“We aim to transform the traditional equestrian market through Equestic Coach-Copilot by creating a digital twin of the horse and rider to enhance performance, enabling coaches to design data-driven individualised training plans and ensuring the highest standards of safety,” explained Equestic CEO Leon Rutten. 

Equestic Coach-Copilot unites SaddleClip hardware, allowed by FEI, USDF and other national federations for use in competitions, easy-to-use app, and AI platform built upon a dataset of more than 400,000 unique rides, that analyses more than 100 Equine Motion Performance Indicators in real time to identify trends and find correlations in benchmarks with 99% accuracy. 

According to a recent report by Nielsen Sports, the global economic impact of equestrian sports (excluding horse racing or betting) has reached approximately $300 billion per year, with more than half of that coming from the United States and approximately 20% from Europe. The worldwide industry includes more than 60 million horses (led by 27% in North America) and 335 million riders. “In just 8 key markets across Europe and the UK – about 25% of the population aged 16 to 65, or approximately 94 million people, ride horses at least occasionally,” added Nielsen Sports.

Previously, Equestic has already raised €1.6 million in investments. The company now aims to capture 5% of riders and 12% of coaches in targeted segments to generate €35 million subscription revenue in 4 years of the launch. “By 2030, we believe every single horse will be equipped with a sensor, allowing AI to create a digital twin and detailed tracking of each rider’s entire training history,” continued Rutten.

Equestic precisely calculates training time spent standing, walking, trotting, or cantering on the left or right rein as well as the number of jumps. AI platform can then review the rhythm, impulsion and symmetry metrics of the ride, and coaches can create personalised development plans for riders, supported by instant feedback from the system which translates complex multi-sensor data into user-friendly insights.

It can also synchronise the data stream with video recordings of each training and visualize telemetry data for detailed review. “It helps me create awareness with my students and enables them to train even more precisely. It shows every little deviation you need to work on,” said George Williams, Grand Prix Dressage Trainer, President of the United States Dressage Federation (USDF).

Founded by Dutch CEO Leon Rutten, who brings a renowned family history of equestrian sports coaching to the business to complement his 30 years of IT experience, the company also features ex-Microsoft Dmitry Marchenko, helping integrate AI and machine learning into the company’s products and services.

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