A new tool to connect and help Icelandic horse owners around the world is being rolled out at the race championships in Iceland this week.
The HorseDay mobile app includes the ability to analyze a horse’s gait, trot and gallop, but it is unique in that it can also analyze the Icelandic horse’s two extra gaits, the tölt and the pace of flight. It’s the first tool capable of doing this, say its developers, and it also incorporates GPS tracking of rides and training sessions.
They aim for the app to become the hub of the community around the Icelandic horse around the world, offering various benefits to owners and the horses themselves. It has a direct connection to the registration of the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations (FEIF), WorldFengur. When a profile is set up for a horse, the information is acquired through WorldFengur, thus ensuring its accuracy.
HorseDay will be featured at the last event of the 2022 Iceland Horse Champions League on April 8.
The idea for the app originated in an Icelandic stable where a horse’s daily handling was recorded on a whiteboard, including its exercise, training, horseshoe, dental care, medication, food and more. But when the whiteboard was cleared, all data was lost.
HorseDay co-founder Ólafur H. Einarsson, who is also a horse breeder, said the idea was to make horse care more efficient.
“We were able to develop something new that solves the needs of horse owners in a fun and practical way. All of us who are involved with the start-up love the Icelandic horse and are enthusiasts, riders, breeders and professionals of the genre who realized that this was exactly what was needed.”
“All over the world, we know that there is a lot of passion for the Icelandic horse breed and we realized that we could make it much easier for people to care for their horses,” said Einarsson.
Einarsson developed the app with the support of his son, Oddur Ólafsson, whom he said “left a good position in the banking industry” to take over as CEO of HorseDay.
Ólafsson said more features will be revealed in the coming months as development continues. “We aim to be the leading app for the Icelandic horse in Iceland and worldwide. Our current customer base is growing rapidly, which makes us confident that we will achieve our goal of becoming the social hub for everything related to the Icelandic horse.”
Ólafsson said the gait analysis tool, developed with assistance from Hólar University in Iceland, is “revolutionary for the equestrian world” and would allow horses to be trained more effectively. He said the University of Iceland will review the scientific data produced by the gait analysis tool.
HorseDay was supported by the Icelandic Technology Development Fund (Tækniþróunarsjóður), the Icelandic Preservation Fund for the Icelandic Horse (Stofnverndarsjóður íslenska hestakynsins) and the South Iceland Development Fund (Uppbyggingarsjóður Suðurlands).
Horse Day will soon be available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, with monthly or annual subscriptions.