An Abundance of Robot Cameras

I always said that I wish I had the money to pay someone to follow me around on my horse videoing me the whole time. And now that technology has caught up with this vision, I have a lot of robot cameras following me around.

Soloshot

I bought my Soloshot 3 in August 2018, it was on sale (it's like $800 now! I looked it up in my 2018 budget and I paid $427.93 for it, including tax and shipping) and much cheaper than the only other option at the time (the Pixio, especially because I don't/didn't have a video camera). I've gotten a lot out of it over the last two years and still really love using it. My main complaints are that it's a bit unreliable, it's hard to get videos onto my phone for IG, I can't do remote lessons with it, the battery isn't the best anymore, and I can't use it indoors despite them promising over and over again that they were going to get that done.

When I realized I wanted more lessons than one a month back in early April, I looked up what it was going to take. I could haul to Tanya's... it's probably a 2+ hour haul one way, meaning I'd have to go on a weekend only (and coordinate her show and clinic schedule with my show and clinic schedule) and probably stay overnight. Then the Pixem came out, and without needing the video camera, it was way more affordable, like, still expensive obviously, just not as bad as it was. But, all it'd take is a single clinic for me not to be able to do, plus the gas money and wear/tear on my rig, to make getting the Pixem worth it. So I ordered it. It was backordered, so I waited several months and it finally arrived in early July.

Pixem

I started seeing the Pivo everywhere and it looked really cute! I ended up buying it just on a whim before the Pixem arrived. Even if it didn't work at my busy barn, I'd love to have something super portable to have at the ranch when I'm riding horses there. And omg when my niece starts riding, it'll be so great to have while I'm teaching her.

So, that's how I ended up with three cameras. I feel really weirdly guilty about it, so I need to say this: I can't remember the last saddle pad I bought, I have only taken one lesson a month for YEARS until very recently, and I don't drink alcohol (so therefore never spend $8+ a drink at a bar) or go on vacations other than camping. I haven't even been out of the country as an adult. Different people spend money on different things, apparently robot cameras are my weakness. Okay, enough explanations.

Pivo

Here's my list of pros and cons for each.

Soloshot 3
Price: ~ $800 (I paid far less because apparently it was on a major sale)

Pros:
- doesn't take too long to set up
- only have to charge the one device
- can work on the edge of the arena
- lots of range, can follow you when you're very far away
- can work on hills (it will go up and down, not just side to side)

Cons:
- only works outside
- video quality isn't great
- tricky to get video onto my phone
- sometimes videos trees/loses you way easier than the Pixem
- takes a long time to charge
- doesn't hold a charge that well
- no ability to do live lessons
- terrible customer service

Soloshot

Pixem (I bought it here)
Price: ~ $900 including shipping (I got a discount, the SO works at a company that infuriatingly gives him a lot of discounts)

Pros:
- works inside and outside
- extremely accurate
- video is in phone (so therefore phone determines quality, and I have a decent phone)
- remote lessons are possible
- can work on the edge of the arena

Cons:
- takes a while to set up
- doesn't have a ton of range (fine for a dressage court though)
- everything needs to charge (beacons, watch, camera, phone)
- my phone isn't always charged all the way
- can't listen to music/etc while it is videoing
- remote lessons need either a ceecoach or a second phone

Pixem

Pivo Silver
Price: $150 shipped (I paid that amount)

Pros:
- super fast to set up
- great customer service
- way cheaper than everything
- video is in phone (so therefore phone determines quality, and I have a decent phone)
- works with software so it theoretically should get better over time (it already has been improved)
- quick charging, I can just charge it a bit at the barn each day (vs bringing it home)

Cons:
- struggles with multiple horses
- works best in the middle of the ring (disruptive)
- is definitely the worst at following you of the three
- not reliable enough for remote lessons
- my phone isn't always charged all the way
- can't listen to music/etc while it is videoing

FYI, none of them come with a tripod, so I picked one up at Best Buy. That one lives at the barn.

Pivo, I was right at the edge of the screen lol

So my thoughts are: if you just want something fun to snag some videos of you while you ride mostly on your own, grab the Pivo. If you want remote lessons or if you only ride indoors or if money isn't a big deal, get the Pixem. If you mostly ride outside and want something more accurate than the Pivo but without the price point of the Pixem (though man they're about the same price now), get the Soloshot.

As for now, I'm keeping all of mine. I know it's really overkill, but I have a good reason to hoard the cameras for now. The Pixem is great for remote lessons and for videoing accurately in the covered arena during the winter when we're stuck in there, but it takes a long time to set up and is just generally more of a pain in the ass to lug around, plus I fuck it up frequently unfortunately. The Pivo is super fast to set up and I get videos right on my phone that I can check as I'm riding (I LOVE that), but it sucks in group settings so I'm looking forward to using it when I barely have time in the mornings because it's fast and I'm basically guaranteed to be alone riding that early. I can also easily bring it to my parents' place to play with their horses with. The Soloshot doesn't work inside and doesn't do live video, but it's great for a quick setup in a busy outdoor arena where I don't want to take the time to set up beacons and when the Pivo is going to get confused.

Despite the overkill, neither the Pivo nor the Soloshot are worth enough to sell anyway right now, I think my plan is to keep them long enough to know which one(s) I find the most value in and then decide later.

But hopefully this post helps people figure out which one is best for them! Even if it makes me feel like I have a problem.

Teaching Myself

I haven't been able to get on the schedule to see my trainer since November. I just haven't had a weekend where I'm available, she's available, and the weather isn't terrible. This month I'm just biting the bullet and riding with the trainer I rode with in Sacramento, she's down once a month and I got into her clinic today, phew! It's a bit pricier than Tracey, but it's a lesson and I need one. 

To combat my lack of lessons, this last weekend I decided to use my soloshot. It was actually warm and sunny and the footing in the only open outdoor was good.

Unfortunately I only got video of our warm up. There was a catastrophic injury at my barn that required a helicopter to come in. I opted to just put TC away because I was really shaken by seeing the firetruck and the ambulance and then hearing there'd be a helicopter. That's all I'll say for privacy's sake. Wear your helmets, guys (this rider always does, but it's always a good reminder).

I got to see how low tone and disconnected he is in warm up though, and that's not great:

This was when the ambulance was coming in, so a bit fussy

He's getting much more upright this way, this is the way that
he wants to lean in like crazy

My reins got too long here, oops

Too chillaxed

Seeing those videos made me feel kinda bummed. In so many ways he's so much better, but he feels so nice in the bridle when he goes like this and he doesn't look so great, he's super low in his thoracic sling. I am fairly pleased with my biomechanics. My hands occasionally get crazy and my seat in the canter STILL needs to be improved, but I'm really happy with how I've progressed as a rider this year.

I came out the next day and tried to get more video and failed to get the camera recording (oops), but I made some major changes to the way I was riding him and we got SUCH great work. I finally came out again on Tuesday and had a less good ride but DID get video (although Jesus, Soloshot was having trouble finding me a LOT of the time ugh), here's the difference:

Better place for warm up I think, still wants to drop his wither
but less so than the original videos

Trotting! Pretty pleased with my biomechanics during this ride

Soloshot had some issues this day

Oh man soloshot saw those hind legs and decided to hide them
from my view lol

A very drunk half pass zig zag, this was the first time I have
ever asked for one, he looks so proud of himself when I stopped
and pet him afterward!

I'm way happier with that! And so was he I think, he was way more pumped up and ready to work. I did get a few lead changes on camera but I'll save those for a lead change post next week, I'm excited to share how far he's come with them.

Nothing helps more than taking lessons with my trainer because she has an eye like no other. But the second best is being able to use this camera! Luckily I have a lesson today, I'm hoping to work on quality of the gaits and the connection, so it'll be a bit boring, but it's good for us because the Second level movements are confirmed and the Third level movements just need higher quality gaits to support them. Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have a Third level horse and the beginning of a pirouette for our Fourth level or maybe PSG dreams by the end of 2021.

TC's Terrible Weekend

TC had the worst weekend! On Saturday he got tormented by children, then he got a bath. Then Sunday we went to my parents' place on his first field trip since moving last month and everything was horrifying there.

Hi patience is the worst

Saturday

I set up my soloshot in the corner of the arena to grab some video. I haven't seen him go in a long time, and while he feels great, I'm sure there's a ton of stuff to address. There is, but I didn't get to see very much of it.

There was a group lesson going on at the end of the arena near the gate, so we stuck with the far end and went to work. Then the lesson horses all left. Poor TC was all alone. He was a little concerned. Soon the lesson horses came back into the arena. Mkay. TC was very excited. Then they all left again and TC was very concerned. They kept doing this... for my whole ride. I guess they were trail riding around the property? Then coming back in?

Medium trot developing pretty well though, I do
want more relaxation in it though, but legs are
matching and that's more than I could have said
last time I schooled it

TC got more and more upset, made worse by two horses in turnout playing near him. EVERYONE WAS HAVING SO MUCH FUN AND HE HAD TO WORK. He got super amped and would not calm down, but he only took off bucking once, so I'm counting this as a win.

After our very questionable ride, I further ruined TC's day by scrubbing him clean. He's been absolutely disgusting for so long, it was so nice to get him clean again. He smelled amazing.

I put him in turnout for the first time since he arrived there and he made a friend next door and they went trotting up and down together, playing bitey-face and squealing/striking at each other. I got some video that I'll post later! So cute! So his day wasn't all bad.

The one moment he enjoyed this weekend

Sunday

I have been trying to get a lesson with a new trainer for a while now. She does this thing every week where she like... doesn't work for two days in a row. What the hell, are you even a horse trainer if you don't work every day? I work every day! Granted I also work in an office. But Kate works every day and doesn't work in an office. Are we the crazy ones? Maybe we are... So yeah, she couldn't teach me last Monday and couldn't teach me this Sunday. So I remain on my own.

I figured that it'd still be a good idea to take advantage of the good weather and take TC somewhere. So off to my parents' ranch we went! It's about 25 minutes away from my barn, has good footing, doesn't require a ring fee, and I can use my soloshot there. When it works. Which it didn't feel like doing!

First, before I talk about how TC was, can we just remember that I trained Rico to Grand Prix in this TINY arena. It's the length of a short dressage court and only a bit wider. How the hell did I do that? That horse is a saint, an actual saint.

Okay, back to TC. Who is absolutely not a saint.

Being clean is the worst

I recently pressure washed my trailer, so it was looking beautiful as I loaded up my way-cleaner-than-he-was-a-week-ago horse into it.

When we arrived, I decided that since I had the whole day, I may as well do some patience training. So I left him in the trailer for a while and went in the house to pet the animals. Finally I got him out and took him on a walk. He seemed pleasantly curious and we walked down the road quite a lot.

Back at the trailer, I tied him up and again left him for a while. Then my dad started mowing the lawns and pastures, which TC thought was a horrible thing to do, so he freaked out at the trailer for a while and I again just ignored him while I petted Rico on the nose and told him how perfect he was.

This was as close as I could get him to tracking up, not bad but
he's also a horse that over tracks usually sooooo okay

Finally I thought it might be a good idea to get on him. It was not a good idea.

The ride started out with him walking around on tip toes while I tried to get on him without him immediately leaving. I finally hopped on and he wouldn't walk, so we trotted. Very fast. I had to do a couple of pulley rein stops because he was so frantic about... nothing.

He did give me some EXCELLENT canter work though. When he gets all balled up, it's so easy to ride. I really want to see what it looks like, because it feels good and I literally feel like he's a half halt away from a canter pirouette... but you know, it just seems like the wrong way to get this kind of work out of him.

Back in trot, he was way more relaxed and I should have just pet him and gotten off of him.

Just pet him and get off, Megan, just pet him and get off

I obviously did not. I guess I was greedy. But my mom also saw me riding (she said she was cringing the whole time, she said she knew I could handle it but "he's just SO BIG Megan") and offered to take video. Why get off when I have someone willing to take video?!

I got about two circles of okay work before I put him in canter and all the gunfire started next door. It'd be fine if 1) I had enough horse left to work him through it or 2) the gunfire was predictable so I could ride him through it for a bit, then stop the gunfire and praise him. But it went on for a long time.

So basically he's taking off with me and I can't stop him, but I know I need to get off. So I got him going slow enough to leap off of him and then we did some ground work and stood around while the gunfire kept going on. He did seem to calm down about it, and I had half a mind to get back on... but again it wasn't predictable.

Right before shit hit the fan, he looks good!

There it goes... poor pony was terrified of the gunfire 

We didn't end on a great note, he got back home and we were both kind of frazzled. But the weekend did clarify a few things for me.

1) I am still way too trusting of him
2) I am for sure buying a 2 year old next time so I can Amanda the hell out of it before I send it to a professional to start for me
3) TC still needs way more time before he's *always* trustworthy in new places
4) We are traveling every weekend that I can for the rest of his fucking life until I address it

WW: Rico in the Field

I went down to visit the ranch last weekend and I took Rico out into the field! I had my soloshot and got to test out it's terrain mode. Rico had a blast out in the field and I had fun visiting him. It's a little bittersweet every time I see him, but every moment I spend behind those bay ears is a good one. Here's some stills from our ride since literally the video is so boring! 

WW: You'll Have to Try Harder Than That (Apparently)

This (mostly) Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by learning to buck with your head down and also sticky butts. I'll write more about this incident (that happened a week ago and he's been foot perfect since) tomorrow since it was hilarious and the aftermath was a bit interesting.

He was really good that day too though.

Eeeeee look at it trot

The next day we worked on collecting the canter because his
attempt this day was kinda crap, then Tanya fixed us this week

I'm working on these damn ankles but it's so hard, I refuse to get
boots that allow my ankles to move inside of them because I want
to address the biomechanic behind the bounce.

Such a good pony, except when he was like "stopping? oh"

Paying for Itself

Having the Soloshot has been a game changer for me even just in the last couple of weeks that I've owned it.

I'm still figuring out how to not have it make us be very
downhill sometimes... 

And very uphill some other times! I ordered a new tripod so
hopefully it will be easier to fix that

TC is the sort of horse who feels rather different than he looks. He feels great, and he looks great a lot of the time, don't get me wrong, but the great feels different than it looks.

Recently I've been struggling with the connection. I depended a lot on mirrors at my last barn because TC very often feels way less round than he is, so then I'll go to put him rounder and then he feels worse, which makes me want to ride him really crammed in front since obviously that's the answer to everything. That irritates him, which irritates me and then I just CAN'T until I ride with my trainer who has me put him up and out again, which feels off the bit to me when I'm at home.

Obviously with mirrors, I can glance over and see that he looks crammed in front and fix it.

Staying engaged in a downward transition, good pony

Talking to Peony while also riding the horse sometimes works
out in my favor when he's being a good horse

With the soloshot, I took a video of him last week and realized something was starting to go south in the connection. He felt good in the bridle, but he felt on the forehand. No amount of half halting could get him to change his balance. I was starting to think about his hocks or even wonder if he was capable of doing this higher level work.

Sure enough, he's crammed in the fucking front again. The short neck is causing him to drop his withers and of course I can't half halt, he can't change his balance with his neck short like that. Damnit! Why is it so deceiving on this fucking horse?

The next day I decided to just ride him out (and what felt like very off the bit) and see what that looked like. And it looked amazing. Of course it did.

And now after a week of working on it, everything is so much better! No lesson necessary. That pays for about a quarter of the cost of the soloshot, so that's cool.

Shoulder in with me collapsing in my middle and him getting
low in front because of it, yay sensitive horses

Who the hell is that and what did you do with my pasture pony?

With the connection back to normal, everything else has been coming along. The shoulder-in is still way better than the haunches-in, but the haunches-in is a thing we do now which is very much improved from before. We still can't get the fancy trot AND haunches-in, but we also don't randomly break to walk during the haunches-in.

The simple changes vs quality of canter continues to plague me. I want good depth with his inside hind leg so it's made me weary of collecting him too much. We need more collection for the simple changes to be good, so we just need more time to develop the collection without losing the depth of the inside hind leg. For now, the simple changes are a bit questionable. That's fine though!

The walk transition out of counter canter is probably going to be hard forever. I'm calling it now.

His downward transitions are better, so much better. I'm curious to see what Tanya thinks of them since she and my last judge haaated them. I theoretically have a lesson with her on Monday! So hopefully we can chat about that.

He's so uphill I might fly right off the back one day

Cuuuute 

As for this fall, I found some really great trot music the other day, so am kind of throwing around the idea of using the winter to make a First level freestyle that we could do alongside some Second level tests in the spring.

I actually think that 2-2 or 2-3 will be better for us because of that damn canter to walk transition out of counter canter that I just suck at riding... his walk pirouettes are on point. So we'll see! Lots of possibilities. As for this weekend, I'm heading to the bay to do some teaching and hanging out with Kate. So TC is getting shoes and then a light couple days.

He could use being a little less fit, he nearly chucked me on Wednesday morning. Like hanging off the side of him having to climb back on him like a child on a naughty pony almost chucked me. Keep an eye out for a future WW since it's on video and it's hilarious.

Soloshot 3

So last fall when Kate brought her Soloshot down and let me use it, I kicked her and stole it and that's why we're not friends anymore wanted one. Disclaimer: Kate still has her soloshot and we are definitely still friends.

Solution: Buy my own

I really wanted one, and this spring I decided to save for it by selling things on TackHunter, an app that lets you sell your horse stuff. They take a cut but they also provide you with a shipping label, so cool! I also took any spare change/random dollars I found and put that, as well as their checks, in a box.

I was pretty close to being able to buy it, but then I moved and bought a horse trailer. So I deposited those checks and used the cash for my horse's shoes.

Soon, I was wanting it again to record my lessons at Tanya's barn last month (but huge thanks to Peony for letting me basically steal her Pixio for a month!!). So I thought about how I could let myself buy it. Sure, I still could say that the money technically is just sitting in my savings account, but just impulse buying it sounded like a bad idea. I wanted to feel like I earned it. I dunno why I'm like this. I've also decided that the only way I'm replacing my mostly disintegrated snaffle bridle is to win one at a horse show next year since they let you earn points that you can spend in their little store.

Screenshots because gifs weren't working, oh well!

For those of you who don't know, I finished my MA coursework in 2015 but have not yet finished my thesis. There are many complicated reasons beyond this. My adviser was a little... less supportive throughout school than would have been helpful, my thesis got changed from an experiment to a systematic literature review at the last minute, and I got a job that I hated so was super burnt out and put it on the back burner.

When I quit that job, I worked hard to finish it, and so Fall 2016 I was ready to defend. I had practiced my defense a ton, bought new clothes to wear for it (and all the conferences I now go to), and had taken a half day off of work at my new job despite not being allowed to yet (first month of working there). The night before my defense, one of my committee members said he wouldn't pass it no matter what and was kind of a dick about it.

I immediately talked to my adviser and he said we could do it in spring. I didn't go to my defense. And by this point, I was really scared, and pissed off, and frustrated. For all of 2017, I didn't even touch it. I was so defeated. I had ABT on my resume and my job only requires a Bachelors so the MA coursework was just a bonus.

Come spring 2018 and my frustration shifted from defeat to that feeling of I'm going to fucking do this thing even if I have to cut a bitch. I did the coursework, I have a fully written thesis, I'm passing this thing NOW.

Hey that's my house

With a much lighter workload and spending like, half the time in the car that I used to at my new job up here, I got to work. Luckily my adviser has been AMAZING this spring and summer. He also let me know that the committee had gotten together and decided that a systematic literature review was sufficient after all (despite them telling me it was... then it wasn't... now it is? is it??). I put in the MANY hours to update the thesis, make it a bit more robust (erm first draft got like 80 pages added to it, sorry adviser!), and sent it in to my adviser, who is editing it now but gave me the go-ahead that it was ready and I should put together my defense.

And then I ordered myself the Soloshot (actually Soloshot was ordered early because the 25x went on a major sale, but I sent it to my parents' house so my mom could keep it until I finished, I knew she wouldn't relinquish it until it was done and this is why she's the best). I could have forced myself to wait until I actually had the degree in hand, but honestly I love presenting/public speaking so the defense wasn't the hurdle.

I grabbed it on Saturday when I went down to teach and got it working on Sunday afternoon! I'll do a full post on how it is to use, and probably a detailed comparison of the Soloshot vs Pixio once as I get the hang of it. But if you saw the drop in price in the 25x and are thinking about getting it, do it. It's been tracking really well, super easy to use, and is very quick to set up- I've been using it in the mornings before work.

We took it easy this day but he still looks pretty good!

I'm so excited to have it! One of the things I've struggled the most with at my new barn, which is generally an amazing place to board, is the lack of mirrors. I could go months without a lesson if I have mirrors or regular video. I think it's going to be SUPER helpful for so many things, including the lead changes. And of course, regular media for the blog! I've been using it all week and still need to figure out a video editing software, but it's already been so helpful and cool.