Do you own a Fitbit and wear it when horseback riding? I received a Fitbit for my birthday (in October) and I’m now getting into the groove using it. I particularly love my Fitbit for horseback riding and barn time because I can quantify the health benefits of my favorite activity!
Spoiler Alert! Since this blog post was originally published, I have moved on to a newer version of the Fitbit that has more capabilities. You can check out my thoughts on the Fitbit Blaze by clicking here, however this is a good starter piece to read to understand Fitbit capabilities for riding. Also, this post contains affiliate links which means if you click through and make a purchase, at no cost to you I will receive a small commission. Thanks!
Photo Credit: Carey of Me Jump Pretty One Day.
A friend gave me a quick tutorial right around New Year’s and I have been collecting data about my rides. (I am completely aware that previous sentence about collecting data makes me sound geeky. I’m okay with it.) In this post I will share what I’ve learned about my riding fitness data and a few basic functions of the Fitbit.
This is the model I received for my birthday: the Fitbit Charge HR.
Have you ever had non-horse friends proclaim: “Riding a horse is not exercise/a sport/hard–the horse does all the work”? Well, that’s not entirely true. This past weekend I did a difficult hour-long spin class at the gym and was shocked to realize that a recent riding lesson (walk, trot, canter, and a little jumping) burned almost the same number of calories!
Horseback riding v. Spinning. A side-by-side comparison of two recent workouts.
In addition to tracking my rides, other reasons the Fitbit has become my new best friend: it will. . .
- Track my sleep.
- Serve as a watch.
- Act as a silent (vibrating) alarm (you have to enable this feature from the app on your phone).
- Display who is calling (again, you have to enable this from the app).
- And obviously track calories burned, steps, and heart rate.
- Keep a record of each type of exercise you do!
Knight and me and the Fitbit Charge HR. Photo Credit: Carey of Me Jump Pretty One Day.
Fitbit For Horseback Riding: Workouts Analyzed
In the span of one week I had vastly different types of rides, thanks in part to trying to get Knight back into a more regular routine after his hospital stay. On December 29 I rode at mostly a walk for 40 minutes and burned 96 calories (averaging 2.4 calories per minute).
The next day I rode for 45 minutes and burned 108 calories averaging the same number of calories per minute.
The day after that was my riding lesson and I burned 5.9 calories per minute! If only every ride were a riding lesson!
This was welcome news as I’ve Googled other sites that assign a much lower calorie count to horseback riding.
I have one suggestion for the developers at Fitbit (and I’ve already given a customer support guy my idea, I probably need to write a letter to the CEO):
I wasn’t really an overachiever. I just rode my horse.
They need to figure out a way to have the steps subtracted for the duration of the horseback ride! One of the first times I hit 10,000 steps in one day was during a night time riding lesson. My left wrist started vibrating and apparently the Fitbit was flashing, which I didn’t see as I was engrossed in riding. My trainer asked me if a party were going on because my wrist was lighting up the darkness. It became clear to me then that when I wore the device while riding, I was technically cheating on my daily step count because Knight was taking the steps, not me.
How to Make Sure Your Horse’s Steps Don’t Show Up on Your Step Count
I learned the only way to subtract your horse’s steps is placing your “Workout” which is technically horseback riding into the category of “Driving.” The Exercise menu has a drop down list of various workouts to choose ranging from archery to Zumba. I haven’t tried this “Driving” category yet and it bugs me out of principle.
If the developers had foresight enough to know that equestrians would want to use a Fitbit for horseback riding to track fitness data, why not make a few coding tweaks so that when horseback riding is entered, it will deduct the step count during the timeframe in which the exercise took place?
In summary, this glitch with the horseback riding feature is not enough to diminish the practicality and fun of my Fitbit. It has become a wonderful way to record with the touch of a button at the beginning of my ride and a touch of a button at the end of the ride how long I rode and the intensity of the workout. I’ve only scratched the surface of the capabilities of my Fitbit. I’m looking forward to learning more of its features and figuring out more ways to use it at the barn.
Do you use a Fitbit for horseback riding or another type of fitness tracker? What are your favorite features, or what features would you like to use more in 2016? What questions have you had answered or still linger?
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I'm Susan and this is my horse Knight. We have been a blogging team since 2015 and we're glad you're here. Tally ho!
I got a Fit Bit Charge HR for Christmas, and LOVE IT! I totally agree that it helps convince non-horse people that riding is actually exercise and that it is actually a sport haha. I was running into the same problem as you with counting steps while riding, until I searched the Exercise Type and found ‘Horseback Riding’. I think the Fit Bit is a great tool to track everything (except food, obviously) and not even have to think about it. Great post!
So are you saying that your Fitbit will delete steps accrued during your workout when you categorize it as “Horseback riding?” Mine doesn’t appear to do that.
I don’t use a fitbit but I want to get one. It’s interesting the calorie counts still seem low on the 40 mins for riding. I’ve found with the HR monitor I had that I burned roughly the same amount of calories in hacks and lessons as I did when running (but not lifting or cycling).
Did you burn fewer calories lifting and cycling?
Mine actually auto-categorizes my rides as runs most of the time. I kind of find this funny as I die on my runs, but not while riding. It also gives my calisthenic workouts a lower rate of calorie burn than my runs. Even though they destroy me more.
Overall, though, I have zero problem with it counting steps. I see my step count as my activity level for the day. And, if it’s a workout it should count into my daily movement. My husband’s workouts count into his, after all.
I got a Fitbit Flex around Thanksgiving – this one doesn’t let you select for type of exercise or record heart rate. I’m OK with it counting my horse’s steps since I’m up there puffing and panting as much as any exercise. I only feel like it’s “cheating” if I’m on a long trail ride just walking. But otherwise, it’s a good activity to get the blood pumping, so I say it counts!
Loved reading this!Got one for Christmas! Still learning how to use it!
I got a Charge HR for Christmas and I actually love that it still includes riding as steps. Riding is something I do almost every day and I think it should be included in my exercise just like when I run or go on the elliptical. If I ride for more or less time that’s incorporated into my step goal and I will walk more or head to the gym to make up the difference. The calories burned is still dependent on my heart rate so it’s not like it’s effecting my eating inappropriately by including the steps either.
One of the things that interested me the most was how much more of a workout I get from one horse versus the other. Evidently having a horse that’s difficult to ride is good for my health, lol.
Really a great invention being able to track what you’ve been doing and how your body has been responding!
I frequently rack up 50k steps a day according to my Fitbit. Now I’m pretty sure I do more than 10,000 steps but when I spend 4 hour in the saddle I need it to delete the “steps” that I’ve done!
I found that 1.5 hours of yard work; turning out and mucking out, was 10k steps so my wrist was vibrating by 9am! They defo have their uses, but also their limitations 🙂
That’s incredible. I’m not sure what to think now after reading these comments. Some people like that riding tracks the steps, other people want to delete them too.
They could do with options for riding intensity; hacking uses less than schooling, and what about jumping?
I got the Up Jawbone a few years ago now. I don’t use it anymore. Perhaps I should get an updated model. Very interesting post. It would be very cool if they can make that change to the step count for horseback riding.
Hmmm. . . I’ve heard of the Jawbone but I’m not really familiar with it at all. I think you’d like the Fitbit. I want to keep track of various barn tasks over time. (15 minutes lunging–’cause you know there are a lot of steps involved in that, a thorough grooming of a muddy horse, cleaning a saddle and bridle, etc.)
That was really interesting! I’ve always been intrigued by fitbits. A friend of mine has one, but she always takes it off for riding so that it doesn’t mess up her steps. I think she has the most basic model though, so it’s doesn’t teach HR or workouts.
Thanks for weighing in. I wonder how many other riders like your friend take off the Fitbit because of that same issue. I wish there was a way to delete steps!
I had a fitbit for awhile and had the same issues with horseback riding steps. It was too annoying to go in and set aside the riding time to get an accurate count, so I just stopped using it.
That’s kind of sad to hear. Hmmm. . . you’re giving me good “ammo” to write the company. 🙂
I’ve just gotten a slightly less fancy Fitbit than you, and am excited to use it for riding. I was hoping it’d be smart enough not to count the steps, but I guess not.
Oooh. . . what model did you get? Welcome to the “club.”
I just inherited a Fitbit from a friend that got a new one for Christmas. I am having the same issues with it tracking me while riding. I get some insanely high numbers when I am riding, but I like to think that the heartrate and the calorie tracking are pretty accurate.
I had no idea! I definitely need to put this on my wish list.
I think you’d love it! Go for it!
I have the Charge HR and I like that it counts steps when I ride! Interestingly, with a recent software update it started automatically deciding when I’m doing a workout (based on my heart rate, I guess?) and recording it without me doing it manually. It has a list of workout types that it’ll auto-recognize and horseback riding isn’t one of them. However, sometimes it auto-records my rides as “Outdoor Bike.” No idea what triggers that, but it still counts the steps for that time, which wouldn’t make sense if I was, indeed, on a bike.
Oh!!! That is so iteresting. So we have the same model. I haven’t yet had it figure out when I’m doing a workout. Just curious, how long have you been using your Fitbit?
What a fantastic idea! And how cool that one lesson burns nearly the same amount of calories as a spin class… a great excuse to ditch the gym lol.
http://www.brunetteinbreeches.com
I don’t have a Fitbit but I’m currently obsessed with all apps that track calories, so maybe I need this ; ) I love that it can be used to track calories while riding even though there are still some glitches.
Great read! I didn’t know using a fitbit could do this!
Thanks, Aryelle! I’m in the middle of writing another one for horsechannel.com. I’m researching other devices beyond Fitbit. You’ll have to check it out later in March. 🙂
I just started using a Polar M400. Haven’t tried it with riding yet, but from what I’ve read it should work! The Polar can also do heart rate with this special thingy you wear. I’m excited to try it. Have you looked into that model for your next article?
I was not even aware of this model. Can you please let me know your opinion of it once you’ve tried it for riding? My email is susanfriedlandsmith at gmail dot com. Thanks! I just read about it and it sounds like it also has video capability.