I have indulged in far more than my fair share of retail therapy recently, but apparently I have a little ways to go yet, because I want an Apple Watch.
I have a couple of good reasons and whole pile of bad reasons to want one, but it mostly boils down to I kinda want one.
But I live in Vermont. I don’t really know that many people personally who have one.
So I turn to you all, because my biggest area of concern is how it will hold up around horses, and whether it will actually be useful around horses.
For example, I would love to be able to time trot set intervals using just the watch instead of fumbling with my phone.
Will it also count my steps the way my phone does?
Will I have to take it off when I hose Tristan down?
Are there any good GPS apps for it or are they just truncated crappy versions of regular iPhone apps?
If you have an Apple Watch and use it around horses, tell me everything.
beljoeor.com 
I have one! I’ve had it for 2.5 years, I think. Same one and I wear it daily to the barn and everything. It’s got a few quite superficial scratches on the screen now, but otherwise it’s totally fine and in good working order. You can buy screen protectors and cases for them, but I have not found that necessary at all.
To answer your specific questions:
-Super useful for timing trot sets. You can probably download an interval timer app that has a watch app that goes along with it to make it even easier, but I just use the basic timer app that comes installed on it already. It can be a little tricky to hit the right part of the screen (because it’s small) while on a moving horse, but still easier than fumbling with getting your phone out of your pocket IMO. Any pair of gloves that works with your phone’s touch screen should also work with the watch.
-Yes, it will count your steps the way your phone does. I know a lot of people don’t like this, but it really doesn’t bother me at all. I just let it because I figure I’m doing an equivalent activity to at least walking anyway.
-If you get the kind that you can swim in (I think series 2 and above) then you do not have to take it off to hose Tristan. Leave it on when I hose Maggie and have never had a problem. There’s a function that spits out water and I have no idea how it works, but it makes a funny vibrating noise.
-Not sure about GPS apps specifically for the watch, but I also haven’t been looking. I have been using EquiLab lately which has a nice built in GPS and comes with a really easy to use companion app for the watch. I feel like any watch app is really just a truncated version of a regular phone app. For EquiLab it mainly shows you your time riding on the watch an you can stop, start, and pause it. Then in your phone it shows you where you went and the gaits you did.
Overall, I really like it and it’s nice to have, however I’m not sure how essential it is to me. If I forget to put it on in the morning I do miss it during the day, but I’ve told people before who have asked my opinion that if it kicked the bucket tomorrow I’m not sure if I’d rush out to spend the money to buy a new one. So for me I’m not sure my feelings about it outweigh the expense. Who knows though, if/when it does it crap out maybe I will feel very differently after a couple days without it!
Let me know if you have more questions 🙂
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I have one and stopped wearing it a long time ago.
My reasons to get one were different than yours so you may end up loving it! Basically for me I wanted a way to be able to leave my phone off my body and safely in the barn or trailer but none of my gps/exercise apps worked when I left the phone in the barn to ride in the arena. So I still needed the phone on my body and for me it defeated the purpose of having the watch.
Plus I’m curmudgeonly and hated being that connected to everything and everyone all the time.
For what you specifically want, it will count your steps automatically and had a nice little app that reminds you to stand up after sitting too long as well as tracks your activity to get your steps in. The timer will function to time trot sets. I’ve used endomondo as an app for tracking exercise. They have a horse riding subset which is like.
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My workplace had a couple of good reviews that I’d recommend checking out:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/21/16680206/apple-watch-series-3-non-lte-smartwatch-review
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/19/17875882/new-apple-watch-series-4-review-ekg-bands-screen-price
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the newer ones you don’t need your phone to use. But it is a tiny screen so not sure how useful that is. Mine is the original apple watch (in April 2015!!) and it is still ticking (and going). I love it. I use it daily it has been thru hosing down horses cleaning out buckets, getting rained on at events all damn day, you name it and mine is not waterproof.
I use it for fitness, to check weather, to check text message, i have even used it to listen to books while driving or walking through airports. LOL
There are some good deals on refurbished ones (take a look at apple.com)
Do i need it? Nope/ But I like it.I have the rose gold 38mm with a coral band…..again.
I think i got my investment out of it 🙂 HA!
Good luck!
https://www.imore.com/best-apple-watch-apps
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Dude, you should have asked us this weekend. I’m messaging you about this because of some private details, but both of us ride with apple watches and like them very much. We even built a watch app for cross country. I highly recommend apple watches. Yes, it counts your steps. Yes, I have used the watch to do trot sets with Nilla during recoveries. Yes, the new ones are waterproof enough you can swim with them, you can definitely wash a horse off.
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I love mine! Haven’t used it for trot sets, but it tracks your steps in or out of the saddle. If you get the one with the sapphire face, it won’t scratch at all. Mine is older, and not the waterproof one, but I hose horses in it all the time. I do take it off for soapy baths though, if my arm is going into a bucket of water. I think that might be pushing it.
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