Signavo: Riders ahead, on your wrist

From the show office keyboard to your wrist.

The show office types it in

The score from the previous round goes into the show's own system, and the queue moves one place. We read the same source as the board.

Signavo does the sums

We measure how fast the class is actually running right now, and where you stand in the order. Today's pace, measured as it happens.

Your watch tells you

Twelve ahead, and you warm up. Two ahead, and you head for the arena. When you're roughly next, you'll know.

The class was due to start at 14:00. It started at 14:20.

Since then two have retired, one has had a re-run, and a third needed a shoe put back on. You're standing in the stables with a half-tacked horse and no idea whether you're in in ten minutes or an hour and a half.

The start list is pinned to a wall down by the show office, and the only way to know how far they've got is to walk down and look. So you stand there instead of with your horse.

Signavo moves the wall to your wrist.

Show office tent with start lists on a noticeboard, a flask and a laptop. Trailers in the background.

One number on your watch. The rest can wait.

Two screens you'll actually look at. Your wrist in the warm-up and the phone in your pocket. Everything else, the show alerts, when to leave home and your results, sits in the app and looks after itself.

Apple Watch on a wrist showing the number 8 and about 12 min

We never guess a time on the clock. We tell you while you still have time.

The queue only moves once the show office has typed in the previous score. We could turn that into a neat time on the clock, and it would look convincing, right up until the day it was wrong and you were late.

That's why there's an about in front of the time all day, and only under five minutes does the estimate become a real countdown. That's a decision, not a shortcoming.

For the rider, and for everyone waiting with them.

The rider

In the saddle in the warm-up

No need to look up at the ropes or ask anyone. The number is on your wrist, and the messages arrive before you need them.

The parent

At the ropes with the phone

You get asked every five minutes how long there is to go. Now you can answer every time, without guessing and without a trip to the show office.

The trainer

Four pupils across three arenas

You see every start in one list and get a message for each one, so you're standing in the right place when it's the right pupil's turn.

The helper

Rug over one arm

Father-in-law, yard mate or whoever drives the trailer. You know when the rug comes off, and when you can start packing up.

Built by someone who stands at the ropes.

Signavo is made on a horse farm outside Vejle, Denmark. The family rides at shows, and Chris stands at the ropes with a rug over one arm and the same question as everyone else: when do we get ready?

The class was running late, and the start list was pinned up down by the show office. The only way to find out was to walk down and look. So he built what he was missing: a number on the wrist and a message in time. It still gets corrected after every show.

We're looking for 200 riders who'll use it at real shows.

You get in before anyone else, long before the app is finished, and you'll hear from us when something isn't working well. In return, we'd very much like to know what's missing.

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You get one confirmation link, then a message only when there's something new. We only write about Signavo, and you can unsubscribe with one click. How we handle your email.

Where do the numbers come from?

From the show's own start lists and results, the system the show office itself is typing into. We don't guess, and we don't run our own timing.

Does it work for dressage?

Yes. Dressage has set start times in the schedule, and show jumping has a queue that moves. The app shows whatever makes sense for the discipline you're in.

Do I need an Apple Watch?

No. Everything works on the phone, and the number sits on your lock screen while the class is running. The watch is handy when your hands are full.

What if my show isn't on it?

Then the app says so. We'd rather show nothing than a number you can't rely on.

What do you store about me?

Your email, the starts you follow, with the rider's name and the results on them, and a key so your phone can receive the notifications. The messages we send sit in a log that is deleted after 90 days. No analytics and no third-party tracking. Nothing is shared with advertisers.

Delete your account and your data goes with it, at once: your profile, the starts you follow, your notification history. Copies in our backups disappear automatically within six months, and backups are only used to restore the service after a failure. If your email is on the waiting list, that is a separate consent, and you unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of every email.

What does it cost?

The waiting list is free. What the app itself will cost isn't settled yet, and we'd rather say so than guess.