Remote lessons

[Libera]

Was wondering if anyone is doing dressage lessons remotely, and if you would share how that works?

What kind of equipment would I need to use? I have a Pivo but I haven’t really used it very often yet. The times I have used it, it sometimes loses me or it stops recording so not sure if that will work for this?
Would I need to have multiple devices, like my phone to hear and a tablet for the Pivo?

Thanks!

[MapleFarm]

If you use Pivo, the person on the other end (instructor) can manually move it to keep you in frame. I kind of hate pivo for “normal” use as it never works properly for me, but my fiend uses it for remote lessons and it’s perfect for that.

There are different modes, I think? and you only need one device.

[blue_heron]

I used the Pivo for a while. I never got the tracking thing to work. I would just put it in the corner or the end of my arena. Eventually I would just FaceTime and use the Pivo stand as a tripod.

[joiedevie99]

I have friends who do it regularly. One has a Pixem and good wifi coverage in her ring. Another has a groom who does the video. I think they just use facetime/airpods.

[Lunabear1988]

I did a virtual lesson with Lauren Spreiser with success. I hope to do another one sometime.

I just used the instructions for pivo that Lauren had on her website. No issues. I had some Bluetooth headphones that worked great. If the pivo lost me, Lauren could just use a function to have it find me again.

[Dbliron]

I teach remotely all the time. We just use Zoom on a friend’s phone, and that person does the videoing, and then the rider has her phone connected to Zoom, and she wears headphones. I can see what’s going on, and we can all participate easily. I’ve done it all over the province.

[Klevie]

I use my Pivo for virtual lessons with Candor Equestrian LLC. It’s super simple to get started with. I found mine brand new on eBay and paid less than $100 for the whole starter pack. Just make sure that you get a nice paid of long range bluetooth ear buds with a microphone so that you can connect to your phone while it records you. Pivo has a built in Zoom style video conferencing option, and I have found that it works super well.

[Aleuronx]

I’ve always wondered this as it would be a stumbling block at the facility I’m at. Are people running off barn Wifi for these calls? I would imagine using phone data would eat up a whole month in one lesson.

We don’t have running Wifi that covers the facility or arenas so it’s always perplexed how people are getting this done. And best phone coverage is 2 bars of LTE, which isn’t going to get the job done.

[Libera]

I’m not sure my wifi will reach my arena but I have good cell phone coverage with unlimited data, so I’m hoping that will do it?

If not I would have to get an extender I guess…

[Libera]

Sounds like all I will need is a better pair of earbuds then

Does anyone have any recommendations for earphones? I saw on the Lauren Sprieser site they recommended a pair but when I went to the Amazon link it said those get returned a lot and not all of the reviews were great…

Thanks all for the insights so far!

[teatime0714]

My trainer goes to FL for winter and half of the group stays north. We do remote lessons via the nest camera she has set up in the indoor and just do a phone call with ear buds in for the audio. However, she does have wifi in the tack room that’s right next to the indoor.

The pivo was a no go the second another horse entered the ring as it would randomly track the other horse and would lose us particularly when the light level changed during sunset. It also drains phone battery very quickly so if you’ve got an older model phone it likely won’t last your full ride.

I’m 2 winters into this now and the pivo lessons have been pretty close to having her there with us.

[luvmyhackney]

@Aleuronx

I’ve always wondered this as it would be a stumbling block at the facility I’m at. Are people running off barn Wifi for these calls? I would imagine using phone data would eat up a whole month in one lesson.

I have a hot spot that I use for remote lessons. As no WiFi where my ring is.

[Mander]

Depending on how much you want to spend, I have Jabra Elite Active 65t earbuds and my coach has commented how much better they are than airpods that everyone else uses. Mine are 6 or 7 years old now, but on the website it looked like maybe the Jabra Elite Active 4 is the most similar tier?

For me, they’re very comfortable and I’ve never had an issue with them falling out or even working loose. They’re also noise cancelling, but when you’re on a call there’s “play through” so you can hear everything going on around you. Be warned though, the default volume of the play through is a little louder than “real life” and if you’re anything like me, any heavy breathing will be like a walrus running a marathon in your own ears if you don’t turn it down in the settings

Other than that, the one thing with the Pivo is to be sure to use a white saddle pad. The tracking capability deteriorates significantly if you use other colors unfortunately. I also agree with the crazy battery usage though. I tried using low-power mode, but unfortunately it also degraded the streaming quality pretty significantly (made the video darker and lower resolution). A 30-40min lesson usually runs through ~60% of my battery on an iPhone 11, so I recommend a charger nearby.

[MapleFarm]

One tip for battery life is buying a small usb-c battery pack and Velcro-ing it to your tripod. I know a couple people who do that.