Game-changing ideas don’t always begin in labs or high-tech workshops. Sometimes, they begin in frustration—at a small riding club, with stopwatches, flags, and one glaring problem.
That’s where it started for Olav, an engineer and long-time equestrian volunteer who happened to be in the right (or wrong) place at the right time.
Timing by Thumb? There Had to Be a Better Way
It was a typical weekend showjumping competition. Riders were prepped, horses ready, and volunteers lined up along the arena with… stopwatches.
As each competitor passed a flag, someone pressed a button. That press was meant to determine timing down to the hundredth of a second—the difference between first place and not placing at all.
“I couldn’t believe it,” says Olav. “I’d built a steering-wheel-mounted timer system for go-karts years earlier, and I knew reaction time just wasn’t precise enough for this kind of sport. Not even close.”
From that moment, Olav knew he wasn’t just witnessing a flaw.
He was staring at an opportunity.
When Existing Tools Don’t Fit the Job
Determined to find a real solution, Olav dove into the world of equestrian timing tech. He researched, tested products, and spoke with clubs across Europe. The more he looked, the clearer it became:
Everything on the market was a compromise.
Most timers were adapted from skiing or track and field athletics. They weren’t built for grass arenas, dusty stables, or unpredictable weather. Setup took too long. Support was shaky. And the user interfaces? Often unintuitive at best.
But what if someone designed for equestrian sports—from the ground up?
OmniPro: Built for the Real World, Not Just the Drawing Board
That’s where OmniPro began—not as a product, but as a response to everything Olav had seen go wrong.
Rather than modify something existing, he started fresh:
- Self-aligning optical gates that handle soft ground, bumps, and uneven terrain
- Tough, battery-powered devices that survive mud, sunlight, and nearby hooves
- A fast, no-tools setup so events stay on time
- An app interface so clear, even non-tech users get it instantly—no training, no manuals
- Wired start buttons for zero-delay starts
- Remote diagnostics for real-time support from anywhere
Everything was designed with one question in mind:
“What would make this event easier for the people running it?”
From One Engineer to a Cross-Functional Dream Team
Of course, ideas need people to bring them to life. So Olav assembled a carefully selected team—experts in their fields, all united by a single goal: building the best timing system equestrian sports had ever seen.
- Electronics engineers ensured the optical gates were lightning-fast and rock solid
- UX designers made the app frictionless, visual, and even language-independent
- Mechanical designers developed rugged enclosures that could take a beating
- Equestrian pros and testers field-validated every design under real competition stress
This wasn’t a lab project. It was a ground-up rethink, shaped by real-world use, weekend after weekend, rain or shine.
Not Just a Product—A Practical Revolution
OmniPro didn’t emerge with a splashy launch or big promises. It grew show by show, club by club—as organisers began to realise there was another way. A calmer, cleaner, more human-friendly way to time a sport built on rhythm, trust, and precision.
There’s still more to come. But what began as one bad experience has already become something meaningful: a better standard. It’s about time!
Explore OmniPro and meet the team behind it at omni-pro.net.