You may already be recording your trail rides.  Or, maybe you’re not yet but are interested in recording & logging your trail rides.

Clearly, it’s an activity more and more equestrians are adding to their ride routines lately!

What follows is information and tips to help you set yourself up for success to log rides via GPS app on your smartphone. A Live Facebook Video was recorded on Thursday April 2 with more detailed information — find it HERE.

Tips

• Many apps to choose from for both iPhone and Android OS—prices vary from free to a small fee, some are a one time fee, some fees are renewable each year or month.
• If you want to be able to log your rides with Top Trail, be sure to select a GPS app that will export tracks in GPX file format. You can Google “Export GPX from [insert name of app]” to see if the app you’re interested in will work with Top Trail’s manual upload (Add Ride) process.
• Choose one or two apps you like — it’s good to have a back up.
• EasyTrails GPS app — inexpensive, simple, makes it easy for Top Trail members via the export process:
  • Export the recorded track directly to your account after riding (data or cell service will be required to do this).
  • Remember to log in to your Top Trail account after uploading your track to designate horse on your Ride Log screen.
• Recommend that you become familiar with your app before actually riding. Work out the glitches, make sure you understand how to start recording, stop recording, etc.

Ready to Ride & Record

• Start with a fully charged phone.
• Ensure your phone is not set to automatically “wake up”  — change the settings on your phone if it does this.
• If your battery isn’t the best, consider adding a battery pack to your phone — you can also put your phone in “Airplane Mode” while riding.
• Turn off/disable all other apps.
• Start recording your track either right before you get in the saddle, or right after you’re saddled and settled. 
• Look at the app dashboard and confirm that it’s recording. 
• Run the app in the background.
• Disable your screen.
• Stow the phone on your body — not in your saddle bags or anywhere attached to your equine.
• Most apps allow you to pause but I don’t recommend it. Why? Because you may forget to UNpause it when you get back to riding. Keep that in mind.
• Pull out your phone and look at the GPS app about ¼ mile into the ride to confirm that you did, in fact, start recording your track …
• When the ride is over, stop the recording. Don’t keep it running while you untack your horse. 
• Editing of tracks by way of deleting portions of the track (like the drive home) can be made to a track file (GPX) – try using https://gpx.studio – it is free and fairly easy to use
• If you’re not convinced your chosen GPS app will record your entire track, run two apps simultaneously. 
• Make sure that you’re running the most current version of your GPS app.
• If you’re having trouble with an app, try rebooting your phone. 
• If in the beginning you have a habit of forgetting to start your GPS app, tie a ribbon to your saddle horn or pommel as a visual reminder to GPS up!!