know if this app sponsors anyone but I would love to be part of their team if they do!

Equilab has some bugs that need to be fixed. After a ride I try to review the data but Equilab fails and it goes back to my lock screen. A lot of stables aren’t on the map and I couldn’t find mine. That’s not really a problem for me but it could be for other people. The bugs are really annoying and you can’t see any of the data from your ride. That’s why I downloaded Equilab. Not just for fun. Please fix the bugs then maybe I’ll give Equilab a better rating.

Update: They fixed the bugs. I complained and left a bad review. They responded almost immediately and fixed all the bugs. This is now my new favorite! Thanks to all the people that run this app.

I love Equilab so much I can keep tracking my progress so easy and track how long I rode for, what I did, where I went, ext. it is very useful for when I want to look back at how much exercise my horse has gotten and when I have been slacking, the only thing I would improve is not having to pay for certain features like tracking where you are and so other people can see that and being able to plan stuff on the calander in advance , but other than that I love Equilab and have had no problems

Tracking, gaits, turns, and other data are great. Helps me organise my training. Fitbit integration would be REALLY useful though as I have to manually enter my ride as a workout even after tracking the ride in this app. Also, I cannot see notifications. I have the little dot that shows that there are notifications, but when I open the notification page it’s blank. This has always been the case since I started using Equilab a few years ago. It’s annoying to always have the notification alert, but not to be able to see the notifications. More ride types for western riders would be useful; at the moment I log pretty much everything as “flatwork” which isn’t that helpful. Great app, just needs revision and debugging!

I love Equilab and the GPS is spot on. I like the concept of a digital journal. That said the safety tracking feature doesn’t work at all!! I’m a Premium member. I have share on. The safety feature is active. I have 3 safety contacts that also have Equilab and are “friends” on Equilab . The text goes out. They get a link. They can not see my ride by the link or through Equilab until AFTER I hit finish. Kind of defeats the purpose!! I’ve been in contact with the help person from the apps website but he keeps reiterating the same sales crap with no fix for the problem. I see others have this same problem so I guess it’s not just me. I’m frustrated because I ride alone a lot. Please fix it or stop taking people’s money. People think they have a safety back up but they don’t!!

I have been using Equilab for a good while now, and I love it! It’s great for when I’m riding different courses and want to see what I did! Only thing for me that has slightly ruined Equilab - is this weird new bug.

It just started a few days ago and it occurs when I go to click on friends. It says *could not load posts right now* when I have internet and I know my friends have posted their rides. It’s not to bad for myself but I can’t see or share my rides with friends anymore. (This is occurring for my other friends aswell) hoping it gets fixed soon if you can figure out what’s going on with it! Thankyou this app!

I love Equilab because it’s all about my horse, and I love my horse. It has helped me more consciously approach our workouts and be very mindful of my horse’s routines. Equilab has always worked smoothly for me and any kinks were taken care of quickly by the team behind Equilab . I currently am not riding under a trainer and Equilab has helped me to stay focus on training goals with great purpose and organization. The stats and trends are great help and logging her routines in the calendar are easy and fun. I love Equilab because it’s all about my horse, and I love my horse.

I do not know what they updated a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to get a successful tracking in almost a month. I’ve been using Equilab for over two years, and really had any issues at all. Now it constantly loses connection between my watch and phone, even when I’m only using the phone to start and end the tracking. Basically gathers almost no data anymore and is useless. I don’t even know why that would happen when I’m only using the phone but there you are. It’s broken. I hope they fix it, but I suspect they want me to pay for a full version before they’ll believe any complaint. No chance of that for sure.

Equilab is great... if you ride a certain kind of horse. I have been searching for an app that can keep track of my rides for awhile now, and I absolutely love it. But there's a big issue that I have with it. I ride a western pleasure horse. His gaits are not very exaggerated unless I ask him for something more extended. I guess Equilab can't tell the difference between his gaits or something because of it. I would be SO thrilled if you guys could make it so that it would pick up his gaits. I would just delete Equilab but everything else about it is so good that I can't bring myself to do so. So in conclusion, PLEASE make it so that it is more reliable. It would mean the world to me, and a lot of other riders as well.

~ Me

So far, I’ve used Equilab in 2 trail rides and 1 arena ride. After reviewing the details Equilab really seemed to capture exactly what was going on. I like this over a human type app because it is riding and horse oriented so I will continue using it. However, things I’m missing that the human trackers have... 1. The ability to review on a web based platform, 2. The ability to export to a web based platform. If you can’t offer both at least offer #2. If one of the other competitor apps start to offer this I would probably ditch Equilab. Having to do everything in the phone is a little cumbersome sometimes and hard to read.

I love this app, and pay for the tracking service. I think it is well worth the money! I trail ride almost daily at a state forest that is not heavily trafficked, sometimes with but mostly without another riding partner. When I ride solo, it gives me a peace of mind that my family can watch and know I’m still alive and moving. The trail system can be extremely confusing and there are no markers, so I get lost frequently. Equilab gives me the ability to see where I am at and get back on track, while allowing my family to see why I’m running late for dinner! Lol!
I also love the other tracking features. The gait tracking is pretty spot on accurate for me, as well as the turning left/right. I find the elevation portion very useful for knowing how far up the mountain we went. While tracking can sometimes (rarely) cut out, there are very few bugs. Can’t wait to see how Equilab continues to develop!!!

Equilab is absolutely amazing, I’ve only used it a few times, but I’m awestruck by all of its features!

It’s really helpful for seeing progress you’ve made, and I find it nice that I can look back at previous trainings and see what I put in notes for things to work on next time.

Something I think could be added is a place in notes to add photos or videos from a lesson, so you can go back and watch clips from a previous trainings. It would help with comparing your ride to others in the past and seeing progress.

Also, it would be helpful if we could enlarge the gait details even more to see minimum and maximum speeds, stride lengths, etc.
I know there’s a chart on Equilab , but I sometimes find it confusing.

Overall I’m amazed by Equilab and I’ve been recommending it to all my friends who ride, it’s so cool!

Also I have a question - what does the “turns distribution” section mean?

I’ve been using Equilab for about 2 weeks now and so far I like it. It is a good tool to keep track of my horse’s training. There are some bugs that need to be worked out - for instance it seems to have trouble with the canter as it will sometimes say I only cantered for 2 minutes which I know is incorrect. I wish the Apple Watch app could record the gait data so that I don’t have to keep my phone in my pocket since sometimes I don’t have good pockets to put it in. Overall I’m enjoying Equilab and looking forward to future improvements.

This is a great app and whoever is reading this should get it, but one thing that would make it better is if you could hook a smart watch or fitbit up to it because you can’t always keep
your phone on you while riding. Whether it’s too hot to wear a jacket or you can’t find your sleeve to put your phone in, you just can’t sometimes, and if you could hook it up to a smart watch then it would make things much easier!

Thank You for reading my review I really appreciate it. App developers please take my thoughts into consideration.
- Ivy

Whenever I open Equilab on my Apple Watch, it shows the icon of a cloud & an arrow.
It typically means I have to log into Equilab in my phone & finish the entry which is fine.
However, I don’t have any rides that haven’t been completely logged & it drives me nuts.
Other than that, Equilab is good but it would be nice to see hear an audible notification after 5 minutes of no movement/activity as I don’t always look at my phone or watch after riding for a bit. Then it logs time where I’m untacking & includes it as part of the ride.

I think the idea of Equilab and its technical use of riding data is great. It shows you exactly what you worked on, and with what horse. It’s like keeping a more technical riding journal which is important! I wish you could add multiple farms. I also think it would be awesome if when a ride is initiated Equilab also sent the data to the activity app on an Apple Watch. It would be great to record it as a workout. Equilab is the equine version of the slope app for skiers!