Friday, June 6, 2014

Viva Carlos Blog Hop: Is there an app for that?


L. Williams and Majestic Unicorn have a great topic for us to discuss: What is your favorite horse or horse related app for the iPhone or Android device?

I have an Android device, but my favorite app is available for either operating system. It's Evernote. It's not a horse-related app, per se, but for the last few months, I've been using it to maintain the horses' records. 

Not only does Evernote offer mobile apps, it's also available as a desktop app for Windows and Mac as well as available on the web. Notes are synced across platforms, so I can access them from my phone, my Chromebook, or my desktop computer. 

Screenshot of Evernote as accessed from the web.
It's easy to integrate pictures into the notes, so I've scanned the horses' registration papers and Coggins tests. That way, I can print the Coggins to submit with show entries, and I have a backup copy of their papers just in case I misplace the real thing. (Which happens kind of a lot.)

Evernote also has this nifty thing called the web clipper, which is a browser extension from which you can "clip" or save things to your notes. I've clipped articles from Practical Horseman, diagrams from fellow bloggers, and PDFs of show schedules. 

Clipped from Practical Horseman,
as viewed on my mobile device.
I still rely on my daily planner and a pen for recording events as they happen. (e.g. "Horses trimmed" or "Rode Moe 45 mins, dressage, worked on halts, terrible canter, good attitude.") But I've started transposing those things to Evernote; my goal is to start recording them into Evernote directly, via my phone.

Screenshot of Gina's riding log from the desktop app for Windows.

I haven't been the best about keeping everything totally up to date, but I'm happy with how the app has worked for me thus far. I think with some practice on my part to form a habit, I'll be mostly-paperless when it comes to equine records!

Evernote is free- it has a premium option that includes more sharing options, more upload space, and a few other extra features. If you're interested, you can try the premium version free for a month. I use the free version, though, and it works just fine for me!

2 comments:

Beka Burke said...

OMG. I downloaded Evernote and tried to use it for a day. I'm just not good at taking notes. I like your simplicity in your note taking - I might have to try that! I keep a file on Google Drive for all of Archie's medical history and stuff, which is accessible by my phone, too. Gah, stop being such a good horse owner!

Aoife said...

Sounds fab, might have to give it a whirl

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