Managing horses is not an easy task, especially with all the demands these days. Keeping an accurate schedule that is easily shared with owners, riders, trainers, grooms and support staff can feel overwhelming. Luckily, there are digital solutions you can use to manage your barn more efficiently and help keep your horses happy and healthy.
The Tech Equestrian highlights each solution below to find the right fit for your horse care needs.
BarnManager: Made for barn managers, by barn managers
Founded in 2012 by lifelong equestrian Nicole Lakin, BarnManager is a cloud-based software solution that helps horse owners and managers simplify their daily management responsibilities. Users can access BarnManager online to create horse profiles, store medical records, schedule appointments, make detailed lists, and much more. BarnManager has become a valuable organizational tool for stables across several disciplines.
Designed to incorporate the nuances of an equine business, the enhanced BarnManager Pro allows users to invoice for multiple horses, split shared expenses across multiple clients, put multiple horses on a single invoice, and ensure that the full amounts of payments are covered. The Pro plan currently offers secure ACH payments through Stripe Connect, one of the most respected and popular online payment providers, which will yield substantial savings in payment fees over major competitors.
BarnManager is committed to looking for new tools to help barns manage, organize, analyze, and grow their businesses.
Plan profile: 14-day to 30-day free trials; 3 plans to choose from (monthly and yearly payment options)
Free essentials plan for 501(c)(3)
Website: https://www.barnmanager.com
BarnManager is available as a web-based software/cloud-hosted solution.
Hippovibe: Manage Your Horses Digitally
Say goodbye to your whiteboard thanks to Hippovibe, a digital horse management tool with a task planning feature that makes keeping track of your barn chores so much easier. The functionality allows you to plan your horses’ daily activities and add all sorts of information, from who should execute the job, timing/duration, order and pertinent notes (no carrots, only apples).
Tasks are assigned to specific users, so everyone knows what he or she needs to do and what has already been done. The app is not only ideal for planning ahead but can also be used as a reference point to view historical tasks.
The Hippovibe solution can store all the related information about your horses’ health on the system. Now you don’t have to guess when the next vaccination is due or write down on a calendar. The historical health data storage is a user favorite and provides a more holistic view of a horse’s health profile.
Plan profile: 14-day free trial/book a demo. Quarterly or yearly pricing based on number of horses.
Website: https://hippovibe.com
Hippovibe is available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
Stable Secretary: Barn Management Made Easy
As one of the early barn management solutions, Stable Secretary knows how important it is to offer options when it comes to managing horses efficiently. The four packages include: professional – the highest level with the most features including payments and invoicing; performance – has all the health features plus the ability to record services and expenses; essentials – keeps track of all the basic health information and go! – developed for ‘on-the go’ professionals who do everything on their mobile device.
A new feature added to the platform is the scheduling tool that enables users to add tasks and appointments, as well as services (like lessons, rides, etc.) which can easily be converted into billable records. You have the option to add event information and keep it simple or you can add details like participants, horses, admin-by, locations, and more. Events can be one-time or recurring and allow for setting time perimeters including reminder alerts. The feature was created by StableSecretary to allow for all the nuances of scheduling horses and riders and to keep costs down for users.
Plan profile: 30-day free trial with 4 plans to choose from (monthly or yearly payment options)
Discounts are available to educational institutions and non-profits
Website: https://stablesecretary.com
Stable Secretary is available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
The Equestrian App: Helping People Help Horses
The Equestrian App was launched by founder, Patrick Husting in 2019. Patrick created the app due to the reality that there are many people involved in the care of horses. The app gives users the ability to connect with a community of trainers, veterinarians, farriers, boarders, and other providers. All the information is directly stored in the journal so everyone can stay updated on your horse(s).
A software designer by trade, Patrick created the app by listening to his customers. He wanted to enhance the user experience year over year with recurrent updates for equine business professionals. If you’re a bodywork pro, a farrier, a trainer, or barn owner, there are features in the app to help you connect with your clients and provide an unmatched equestrian business experience.
The app has partnered with Barn Pros to offer features that easily define their barn, such as stalls and which horses are in those stalls – this includes the ability to create QR codes to post on the stall which are scannable by the app. Another partner is Equine Discounts, where you can save up to thousands on items you purchase for your horses and farm.
Plan profile: Free to download; with 3 plans: Gold; Silver; Bronze
Website: https://equestrianapp.com
The Equestrian App is available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
