Use Your Phone Or Camera For Recording Your Time In The Saddle

Confident Rider Challenge Day 25

I don’t know about you, but I am finding that every day I get out and work with my horses it just seems normal. So even after I get home from work, I still make a point to work with at least one horse, and sometimes both of them. In the beginning, it was a chore to even take one of them for a walk, let alone saddle up to ride. Now it has become a habit. I am working with my horses at least 6 days a week. So this challenge has helped me to make my horses a priority. How about you? Are you spending more time with your horse from committing to this challenge? I hope so!

Oh, and I want to let you know that I do have some affiliate links within this blog post and if you click on a link, and make a purchase of something, I may receive a small commission. And this helps me to continue doing what I do, and maybe one day afford to buy a new camera, more on that a little further in the post…

Recording Your Time In The Saddle

Do you have a smart phone? Do you have someone that can record at least a few minutes of you riding your horse? If you can answer yes to both questions, you can start to record yourself riding your horse.

And being able to ‘see’ what you look like riding is so helpful! It’s one thing to have a trainer telling you what to do, and when you do it correctly you get the feedback from them. But when you can physically see what you look like in those moments, it’s even more helpful. It’s like you just 10x’d your riding lesson.

And if you aren’t currently taking lessons, but find yourself riding a lone a lot, the recordings of your ride can help you as well. Because you can see what happens when you do things with your horse. You can see your position as well as how your horse is reacting to you being in the saddle. Being able to see yourself riding has been the most helpful tool I have been able to use to help me to improve my riding.

Seeing Is Believing

It is especially helpful to watch what you look like on your horse if you are a visual learner. Because if you can physically see what you are doing when you are riding, it will help you to focus on that area the next time you are in the saddle. Does that make sense? I hope so. But if it doesn’t, let me give you an example.

I have a really bad habit of letting my fingers remain loose while I’m holding the reins. No matter how much I try to remind myself to keep my fingers closed, and together, I always seem to forget. And after I record a video clip to put together for an upcoming video, I always look at my hands. And sometimes my fingers are closed, but a lot of times, they are open. Especially my pinky fingers!

But the next time I get on my horse, I find that I am thinking about my hands. And I try even harder to keep my fingers closed, and closer together the next time I get in the saddle. And while I’ve not perfected keeping my fingers closed all the time, I am improving. Each time I watch my riding session, I notice there are fewer moments of when I am keeping my fingers so Lucy-Goosey.

And you can apply this to anything that you are doing while you are riding. Your posture, where you are looking, your legs, and well pretty much anything else you can think of.

Recording By Yourself

If you don’t have anyone to help you with your video production, you can do it on your own. It’s just a little more time consuming. And you will need a few extra things.

A Camera

When I am recording on my own I flip flop between my DSLR, A Nikon D7100 or Nikon D3400, or My ‘real’ video camera, a Canon XA30. They each have their pros and cons. I like the DSLR cameras because I can switch out the lenses, and the video quality is really good. It’ so good that I can take frames from the videos I make and turn them into pictures for my blog articles. But, you can only film for 20 minutes with these cameras, and they don’t have a flip out view screen. This makes it challenging to capture my entire arena while I am riding or working with my horses.

The Canon XA30 is great, because I can record for as long as I want, as long as my memory card isn’t full. But I find the image quality is not as good as it is with the DSLR cameras. But I do like that I can plug in my microphone to the camera and use the audio for videos I am making. But this isn’t really necessary if you are just recording your riding session.

A Tripod

This is a necessity for filming on your own. Because you need somewhere for your camera to sit. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on your tripod. I have several that I use. The one reserved for my video camera is made by KingJoy. It is a heavy duty tripod that is adjustable. I use this thing all the time. I have a less expensive version that I use for my DSLR cameras, and sometimes even my phone.

Memory Cards

If you are going to be filming yourself, you will need memory cards. And nowadays you can get a 64 GB card for around $20.00. So it makes it very affordable to capture a lot of video and images that you can review. And when you have transferred the files to your computer, you can erase the card and it’s like brand new again!

If you are seriously considering setting yourself up with a camera, tripod, and everything you need to record your riding, it will cost you what it would for about 2 months’ worth of riding lessons, or about $600.00. It could be less if you find used equipment.

Setting Up Your Camera

To set up your camera, you need to go to a corner of your riding arena. You want to capture as large of an area as possible, so you can get most of your ride captured.

My arena is pretty large. So I try and set up the camera where I will be able to see how my horse is moving, and how our transitions are. And the more we practice, the better we get which will give us a lot of footage to review!

Having Someone Record You

This is my favorite thing to do. Asking my husband to record me for even 10 minutes is so helpful. And this method doesn’t require a lot of expensive camera equipment. All you need is a helper and a smart phone. And the video quality of your phone is amazing. I promise, you will be very happy with the videos being on your phone!

And it is so nice to have a cameraman following your entire ride. This is the best possible way to film, by having someone record your lesson, or ride.

The Best Of Both Worlds

Or, you can have the best of both worlds, seriously. And this is what I really want. Have you heard of Soloshot? It’s a robotic camera man! You wear a tracker on your arm, and when you turn n the camera, it follows you! This thing is so incredibly cool. You get a great video, and the camera follows you while you are riding. The entire setup costs about $799.00 for the fancier camera. This is what you can do with this robotic camera man:

• Up to 2,000 Ft. Range
• Live Stream
• 4K30, 1080P120 Video
• 65X Optical Zoom
• 12 MP Photos
• Up to 4 Hour Battery Life

They have it at Riding Warehouse, which just makes me drool. I want this camera so bad.

But, at the Soloshot website, right now they are discontinuing the smaller camera, so you could get one of these cameras for $399.00, until they run out of them. Oh how I wish I had the money to do this right now! But sadly, I don’t. I spend too much money on buying horse stuff, and well, I suck at saving money. So for now I will have to be content with what I have. But one day, I will have a Soloshot. Oh yes, one day it will be mine!

And just in case anyone from Soloshot is reading my blog…..I LOVE your camera system….just saying!

 

Daily Challenge

Ok, I think that about covers how you can film your riding sessions. So now, figure out how you can record your ride. Even if it is only for 10 minutes. I promise, once you have recorded yourself riding, you will want to do it more.

So find someone to help you just for a little bit. I think you will find it very helpful for improving your riding!