Pivo Horse Tracking: Tips and Tricks

Pivo’s AI Horse Tracking technology is specifically designed to track horses and help riders capture their rides to review, analyze and improve performance. Horse Tracking (Basic) available on Pivo Equestrian Lite, Pivo Equestrian Silver and Pivo Equestrian Max is an innovative feature, combined with the Pod’s 360 rotation, that let’s you film hands-free so yo can focus on your ride as Pivo follows you. The innovative technology, comes after years of training Pivo’s AI and intensive research and development for our community of Equestrians.

In this article, just like Horse Riding Tips, we share easy and quick Horse Tracking hacks that will elevate your Pivo experience and help you track your training sessions and rides better. Learn all about how to place your Pivo, the best accessories that compliment your filming, settings to make your videos better, and much more!

1. Place Pivo at X

Starting off with the Pod’s placement, which is the first and foremost, most essential step. Pivo works best when it can track the full shape of your horse at an even distance all around. X is the best position to place Pivo at for optimal performance. If you’re tracking with Pivo in an open field, the middle of the space would be ideal. Refer to the diagram below for more information.

If you want to track your horse anywhere but X, please turn off Predictive Follow and turn on Auto Zoom.

However, if you need to track your ride from a position other than X, there are a few suggestiong: When placing Pivo at the side, we recommend keeping a distance in the following conditions:
– 2 meters in walk
– 3 meters in trot
– 5 meters in canter

All these settings and tips help you film better and track your horse riding session is a seamless manner.

2. 10% Rule

The Horse Tracking window is also an important aspect to keep in mind when using your Pivo Pod. In order for Pivo to pick up on your horse, they should fill at least 10% of the screen. That being said, the quality of Tracking depends on other factors such as lighting, distance, speed of movement, your smartphone camera specifications as well as the size of the object on the screen. Make sure the height of your Tripod or where your Pod is placed captures you and your horse in a way that you are visible well on screen.

You can toggle other settings like Target Exposure to help with harsh outdoor lighting and also choose the Auto Zoom feature that allows Pivo to automatically zoom in and out on the tracking target in Smart Tracking. When you move far away, Pivo automatically zooms in to make sure you stay at least 10% of the frame in order to continue tracking you at a far distance. The best part is, Pivo zooms out again as you get closer to your smartphone. Note: You can use Auto Zoom with Smart Tracking, but not Action Tracking.

3. Stand Out!

We want to see you, and Pivo also wants to see you! Help Pivo distinguish your horse from the background by using some brightly-colored horse tack. Note: The tack should be in contrast to your horse and the background, if your horse is a similar shade to your background. If your horse is light and the background is light, use dark tack. If your horse is dark and the background is dark, use light tack. This helps the Pod track you better and create a differentiation. The Auto Tracking works best when the settings are maximized to your environment, style of horse riding, discipline and more.

4. Set up Your Smartphone

For best tracking quality, Horse Tracking uses the back camera as default as it has higher quality than the front camera. If you wish to use the front camera, you can enable it within the settings.

Put the phone in landscape mode (horizontally) to use Horse Tracking, if the phone is on portrait (vertically), it’ll still allow you to use the feature but the performance might not be on par when placed horizontally. Make sure you use the back camera in the landscape format to film your ride with ease. For better movement of your phone you can also check out the Smart Mount that is designed to fit your Pod and lets you change the perspective of your phone between portrait and landscape (along with any perspective in between), you can also manually change the tilt of your phone up to 25 degrees forwards and 90 degrees backwards.

5. Type of Smartphone

The Pod and app are compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones which meet the minimum configuration requirements:

• iPhone 8 or above with iOS 13.0 or higher   
• Premium Android phones from 2017 and later with Android version 9.0 or higher

That being said, the more recent the smartphone, the higher the camera quality is likely to be. The higher the camera quality, the easier it will be for Pivo to track you. You can also check out the full list of compatible smartphones for tracking here. If your phone is not on the list, you can ask our Official Horse Community.

6. Action Cameras

For some variety in the footage, action cameras are a great option to use with Pivo. While Pivo is tracking your horse with Horse Tracking on your smartphone, you can be filming with the action camera attached to the Action Mount for wider lens capabilities at the same time. Click here for How to Get Started with the Action Mount. If you wish to film your ride with a professional camera, Pivo Equestrian Max lets you attach your camera to the Pod easily and also gives you the ability to have a dual filming mode with a phone and camera together! You can also capture your horse riding progress with a tablet, combined with a powerful performance and a longer battery life.

7. Tripod

When you’re using your Pivo Pod, a Tripod is a must-have accessory for Horse Tracking. It lets you adjust the height according to your needs, and also provides stability and ease of filming. Set it up correctly and you’re ready to capture! Follow the steps below to get started:

• Find a flat surface to place the Tripod. Best to put it in the center of the arena for better tracking.
• Unfold the legs and make sure the legs are secure. The Pivo Tripod has 3 stability options. The wider the legs are adjusted, the more stable the Tripod will be.
• Extend the Tripod’s neck to the desired height and secure it by clicking the locks shut. We recommend at least the height of the horse’s chest for optimal tracking.
• Place the Pivo Pod on top of the Tripod and turn it clockwise until firmly secured
• Put your smartphone into the Pivo Pod horizontally.
• Add some weight on the little hook underneath the Tripod for more stability. This is not required but highly recommended especially when recording on a windy day.

Note: To prevent injuries or damages which may result if the Pivo Pod falls off, we highly suggest following all the steps mentioned above. 

Effortless solo filming

We hope these tips are useful for horse riders like yourself to film better. With Pivo, spend less time and money filming solo sessions. No setup hassles or filming buddies needed. Pivo does the filming so you can focus on training. Its pocket-friendly size also gives you the chance to record your best training footage at your fingertips. It easily fits into any bag or in the handy Pivo Travel Case. The features like “Lessons” also help you get real-time feedback as you receive horse riding lessons via video call while your coach controls the movement of your Pod. Instantly review your footage and analyze for self-improvement with Pivo!

Read more – Tips to Start Training a New Horse