Comparison

Equilab vs Polework Patterns

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Equilab

Track your equestrian rides, monitor horse progress, and stay safe with live location sharing. Connect with a global community, organize schedules, and gain insights into your training. Ideal for riders of all levels.

Highlights
  • Ride tracking (distance, speed, gaits, turns)
  • Live location sharing for safety
  • Gait analysis and progress monitoring
  • Challenges and achievements
  • Equestrian community connection
  • Shared calendars and groups
  • Apple HealthKit integration
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Start tracking your rides with the world’s leading app for equestrians. Equilab lets you track the distance, speed, gaits, and turns of your sessions — all using your smartphone (or Apple Watch). Then, review your data over time to see how you and your horse have progressed! It also keeps you safe while riding alone by letting family and friends track your live location, so that they always know where you are. Download the app to join the world’s largest equestrian community, with over 1 million users! With Equilab, you can effortless track each session simply by taking your iPhone and/or Apple Watch with you when you ride. Our advanced gait analysis technology provides insights so that you and your horse(s) can continue to grow. (Equilab's Premium subscription allows users to track rides with just their standalone Apple Watch.) For those who ride alone and/or out in nature, Equilab helps you discover new trails and stay safe. By adding Safety Contacts in the app, you can ensure that your loved ones can always see where you are. They will also receive an alert if you stop moving for 5+ minutes. You can use Equilab to: 1. Track every ride — use your phone or compatible Apple Watch when you ride to analyze your gait, distance, time, and more. 2. Stay safe — enable family and friends to track your location while riding so that they always know where you are. (Premium feature) 3. Get motivated — ride more to complete Challenges and earn achievements that help you and your friends grow as equestrians. 4. Celebrate progress — show off your growth as an equestrian and celebrate your friends as they grow, too. 5. Connect with other equestrians — chat with riders in your community or across the world 6. Organize your life — plan your routines and coordinate trainers, vets, or co-riders with Equilab's shared calendars and groups. 7. Monitor your health — Equilab integrates with Apple’s HealthKit so that you can understand how your training impacts your fitness. Equilab also helps simplify your equestrian life. Easily join groups and connect with friends, trainers, vets, farriers, and more to share rides, schedules, and other important information. As the largest community of equestrians in the world, Equilab makes coordinating with others easy. Our app is used by equestrians of all levels, from Olympic riders to weekend hobby riders. They ride and train in over 50 countries across 6 continents. We empower all riders - so no matter your level, Equilab can help you grow as an equestrian. Equilab Premium Subscription Our app offers a recurring subscription product that provides full access to safety tracking, advanced training details, weather history for your rides, a customized equestrian calendar, and more powerful features! You can purchase an Equilab Premium subscription for 1 month ($12.99), 6 months ($59.99), or 1 year ($99.99) (prices for users in the U.S.). A one-week free trial is available for all first-time users. When you subscribe to Equilab Premium, you’ll automatically be charged via your Apple account when you confirm the purchase. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. The user may manage subscriptions, and auto-renew may be turned off after purchase by going to the ‘Manage Subscription’ page of your Apple account (accessible your iPhone or iPad’s Settings). Any unused portion of a free trial period (if offered) will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. Subscriptions will renew at the same cost, and Equilab will notify subscribers ahead of any pricing changes. If you decide to cancel, you will retain access to Equilab’s Premium features until the end of the final billing period. Terms and Conditions: https://equilab.horse/termsandconditions Privacy Policy: https://equilab.horse/privacypolicy

About

Polework Patterns

Discover new polework exercises for your horse with this app. It offers 40 diverse layouts and 120 exercises focusing on balance, core strength, and responsiveness. Easily find patterns based on pole count or training focus, with suggested paces and difficulty ratings.

Highlights
  • 40 polework layouts
  • Search by pole count
  • Search by training focus
  • Random layout generator
  • Color-coded pace suggestions
  • Difficulty ratings
  • Favorites folder
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Do you love polework but have run out of ideas how to use your poles? Are you looking to engage your horse’s brain as well as their body in a fun and beneficial way? Do you get bored in the arena and need to help finding new ways to keep both you and your horse entertained? If the answer is yes to any of the above then you need the Polework Patterns App by Fancy Footwork Equestrian in your life! This app includes 40 different layouts (20 main and 20 random) which are designed to be multi directional and use between one and twenty poles. There are several unique features including: - the option to search for layouts based on the amount of poles you want to use: • 1–5 poles • 6–10 poles • 11–15 poles • 16–20 poles - the option to search for exercises based on what area of a horse’s development you want to focus on – here you will find 15 categories including • Balance • Core • Engagement • Response to rider • ... and more! - a random button which can be used if you can’t decide which layout to go for, or if you like to live a little dangerously! Either way press that random button, watch the poles spin, the confetti fall and then marvel as your layout is revealed! - all of the layouts have different suggested exercises to use (four options for the main layouts and two options for the random layouts), each of which are colour-coded to show which pace to use, and a proposed difficulty rating attached to help you decide if that exercise is suitable to your horse’s stage of training. - 120 potential exercises with four suggestions given per exercise as to what areas it could help your horse improve on. (Flexibility, straightness etc) - a “Favourites” folder where you can add any of the 80 exercises used in the main layouts for quick and easy access. - all for a one off price! No monthly subscription. No annual membership. Buy it once and that's it; its yours to keep! Polework patterns was developed by the creator of Fancy Footwork Equestrian, Nina Gill. Nina is a qualified coach who runs Polework clinics full-time and is passionate about her work and the many benefits of polework. This passion has led to Fancy Footwork Equestrian collaborating with some of the U.K.’s biggest equestrian YouTubers and influencers, as well as having Polework training articles printed in three of the biggest equine magazines to date. With this app you will never run out of Polework ideas, even the biggest layouts have been designed to be broken down into smaller sections so that those sections can be used as a standalone layout if you don’t have enough poles to build the whole thing.

Screenshots

Equilab4 screens
Polework Patterns4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Equilab at Free against Polework Patterns's $3.99. Equilab also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (5.2K vs 3). Polework Patterns's advantage is review sentiment (93% vs 70%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Equilab is free to download; Polework Patterns costs $3.99 up front. Equilab sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and Polework Patterns sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polework Patterns holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Equilab has 5.2K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Equilab's written reviews are positive against 93% of Polework Patterns's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Equilab ships an update weekly, Polework Patterns every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Equilab versus Polework Patterns: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEquilabPolework Patterns
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.8 (5.2K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.2% of reviews93.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.2K — better3
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
Best chart rank#119#34 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size226 MB47 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperEquestrian Insights ABNina Gill

Customer experience

Equilab

All ratings5,156 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews507 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral15.6%
Negative14.2%

Polework Patterns

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive93.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.9%

Bugs and requests

Equilab

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Rides disappearing from timeline
  • Inability to edit or delete recorded rides
  • Inconsistent gait and speed tracking
  • Syncing issues between phone and Apple Watch

Requested features

6 requests
  • Pause/resume ride tracking
  • Ability to add unlimited horses
  • Customizable calendar/planning
  • Apple Watch app with full functionality
  • Improved accuracy for Western disciplines
Show 1 more
  • Option to hide location details for privacy

Polework Patterns

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Equilab

Subscriptions3
  • Equilab Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Equilab Premium - 6 months7 Days trial$59.996 Months
  • Equilab Premium - Annual7 Days trial$99.991 Year
1 purchases

Polework Patterns

One-time1
  • Patterns Add-On #1$2.99

Questions

Is Equilab free?
Equilab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Polework Patterns free?
Polework Patterns costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Equilab or Polework Patterns?
Polework Patterns is rated higher. Equilab averages 4.8 out of 5 from 5.2K ratings, while Polework Patterns averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Equilab or Polework Patterns have ads?
Neither Equilab nor Polework Patterns shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Equilab or Polework Patterns?
Equilab ships an update weekly, and Polework Patterns every 6 months. Most recently, Equilab was updated on October 2, 2026 and Polework Patterns on October 3, 2026.
Which is more popular, Equilab or Polework Patterns?
Equilab currently peaks at #119 in the App Store charts, and Polework Patterns at #34. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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