app-solutely revealing

It was a busy weekend on the home front, unfortunately I have no colorful trail rides to share. Might be a good thing, considering all the rain we got during the week.

With a portion of the outdoor arena still under water, the one weekend ride we did squeak in was indoors. Sigh. Our inside rides feel different. The arena is smaller, sand deeper, obstacles are scarce, and barn distractions are but a short glance away for horse and rider. Both Nemo & Koda seem to be a little off the last couple arena rides. Could be one of many things, including a shift of the seasons. The fact that it is both horses, leads me to believe just that. Like it or not, the indoor riding season is rapidly approaching.

Instead of progressing, I feel like Koda & I are slipping backwards with our rides. Two steps forward, three steps back. Our technique is falling apart. Turns on the forehand were sloppy and our lope was back to hitchy. Brad decided to take a couple video clips, and I didn't like what I saw. It felt exactly like it looked. Not horrible, but Koda & I can ride together much better...time to refocus and rebuild our practice.

I decided to try starting up the Equitrack app again, and this time the GPS worked indoors. I started it at the far end of the arena, away from what I believe is "the dead" cell zone. What I learned was app-solutely revealing...

I only rode for 12:27 minutes...what?!! A couple things did factor in while I was in the saddle. I watched Brad & Nemo for extended stretches, trying to see if I could pick up on anything that looked off. I was also socializing with another rider. I find that when we share the arena with other riders, I don't focus as much on my own ride. I am preoccupied with not getting in peoples way, and being friendly.

As far as the overall elapsed/program time, in this case it doesn't reflect total time in the saddle. I forgot to turn the app off after dismounting. It includes picking up cones, untacking, chatting it up in the aisle, hand grazing, and even walking Koda back out to the pasture - whoops! All time was spent with Koda, and in-hand is as important (if not more) as riding. However the revealing thing here is, I only rode 12-ish minutes. That is pathetic. I wouldn't bat an eye if we lived nearby & rode frequently, but we travel 40 minutes one way - to ride. 

While I am a firm believer that it's not the amount of time a person spends - but the quality that counts - this still tells me a lot. I need to put much more effort into our ride, whatever that time ends up being, if I want Koda to do anything similar. Especially indoors.

According to the app (based on his weight and I assume speed & time) Koda only burned 108 units (calories?) of energy. Not an exact method of calculation, but still interesting. What is that, about a handful of hay? No wonder he isn't looking as fit. I can all but guarantee Koda isn't running around in the pasture, except maybe to get to the free-feed round bale of hay they recently added. I on the other hand am still burning up the energy charts at a big ol' zero - ha! 

I did notice the top circle speed filled into the tracking screen, for whatever that's worth. 

Below is the hybrid map for this ride. The yellow square is the indoor arena. I'm guessing the blue stuff outside the yellow square is a result of the GPS dropping, except for when it tracked our walk towards the pasture. The barn wing where I untack wasn't tracked at all, clearly a cell phone dead zone. 

Our riding stats from last weekends outdoor arena/pasture ride clocked me at 36:27 min riding time, for 1.51 miles, compared to this indoor rides paltry 12:27 min riding, for .57 miles. That pretty much says, we like to ride outside!! I think it would be valuable to continue viewing riding stats, but what I really need to work on is my lack of indoor riding enthusiasm!! I find the map tracking pointless in an arena. I wonder if the app will track a ride without the GPS on? Something appy to try next time!