Does anyone here wear an apple watch to the barn/while riding? I am looking into getting one as I never have pockets to put my phone in and really only use it to check the time anyway (and I like the whole fitness/health tracking element of the watch).
So I guess my question is: how durable is the Apple watch? Is is going to be scratched to death after a week of barn chores and horse-y tasks?
I wear mine every day and always to the barn. I love it. I have the one that I can make/receive calls from and it gives me just a little bit of added security knowing that if I were to fall off and need to call for help, I would be able to. The activity tracker is great as well! So far I have not scratched mine at all, knock on wood! Mine is also waterproof (I think there are some which are not), which gives me addition peace of mine…seems to also be horse-slobber proof so far. :lol:
I also have the newest model which is waterproof and works without my cell phone. I love using the activity tracker when I ride and it makes me feel better that if I come off there is an SOS button I can easily access for help. You can put a screen protector on it to prevent scratches, but I don’t usually have a screen protector on mine and the face isn’t beat up at all.
I like that I don’t have to worry about taking it off to bathe a horse either. Would highly recommend!
ETA - I was amazed to see how many more calories I burn when I ride versus when I go to the gym. We’re used to riding so it doesn’t feel like a “workout” but it’s eye opening to see how much we really do when we’re on a horse! It’ll put an end to all of those people who say we “just sit there when we ride” :lol:
Not disputing that riding is good exercise, but unless the watch has riding as a specific activity, I am not sure its calorie count could be valid. Most of these fitness watches depend on an accelerometer, and deriving a calorie count based on how quickly you’re moving through space, and assumptions based on your BMI.
My garmin GPS watch just thinks I’m running really fast when I’m riding, and the calories burned are way exaggerated based on that.
Honestly, best way to judge how much exercise you’re getting is just to check your breathing, assuming no heart/lung problems. There’s a pretty good correlation between exercise intensity (no matter what the activity) and calorie burn rate (with the caveat that no matter what, it’s a rough estimate based on lots of assumptions). If you’re breathing about as hard as you would if jogging, then you can reasonably compare riding to that same duration of jogging. When we’re cooling out our horse at a walk, we’re simply not working very hard, but our watch will think we’re speed walking.
You guys have convinced me! I will definitely be getting the newer waterproof version and cellular. Glad to know it’s not going to fall apart in a matter of days!
And @HungarianHippo good to know, I think I read an article that apple has added an “equestrian sports” option for workouts so maybe that’ll be slightly more accurate.
Thanks for your responses!
I set mine to “outdoor walking.” That seems to match what my actual heart rate monitor read out when I used to ride with it.
I’ve had my apple watch for 2 1/2 years, IIRC. I hate the battery life - like all Apple products, the battery life degrades as the product ages. And I get a bit cranky about the fact that my husband’s somewhat similar Garmin watch only needs to be charged once every couple of weeks and mine has to be charged every night. But aside from that it’s been great. And I’m not even a little careful with it and it’s withstood my barn life nicely.
I was wondering about this. I have been setting mine to “cross training” although once I accidentally set it to “yoga” :lol:
Strangely, both gave be basically the same caloric burn. So I wonder how much that setting really matters? I was confused by the metrics as well.
I don’t usually turn on the exercise thing when I’m riding. I just let it record it as steps.
My son has an Apple watch and swears by it. I’m not an Apple guy and the Android world has, literally, dozens of choices ranging from tactical watches for soldiers (at about $700/ea) to very reasonable offerings under $100. I’m actively looking and Garmin is high on the list, as are LG and Suunto. I’m still miffed at Samsung and they are not on the list. My preferred price point right now is about $300 and there are lots of choices in this area.
I’d pick an offering that is water resistant as equine activities have some hazards that other outdoor adventures do not.
Most readers here are women and “woman” sized sport watches appear to be relatively rare. I’ve only run across a couple. Some of the offerings out there are rather large so you probably should be careful buying one off line until you find a retailer with some examples you can actually see.
G.
Huge Garmin fan here. Great online interface if you want to analyze data, seamless data uploads when your in wi-fi range.
You are absolutely right though that GPS watches are still just really big. I have narrow wrists, and the Garmin 620 is reasonably comfortable-- but I’m not going to win any fashion contests. The Apple watches are more stylish, for sure (but don’t know if they’re any more comfortable). I have a feeling in 5 years they’ll have figured out how to miniaturize them, and today’s clunky GPS watches will look as ridiculous as Michael Douglas’s cellphone in the movie Wall Street.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10178786}[/ATTACH]
:lol: that phooooone
Well, isn’t that the size of a satellite phone these days? You know that sends its signal to satellites rather than cellular data towers, works anywhere?
ETA: nope they are smaller than I thought.
Yes, there is an equestrian sports workout and from what I can tell it uses your heart rate to determine calories burned, not steps. So, I do think it’s more accurate than other fitness trackers out there. I used to ride in a fit bit and it would tell me I walked 8 miles or something ridiculous when I rode, the apple watch is smarter than that 
Is there a correlation between calories burned and heart rate? This is a serious question. I can get an increase in my heart rate by watching the evening new; from a LazyBoy. If I’m stressed by some event in my immediate vicinity my heart can go up. An exciting sequence in a movie can do that. Is it just “heart rate” or something more?
And if it goes up what’s the difference, if any, between the calories burned in an activity where movement is not a primary activity but an activity that is “secondary”, to wit: controlling a moving horse?
The energy exerted during riding so SO dependent on type of horse, task at hand, rider skill, rider focus, etc. that I’m wondering how any “program” that does not take these into account can have any reasonable accuracy. Maybe the programmers and engineers are bright enough to do that, but I have my doubts!
My plan is to have a communications device, navigation device, and timepiece. We live where there is very poor cell service near the house, better in the fields, but degraded in the woods. And if you ride into the “shadow” of a terrain feature you’ll see degraded 'Net performance even if you still have GPS. That often lets things like Google Maps right out and necessitates navigation programs that downloads maps. I’m still researching that. I do plan on continuing to carry my cell phone. It would just be nice to glance down at my wrist for data vice pulling out the cell phone! 
G.
G, I think that heart rate along with gender, weight, age, and height can give you a reasonable estimate of calories burned, although without a VO2 max value, it isn’t going to be 100% accurate. I believe that the apple watch works the same as heart rate monitors do, as long as your heart rate stays in a target range it can give you a fairly accurate reading because it also takes these other factors into consideration.
In the example you gave about your heart rate increasing while watching the news, I would imagine that your heart rate is not reaching the target range, nor staying in that range long enough to burn extra calories
Thank you for your answer. I’m going to “chew” on it a bit.
You might be right. But they way news is presented these days an extended period of elevated heart rate is all too possible!!!
G.
For all of you with Apple Watches, there is an “Equestrian Sport” setting!!!
For your first riding workout, select “other” as the workout option. At the end of the workout, it will give you an option to name the workout, so click that. You will access a huge list of sports and “Equestrian Sport” is in there. After doing this the first time, “Equestrian Sport” should show up right near the top of your list every time you hit the workout mode option.
It bases your calories burned off of your heart rate rather than steps, as others have said, so it’s actually a better and more accurate option than outdoor walk. I know mine seems quite accurate–a quiet meander down the trail garners me way less calories burned than a jumping lesson or a horse show where my adrenalin and my heart is pumping
Now the bad–I smashed my Apple Watch face the first week I had it. Literally exactly a week. I don’t know exactly what happened, as it was fine and then I was driving in my car and looked down and the face was totalled. The only thing I had been doing before I got in my car was folding up horse blankets. Somehow, maybe, a buckle on a blanket perfectly struck the watch face to smash it completely. Beyond repair. I can’t say for certain this is what happened, but in my experience the faces are stupidly easy to break.
I got the watch replaced and immediately bought workout wristbands (those fabric thingies runners wear for sweat) and my watch is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS covered at the barn now. I like the bands I bought, they are really thin and not bulky, and I can just slip it off the face to check the time or pause my music or turn on workouts or whatever. And it makes me feel a little more secure that there is some cushion between the face and whatever the barn might throw at me.
Take my experience with a grain of salt, but no Apple representative would give me an answer on how durable they are supposed to be, especially since they are advertised as being for workouts and sports, and mine broke when I wasn’t even being active. Apple was super unresponsive and unhelpful overall, and I was pretty upset about it, but I had just sunk $600 into the damn thing so it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. They made me go through the whole process of attempting a repair even though anyone could see that wasn’t going to happen, and then it ended up getting replaced (for a fee, of course).
While I really enjoy having it, I am extremely cautious with it and would suggest others should be too, as it is not cheap to repair/replace these things, even with Apple Care.
Does anyone have the new Series 4 with Fall Detection? That feature is making me consider an Apple Watch but I am curious if it considers jumping as a hard impact.
I have the series 4 watch with fall detection. I don’t jump, so I can’t help you there, but the only time my watch ever asked me if I had fallen was when I slammed my watch hand on a hard surface. I wouldn’t imagine that jumping would be an issue. As far as durability goes, I have my horses at home and do barn chores every day and my watch has been fine. I love my Apple Watch and would replace it immediately if something happened to it.
I got a series 5 with fall detection about a month ago, and I wear it to jump all the time with no issues.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
