When you join up you will have access to the whole app (even if you are on the free trial). The app will get you to add a horse (and you can include a photo) and that’s all you need to get going.
It’s probably best to add a few simple things about your horse from the Home screen under “Horse” as you probably have this information at your fingertips. It will help you to familiarise yourself with the app.
Usually the next step is to build some daily Feeds. Then add some Services (like shoeing). And when you feel comfortable then setup some Training schedules (or use ours). These will then appear in your calendar showing you what's on.
Of course there are many other areas in Health (Feeds, Rugs and Service) and Tack that you can also use. Build these out at your own pace.
Navigation is intuitive – just tap a menu or box from the home screen and you will see the next level screen.
Many boxes will have dropdown menus with often used selections which you can simply tap to choose. The dropdowns also often include a choice “Other” which then allows you to enter your own words.
New and edited entries will need the Save button at the bottom of the screen to be tapped. Sometimes you need to scroll down to see the Save button.
When you first open a page it will most likely show "Add New +", after you have added a new item (eg Rug, Service) when you select that screen it will show what you have already entered.
When opening Feeds for the first time you will be shown all the feed items you can use to build the feed. After you have created the feed the next time you open the page it will show you the current feed - which you can edit, share or delete.
The first time you want to add a picture you will be asked for permission to access your photos. Similarly the forst time you add a Service you will be asked for permission to access your Contacts.
From the Home screen simply tap the Horse tile, then “Add New +”, then fill in the “Horse Name” box with your horse’s name.
You can add a photo but do not have to add a photo yet – you can come back and add a photo anytime.
Once saved your horse will appear on the All Horses page
For any horse that has been added you can complete as little or as much of the details as you like.
Simply choose the box you need to add e.g. Markings and tap – it will then give you the list of details you can add.
From the home screen choose “Health”. Select the horse for this feed.
If this is the first time there will be a selection of feed types available – chaff, hard, hay, supplements, etc These will have some different varieties eg lucerne, oaten etc. Note the units (eg scoop, kg, etc)for each type.
Choose one feed type eg Chaff- Lucerne by tapping the + button. This will open the “Add item to daily feeds screen” - here three daily feeds are available Morning, Midday and Evening. You can change the quantity of the feed for each time of day here – for example we don’t feed at midday so we change this to zero. You might want 2 scoops for the morning so just hit the + button on the morning line. When finished hit “Done”.
The screen will then show the Feed details you just chose. Congratulations you’ve just built the first feed for your horse.
But say you need to add some other feed items like a biscuit of hay, or a special supplement. This is now editing the new feed you just set up. On this screen simply tap “Add item to Feed”.
The “Feed items” screen shows and you can simply choose at item and decide the quantity.
If the item you want is not shown you can add your own feed item by tapping “Add feed item” at the bottom of the screen. A screen letting you add the item is shown. You can upload a photo of the item, select the Type, Variety and Unit (like scoop). Then “Save”.
The new feed item will now appear under the type you selected. Simply then tap + on the image to add it to the feed as above.
If you have a feed but need to delete an item from the feed then next to the item there are three dots “...” tap these dots and you will see a menu to edit the feed, copy to another horse or delete. Whichever you choose will only affect this feed item – not the whole feed.
Tip: if you have different quantities for an item it is best to add a new feed item with your preferred units. For example you may have 2 size scoops, one small one large (or blue and red) - just add a feed item for each with these “Units” (by choosing Other and typing in your preferred unit eg Blue scoop) and then when building the feed you can select the one you prefer. Some common ones are the scoops, or half biscuit.
This is the most complex part of the app. But we have built it so the building of training is done in simple steps.
You can use some templates we have setup or build your own. If building your own then we’d suggest you build some simple ones first eg 4 weeks duration or less.
Step1: from the Home screen tap Training and Events.
Step 2: tap + Add training
Step 3: the screen now offers “use Template” or “+Create New Training”. Tap “+Create New Training”
Step 4: Choose the Horse this Training is for (you can copy it to another horse later).
Step 5: Fill in the Add Training screen – this collects the key details for the training. Give the training plan a name, select the duration (up to 13 weeks but for the first one choose 4 weeks or less). Then decide either the start date or end date for the training (the end date option is because some trainers want to build training up to a competition date). Then choose the rest days where there will be no training (we rest our horses on Mondays). The Warm Up and Warm Down default to 10 minutes each but you can change this on this screen.
Step 6: Now you have to add the actual activities. Like lungeing, cross poles, jumps etc. Start by tapping “+ Add Activity”
Step 7: Add New Activity screen appears. You just need to select an activity from the dropdown menu (remember you can choose Other to add an activity that’s not in the dropdown menu).
The weeks are in columns and the days are in the rows. The time in minutes will default to 10 but you can edit any day you like. Note the rest day will be greyed out and can’t be edited. Make your edits and hit Save.
Step 8: The Add Training screen shows again but with the activity now added.
Step 9: Repeat Step 8 for each activity you want to include in the training.
Remember that if you want an activity to appear only in certain weeks (e.g. as the horse gets fitter) then you need to add the activity and edit the days to 0 (zero) for the days without that activity. Also rest periods are important especially with interval training so don’t forget to treat them as an activity too.
You can enter the activity in any order as you can edit the order as below.
Step 10: Once all the activities are entered and you are happy with times each day then tap save and close.
Editing the plan.
Once the training plan is entered you can edit it at anytime. This includes changing the order of the activities. On the Training and Events page each Training plan shows three dots at the top right of the plan. Tap this and you will see Edit, Delete, Share menu. Choose edit and the Edit Training screen shows. You can change any of the details, add activities and move each activity into the sequence you prefer. Once you are finished just tap Save and Close.
Any day with training will have green dot under the date in the Calendar.
The home screen Health button contains the Service menu.
Tap Health, choose a horse, then tap Service.
The first time it will show + Add New under the message “There is no service right now”. Tap + Add New.
You will be asked to again select the horse or multiple horses. Choose the horse/s.
Then there will be a selection of the usual Services (Shoes, Dentist, Worming etc). Choose the correct Service.
Choose the date for the Service, the time (morning, Midday or evening).
If the service is recurring e.g. shoeing every 6 weeks slide the Recurring slider to on. If recurring you will need to enter how often and the frequency e.g. 6 and weekly for Shoeing every 6 weeks , 1 and yearly for Dentist once a year.)
For recurring services you need to set when the services end – this can be never, On a date or after a number of recurrences.
A service will add red dot on each service date in the calendar.
Note with Medication, Worming and Vaccination services there is also a box for the name of the medication and one for the dosage.