Technology that appreciates every horse business has its own way of operating is helping ease the industry’s workload and improve finances.
Three firms started by people in the horse world are among those aiming to use tech to help the industry thrive. The systems draw from real-life equestrian experiences to make life easier, and are constantly being updated following feedback.
Bookings platform Cavago, founded in 2019, works with businesses in the UK and globally, from riding experiences and holidays to events, riding schools, arena hire, transport, freelancers and more.
“We work with our businesses to develop the technology – we are all horse people behind it, everyone is embedded within the industry, which makes it very relatable,” Cavago managing director Sophie Clark told H&H.
Its functions include handling scheduling and calendars – which can be set up by each business to meet its needs – and payments are made through the system at the time of booking.
“From a business perspective, it means they’ve had the booking, taken payment, job done,” Ms Clark said, adding that there is also a “pending subject to confirmation” option for bookings.
As well as providing availability updates in real time, it has a postpone and reschedule function, plus a messaging service – and if a message comes in from a booking, the booking card is at the top of the message thread.
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“It keeps everything in one place,” Ms Clark said.
Racehorse trainer Jo Davis had the idea for Equissistant seven years ago and has brought it to life with her business partner, programmer Dan Cross. It keeps everything to do with managing each horse, and the yard, in one place.
From daily work, feed and tack to shoeing, vaccinations, veterinary records, transport mileage and competition/racing results – every aspect of a horse’s life is recorded. The system is connected to an invoicing function, and for horses with multiple owners, it can be split between them. Its many other functions include vaccination timing calculators and reminders, temperature recording and staff holidays.
Staff members, and visiting contractors such as farriers, can have log-ins, but they can only see certain areas, so sensitive data is protected.
“It’s all been born out of necessity,” Ms Davis told H&H. “You can use as much or as little as you want.”
She added that it is also useful to, for example, check whether certain tack has been used on a horse before, and the outcome. She can also see it being a welfare benefit, as a horse’s entire history could be transferred to its next owner.
Adi Devonish was the manager of a big yard when she came up with the idea for yard management app LIVERYLive, which aims to help yard owners and managers save time and money. All invoicing and payments can be done through the app.
“It’s designed to be as flexible as possible, as all yards are run so differently,” she told H&H. “Everything we’ve done over the last four years has come from customer feedback.”
Ms Devonish noticed that “quick jobs”, such as bringing the last horse in or changing a rug, were not always recorded, but all take time and money.
The system allows owners to request things in real time and see the exact cost. For example, if an owner would like a horse brought in, they can request that through the app, the yard can accept or decline, then the service is automatically added to the bill.
She added: “Our best review said that at the end of their first full month using us, their extra charges bill was about £700, and over £400 of that they would not have had without LIVERYLive.”
Like the other systems, this streamlines communication and helps traceability by keeping everything in one place, rather than digging through multiple diaries, messenger services and memories.
There are also horse overview pages, for details such as tack, training, veterinary information and insurance records, and it is possible to set up reminders. Managers can allocate jobs, which staff can tick off as they go, so everyone knows what is expected and has been done.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
