Would you consider an 'app' to help you rug your pony???

Would an app be useful?

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Deanogtv

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As a farther of two teenage girls, the months are approching when I constantly get text messages from both asking 'should I rug elvis tonight?' 'does he need his turn out rug on today??' ect

Well that got me thinking, if they were a simple app avalible for either your iphone of androld phone which find your location, assess what the weather was going to be like that day or night against your horse breed and wham, you get an answer like. Yes, Elvis will need a light weight turn out rug. All at the press of a button on your phone????

Your thought on this would be very vaild
 
Nice idea, but in reality all horses are different even if they are the same breed. What will suit one will not suit another. As an owner I would be more likely to just check the met office or a weather app and go from there according to my knowledge about my own horse.
 
I think it would be useful.
If it told you the predicted weather and temperature in you area, then said your horse needs a light weight, medium weight etc.

I think also it would be good to have options like my horse is fully clipped, or has blanket clip etc.
 
For me personally, it wouldn't be something of interest. I've got weather apps on my phone so I can check the weather myself and I know my horses and what suits them best.
 
Sorry, I think it's really unworkable. All three of mine have different rugging requirements even when sporting the same clip or lack of one. If you need to rely on an app to work out such a basic piece of horse care, perhaps you aren't doing the right hobby. Think of it this way - would you rely on an app to work out how many clothes to put on a baby? No, you need to take into account all sorts of things, and make a judgment. Just the same for horses.
 
would you also have to take into account horses weight, coat type, whether the field has good shelter or is in a windswept area, clipping?
 
I'm not (yet!) a horse owner so wouldn't use it myself obviously, but leadin on from what smellsofhorse said, wonder if it would be more useful if you could cutomize it to set it up for your own horse's 'parameters'. So instead of just "it's 12 degrees, you need a MW on", which obviously vastly varies from horse to horse, what if you could set it up according to things like the temperature your horse normally needs a LW/MW/HW etc, whether clipped etc?

I think without that it would not be specific enough, too broad spectrum as others have said.

Might be handy for non-horsey helpers (parents etc) to use, once it has been set up by horse's owner?
 
No I wouldn't - far too many variables at play

There's an app that shows you the risk of laminitis apparently, on a facebook group a young girl was adamant, despite all the usual indicators being there, that her pony didn't have laminitis and it must be something else as the app had said it was low risk.
 
As Fubsymog says if you could tailor it then it may be of some use

My two ponies are the same breed, only a couple of inches different in height, a couple of years different in age and usually no more than a couple of metres apart yet have completely differing rug needs
 
Too many variables and too much chance of getting yourself into trouble. Anything that advises something is open to being sued when it goes wrong...and it would be wrong, a lot of the time thanks to British weather being impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy and the nature of horses.
 
FubsyMog said:
what if you could set it up according to things like the temperature your horse normally needs a LW/MW/HW
Click to expand...

But then surely you just check the weather forecast?

Personally, nice thought but no way I'd use it in practice. As others have said, too many variables. You'd have to programme the specifics of what's 'normal' for your horse and its exact conditions/situation to have any idea, by which time you might as well just check the forecast and go by feel.
 
I can't see that it would be workable at all due to the numerous factors such as pointed out above as well as how much shelter and food a horse has or how long and what times of the day or night is out or whether it is stabled. Each horse or pony is completely individual as to its rugging needs and even if it was same size, breed, age etc with same routine, location etc as another it wouldn't necessarily need the same rug. Horse owners should be able to work out what rug a horse needs for themselves rather than having software do it for them. I think you'd be better off getting your teenage daughters to think for themselves and work out whether a horse or pony is hot or cold and what the weather is likely to be like rather than having them rely on technology.
 
Only any good if you've got a rocking horse, I'm afraid.
Real live horses need owners and handlers who can use their common sense and their knowledge of the horse to decide whether it needs a rug, or not, and if so, which one.
I would be very wary of anything which encourages a mechanistic approach to horse-keeping.
 
A rubbish idea. I'm not usually so forthright on this forum, but honestly these are living creatures that we are dealing with and there are so many variables to bring into effect. For example, I thought my 3 old chaps would be OK last night based on the forecast and their current condition, however I got that thought spectaculary wrong. Two of them were definitely a bit miz this morning and I should have rugged, albeit lightly last night. They were OK, but could have been better - so I will chalk that up to a learning experience and pay a bit more attention to actual rather than predicted conditions. I've been keeping horses for over 20 years now, so you would think that I would have known better, but in all honesty as they get older it can be a real challenge trying to second guess these things. Most of the time I like to think I get it right, but as last night proved I do make the odd mistake and I'm sure OP's daughters will as well. All anyone can do is what they think is best at the time, and if proved wrong then pick themselves up, think a little more perhaps in future and get on with it.
 
Good idea but you would need to set up your horse details, such as if it gets rugged heavily or lightly. Each horse is an individual we've got one on my yard that's an oldie and is in a heavyweight, where most are still naked.
 
I genuinely feel quite strongly about this - after all they are animals not dolls.

If a person is not capable of making a reasoned judgement to if/how many rugs to put on their horse, they really should not be caring for said horse. I would be supervising the children rather than designing apps.
 
I think it's a good idea, but not sure how it would be implemented. If you could add in additional information then it could work, but seems like it would be complicated
 
The only use I see for it is as a guide for someone doing your horse who doesn't normally rug it up. Even in this case the app would have to allow the owner to set what rug the horse should be wearing at what temperature/ weather conditions as a rough guide since all horses are different. However these instructions can be quite simply written down on a piece of paper or in my case a whiteboard - then if my mum does the horses she can check the whiteboard and follow that guide apart from using her common sense and going up a layer if for eg the temp is borderline and its horizontal wing and rain. I suppose the advantage to an app would be you couldn't lose it like a piece of paper, and it could also check the weather forecast for you without needing to use met office app etc.

However I don't like the format of your original idea as horses are so different and with clips etc as well can need entirely different rugs, the only way I see it working is if the app checks the forecast and tells you the rug each horse needs based on YOU already pre-entering what each horse should wear in what conditions. If the app was adaptable like this and shareable - you can send the info to someone else's phone to use for rugging your horses - then I would be tempted to use it in replace of my whiteboard!
 
Perhaps good for idiots that don't know anything but I think if you can't make a reasoned judgement on what rug to put on your horse you shouldn't have one.
 
I think for kids learning, or people looking after your horse for you whilst away, it works. But not in general.

I only use one horse app, and that's the Equest Stable Mate one, which links with my calendar and records and automatically replans FWECs and worming, farrier visits, dentistry, vaccinations and general horsy calendar reminders all in one place. It also has a section for noting feed regime, contact numbers, turnout regime etc, which I don't particularly use as I know it all myself!!

However the idea of having an app where you can 'share' your horse's details with friends - if you could combine a 'which rug at which temp' per your horse's parameters with feed regime, turnout regime and emergency contacts, you could have a viable 'easy share horse care' app for people caring for your horse whilst away...
 
I think these girls just need to learn and remember what rugs he needs and when and the magic app called the weather forecast, which in this current forever changing weather I consult regularly!
 
There would be no point horses vary to much my cob gets colder than my TB and is less tolerant of rain no app could factor age of horse, amount of body fat , the work being done ,the shelter in the field , the hieght thickness and position of hedgeing .
These are judgements you make on the day.
 
nikicb said:
Think of it this way - would you rely on an app to work out how many clothes to put on a baby? No, you need to take into account all sorts of things, and make a judgment. Just the same for horses.
Click to expand...

Tragically, as a new mum, I have seen pretty similar things for baby bedding based on thermometer readings...

Not something I've used, but presumably some do!
 
I wouldnt use it, i check the weather forecast. This is probably not the 'correct' way but if i stand outside in a T Shirt and think its a bit cold i may put their rug on (on the horse...) she is a TB but not overly thin skinned. Also this time of year if its going to rain i will lightly rug. It all depends on what her coat is looking like, at the moment she is moulting as her coat is changing and getting thicker so that normally tells me time to start rugging at night or if the temp is going to be less than double figures at night (they have lots of shelter in the paddock)
 
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Unfortunately I don't think it would work as horses vary just as much as humans do. I have two TBs - one hardly ever wears a rug, never gets hard feed, and never comes in. The other can't cope with living out at all, always needs hard feed, and is a complete wimp with the cold.

You would end up with some horses boiling, some shivering, and some just right.
 
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