How AI Is transforming Equestrian Training With Equestic Coach-Copilot App

How to make teaching more productive, learning more effective, and rider progress faster, ultimately improving horse welfare? The first AI platform, recently launched by Equestic company, was designed exactly for this - to support riders, coaches, and horses with real-time lesson capture and data-driven insights. By capturing training lessons in real time, structuring them into clear, actionable insights, and delivering guidance directly to riders during solo rides, EQ Coach-Copilot sets a new standard for personalized, data-backed equestrian development.

For decades, equestrian training has relied on a combination of feel, experience, and expert guidance. While these are essential parts of the sport, they can create gaps and slow learning progress: Riders forget significant portions of their lessons; coaches lack visibility into solo rides between lessons; and horses can only communicate through subtle physical signals that are easy to miss.

“EQ Coach-Copilot represents a shift from reactive coaching to intentional, data-supported training,” said Leon Rutten, Founder and CEO of Equestic. EQ Coach-Copilot addresses these gaps by combining the coach’s expertise with objective EQ Saddle-Clip data, accelerating a rider’s ability for deep learning, making progress, and developing feel.

During lessons, riders have to follow coaching instructions, while juggling complex coordination, horse movements, and maintaining balance. This together creates a high cognitive load on a rider’s brain, leaving no space for actual learning. It also leads to slower progress in training as riders can’t use coach guidance when riding solo. 

Furthermore, during solo training, riders face new questions and challenges that their coaches never see and therefore do not get addressed. Because of this, even great coaches often end up working reactively, correcting only what is visible in the current lesson rather than the deeper patterns that create issues and restrain progress.  

EQ Coach-Copilot solves these challenges by capturing the lesson voice recordings of the coach, creating AI-powered summaries, and delivering actionable prompts directly to the rider while they train independently. 

Supported by EQ Saddle-Clip motion data, including rhythm, symmetry, impulsion, and workload balance, the platform helps riders develop deeper feel and make measurable progress. It also provides riders with the ability to record questions in the moment during solo rides, and reports on development progress to the coach ahead of the next lesson.

Coaches Share Early Experiences

Lendon Gray, Dressage Olympian, recipient of the 2024 US Equestrian Lifetime Achievement Award, and Founder and Chairman of Dressage4Kids, emphasized the importance of how the platform can change how her students learn between sessions: “I think the homework aspect is something a lot of us, as instructors, don’t pay enough attention to. When I get to the end of a lesson, I have my students give their horse a walk instead of stopping them and saying, now remember this and this. As teachers, we should be doing that, and having EQ Coach-Copilot do it for you, is even better. If you're not keeping some sort of record of your lessons, you're not giving yourself every opportunity to become the best rider you can become.”

Laurens van Lieren, Dutch World and European Championship Medalist and current KNHS Technical Manager, highlighted the value of using AI in his coaching: “I was genuinely impressed by the quality and how quickly the summary came through — it was ready almost as soon as the lesson ended. EQ Coach-Copilot did a great job highlighting key areas, and I can see how helpful this will be for my students when they’re reviewing and trying to remember what they’ve learned. For me as a coach, it also helps to look back at previous lessons, pick up where we left off, and clearly track the progress we’re making with the rider.”

Nuno Avelar, World Champion, FEI Trainer & International Dressage and Working Equitation Coach, notes the importance of continued progress between lessons: "As a coach working with riders and horses across many countries, I know how important it is to have a summary from the lessons ready to check out as often as it’s needed. No one can remember 100% of every word after a lesson. That’s where EQ Coach-Copilot helps on this matter."

Dutch Rider Tessa Kole, one of the promising young talents in Dutch dressage, won the National Dressage Z2 Freestyle class at The Dutch Masters 2026 in ’s-Hertogenbosch, achieving 77.833% with her mare Odi Murona. Trained by Dutch team rider and coach Thamar Zweistra, the pair delivered the strongest performance of the class in Arena 2, finishing ahead of a competitive field and confirming Kole’s rising profile in the sport.

“In our training we used the Equestic Saddle-Clip and the Coach-Copilot app, which allow us to measure exactly how the horse moves and review each training session in detail,” said Dutch team rider and coach Thamar Zweistra, who works with Kole. “The Saddle-Clip is really useful for the welfare of the horse, because it allows us to see the horse’s diagonal movements and how evenly it pushes left and right. This helps us understand whether the horse is moving in balance on both sides and adjust the training accordingly, so we support performance while protecting the horse’s physical well-being.”

“It’s amazing how many details you can see from the training,” said Tessa Kole. “With the Coach-Copilot app I can review my training afterwards and continue practising the exercises at home by myself. It really works for me because I can review my training better and train more effectively. Thamar can also review the session, so we both clearly see what we did in the lesson and how the horse moved. In the end, I think that helps us progress better.”

A First-of-Its-Kind Training Platform

EQ Coach-Copilot builds on seven years of real-world experience from the EQ Saddle-Clip, which has collected motion data from over 400,000 rides and horses worldwide. The platform transforms lessons into structured training units while protecting intellectual property — voice-captured content access is controlled jointly by coach and rider.

Designed as human-centered technology, EQ Coach-Copilot complements the coach’s expertise, enabling scalable, highly personalized coaching and new business opportunities such as remote training.

Availability

EQ Coach-Copilot available worldwide and free to download now from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 

For more information visit https://www.equestic.com/

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About Equestic

Founded in the Netherlands in 2019 by Leon Rutten, Equestic is the consumer brand of Smart Horse Technologies B.V. It was built on his family’s equestrian coaching heritage and strengthened by over 30 years of software and hardware product leadership.

Blending deep knowledge in equestrian sport with cutting-edge expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), product engineering, and marketing, Equestic is focused on innovations that genuinely support coaches, riders, and their horses.

Equestic’s mission is to “help riders and coaches perform with care.”

For more information visit https://www.equestic.com/

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Irene Varf

Working In Your Shoes BV

Irene is an ex-Microsoft, ex- HP comms strategiest, passionate about helping brands find their voice and make it heard in all the right places.

She supports both corporates and early-stage startups to build smart, authentic communication from the ground up. Whether it’s launching a new product, amplifying a CEO’s voice, or creating a consistent media presence across regions, Irene focuses on what truly connects: the right message, at the right time, to the right audience.

Irene is deeply involved in shaping brand stories across channels from PR and news flow to events, influencer engagement, and community management.

It’s all about creating relevance, building trust, and keeping your brand top of mind.

Reach out for the support in media engagements for B2b, B2C and B2G projects in the UK, US, Europe and MENA regions.

Website: www.workinginyourshoes.com

This article is from the April 2026 issue of Equine Business Magazine