Barncat vs Trotley: which horse app?
Barncat is a free-to-start horse timeline with hashtags and augmented reality hoof photos. Trotley is a care ledger with due dates and reminders for each horse. Compare records, reminders, sharing and price.
Trotley is made by Lucernel.
On this page
Short answer
Barncat is available now, free to download, and built around a digital timeline of notes you tag with your own hashtags, plus augmented reality hoof photos. Trotley is built around what is due: vaccinations, farrier, dental and medication on a stable calendar with reminders, with weight history, documents and PDF reports.
Choose Trotley if
You want due dates and reminders for each horse, papers stored with the horse and a report for your vet.
Choose Barncat if
You want an app today, like writing free-form notes with hashtags and want to compare hoof photos over time.
At a glance
| Feature | Barncat | Trotley |
|---|---|---|
| Available now | Yeson the App Store | See the official app page for current store details. |
| Vet and care records per horse | Yesa timeline of notes and records with custom hashtags | Yesevents for vaccination, vet, dental, farrier, medication, injury, feed and exercise |
| Due dates and reminders | Not on its App Store page; its site lists custom reminders among features to vote on | Yesnotifications rebuilt from your records, plus a stable calendar |
| Works offline | Not stated | Yeswith optional private iCloud sync |
| Sharing with others | Yesa Premium owner can invite a vet, farrier, trainer or co-owner to a shared horse profile | Yesroles and assignments for a small stable |
| Hoof photos over time | Yesaugmented reality capture and photo compare tools | Partlyphotos are stored with each horse |
| PDF and CSV reports | Not stated | Yesfor the vet or a new owner |
| Documents and papers | Yesyou can attach photos and files of any type iOS supports to a timeline entry | Yespassports and papers stored with the horse |
| Price | Free to download; Premium listed at $19.99 monthly or $199 yearly, as of October 1, 2026 | See the official app page for current pricing. |
What Barncat is built to do
Barncat, from Equus Manege LLC, is listed in Sports as a horse management app for nutrition, training, vet records, injuries, hoof health and more. Its core is a digital timeline: notes and records appear in order, and you create your own categories with hashtags. Search and filter find entries by horse, hashtag or keyword.
The distinctive feature is augmented reality hoof photos, which help you take consistent pictures over time, with photo compare tools to look at changes with your farrier. Its site says a Premium owner can share a horse’s profile with a vet, farrier, trainer or lessee, and that anyone can log in and view a horse shared with them. Timeline entries can carry photos and files of any type iOS supports, and Premium lets professionals add unlimited horses. Its site says it is made by equestrians, with welfare, transparency and data sovereignty at the core, and it invites users to vote on what to build next, with expense tracking, calendar integration, custom reminders and checklists on the ballot.
What Trotley is built to do
Trotley keeps everything about your horses in one record: care that is due, events that happened and documents you need to find. Events cover vaccination, veterinary, dental, farrier, medication, injury, feed and exercise, shown on a timeline and on a stable-wide calendar you can filter by horse, event or status.
It adds weight history charts, passports, papers and photos stored with each horse, PDF reports and CSV export for the vet or a new owner, and reminders rebuilt from your records. It works offline with optional private iCloud sync and fits one horse or a small stable, with roles and assignments.
A timeline or a ledger
The two apps answer different questions. Barncat answers “what happened with this horse?”, in your own words and tags. Trotley also answers “what is due next?”, because each event type has a place on the calendar.
For a rider who writes quick notes after every ride and wants to search them later, free-form hashtags are flexible. For an owner who keeps losing track of the next vaccination or farrier visit, a due date and a reminder do the job. Barncat’s App Store page does not mention reminders, though its site lists custom reminders and calendar integration among features users can vote on.
Where Barncat is stronger
Barncat is stronger on availability and on hoof tracking. You can download it today, it runs on iPhone and iPad, it requires iOS 16.1 or later, and its augmented reality capture is a tool Trotley does not describe. As listed on October 1, 2026 it has a 4.6 rating from 10 ratings, with version 1.4.6 released February 28, 2025.
Barncat is also free to download, and the free-form tags suit people who do not want to fit their horse into set categories. Its page lists injuries and rehab and musculoskeletal changes as examples, and a new hashtag costs nothing, whereas Trotley sorts care into its listed event types. Our reading is that Barncat is the more open notebook and Trotley the more structured ledger.
Price and what is not stated
Barncat’s App Store page lists Premium at $19.99 monthly and $199 yearly, and says Premium adds sharing. Its site gives the same $19.99 a month, lists the yearly plan at $199.99 and also mentions a 50% off annual price of $99.99, without a date, so check the current offer in the app. Trotley has no price, since it is not released.
Neither offline use nor report export is stated on Barncat’s App Store page or site, so check those before you commit if you work in a barn with weak signal or send records to a vet.
How to choose
Choose Barncat if you want to start today, like a note-and-tag timeline and care about comparing hoof photos. Choose Trotley, once it is out, if due dates, reminders, documents and reports matter more than free-form notes.
If you already log in Barncat, nothing stops you from trying Trotley later: your horse’s history is the part to protect, so keep a copy of what you need before you switch.
Frequently asked questions
What is Barncat?
A horse management app from Equus Manege LLC built around a digital timeline of notes and records you can tag with hashtags, with augmented reality hoof photos.
Is Barncat free?
It is free to download. Premium is listed at $19.99 monthly or $199 yearly, as of October 1, 2026, and adds sharing with a vet, farrier or trainer; its site mentions a 50% off annual offer.
Does Barncat have reminders?
Reminders are not mentioned on its App Store page. Its site lists custom reminders among features users can vote on.
Does Barncat work offline?
Not stated on its App Store page. Trotley works offline, with optional private iCloud sync.
Is Trotley available?
See the official app page for current availability and pricing.
Our pick
Trotley, what each horse needs next
Barncat is stronger on availability today and on augmented reality hoof photos, and Trotley does not replace that. Trotley is for the owner who wants the care that is due on one calendar: vaccinations, farrier, dental and medication per horse with reminders, weight history, papers and photos with the horse, and a PDF report for the vet. It works offline.
- Due dates and reminders for each horse
- Weight history, documents and photos with the horse
- PDF and CSV reports for your vet
