Getting started

Saddle is a social app for horse owners and riders. It brings your barn together in one place: record your rides with GPS, keep profiles and records for your horses, share photos and updates with your barn, plan events, save favorite trails, and check riding weather — all from your phone. This guide walks you through creating an account, signing in, and finding your way around.

Create an account

Saddle runs on iOS and Android. Download the app, open it, and you'll land on the welcome screen.

The fastest way to get started is with an existing account:

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple

Tap either button and confirm with your Google or Apple account — no new password to remember.

Prefer email? Tap Create an account at the bottom of the welcome screen, then fill in:

Email address
Full name (optional) — you can add or change this later
Password and Confirm password

Tap Create Account. By creating an account you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy — both are linked right on the screen if you'd like to read them first.

Verify your email

If you sign up with email, Saddle sends a verification link to your inbox and shows a "Check your email" screen. Tap the link in the email to verify your account — the app opens and takes you straight in.

Didn't get the email? Check your spam folder, then tap Resend email. You can resend once per minute.
Typed the wrong address? Tap Use different email to sign out and start over.

Already have an account? On the welcome screen, tap Continue with Google or Continue with Apple, or tap Sign in with email instead to enter your email address and password, then tap Sign in.

Once you're signed in, you stay signed in — you won't need to log in every time you open the app.

Find your way around

Saddle has four tabs along the bottom of the screen:

Ride — record a ride with GPS, review past rides, and browse trails. See Rides and Trails.
Barn — your barn's home: members, the photo gallery, events, documents, and weather. See Barns.
Horse — profiles for your horses, including care details, documents, and blankets. See Horses.
Profile — your account, appearance settings, safety contacts, and notification preferences. See Account and profile.

Most things you tap — a horse, a ride, an event, the gallery — open as a card or sheet that slides up over the current tab. Swipe down or tap the close button to go back. You rarely leave the tab you're on.

Join with an invite

Barns, events, and safety groups in Saddle spread by invitation. Invites come two ways:

A link — someone texts or messages you a saddleapp.redrail.io/join/... link. Tap it and the app opens straight to the invite.
A QR pass card — invites display as a styled pass with a QR code in the middle. Scan it with your phone's camera, or from inside the app.

If you don't have an account yet, tap the link anyway — Saddle remembers your invite while you sign up and verify your email, then opens it as soon as you're in.

To join a barn from inside the app, open the Barn tab and choose how to join:

Scan QR Code — point your camera at a barn invite
Enter Invite Code — type the 6-character barn code
Join a nearby public barn while you're physically there

For the full details, see Barns for barn invites, Events for event invites, and Safety for safety groups.

What about the web?

Saddle is a phone-first app. If you sign in on the web today, you'll see a "Coming Soon" page — the web experience is on its way, but for now the mobile app is where everything happens.

Tips

You can use Saddle without a barn — record rides, manage your horses, and save trails solo, then join a barn whenever you're ready.
Saddle works offline. Your rides and changes save on your phone and upload automatically when you're back online. See Offline and sync.
Give the app location permission when asked — it's what makes GPS ride recording work.