Latest news about Strides

The latest update for Strides has been the change to its look and feel to align itself to the operating system it is run in. For example it now looks more like a Windows application in Windows and in Mac OS X it now has its menu bar running along the top.

The latest feature now includes a corner checker. By clicking on any numbered fence in the course a line showing the track from the previous fence to the selected fence and from the selected fence to the next become visible. A green line indicates that a corner is an easy corner to ride, a blue line indicates a warning that it is getting difficult and a red line indicates that moving one of the fences is recommended. For any courses that are designed for young horses or inexperienced riders or if you are an inexperienced course designer, it is recommended that you try making all your corners green, especially if the course is in a large arena. Tight corners can't always be helped in small rings. For building more testing corners, the blue line can be a good indication to where the fine line between being too easy and too hard may be.

A second indicator show black lines from the side of each fence to the side of the previous and next fence shows how well it lines up to these other fences. It is good practice to have fences in line to each other for a 180 degree turn or the intersection to these black lines to be of an equal distance to each fence.

These corner checking features are simply tools to assist a designer with designing courses. They do nothing to alter the courses, the user does this. This corner checker is optional and can be turned off by un-checking "Tools>Enable Corner Checker." Remember like all computer tools, this corner checker is not absolute. After placing poles on the ground when building, always have a check to ensure the corners look good and make alterations if necessary.

This new feature should make it easier to design good courses and save you considerable time when building the courses. If you have any suggestions for new features or to highlight new bugs please contact me on info@strides.co.nz.