Not Just for Riding Schools
Most equestrian management software assumes every session is a ridden lesson. Equestrian Systems lets you run any type of activity — courses, groundwork, non-ridden events, arena hire, clubs and more — with the same tools for bookings, restrictions, payments and reporting.
Built around your activities, not ours.
Equestrian Systems was designed for the full complexity of running an equestrian centre — not just a riding school with a class timetable. If you run non-ridden activities, multi-session courses, clinics, arena hire sessions, group memberships or subscription-based access, the platform supports all of it from day one.
Centres that don’t fit the traditional “riding lesson + horse” mould often end up on generic booking platforms that miss all the equestrian-specific detail, or paper-based systems because nothing fits. This was built to be the alternative.
Non-Ridden Activities
Groundwork, in-hand work, carriage driving, natural horsemanship, horse care courses — any activity that doesn’t involve a rider in the saddle. Bookings, capacity and restrictions work identically regardless of activity type.
Courses & Multi-Session Events
A course is more than a series of bookings — it has a defined start, a fixed group of participants, and often a payment collected upfront. Equestrian Systems handles courses as a first-class booking type, not a workaround.
Clinics & One-Off Events
Visiting instructors, breed society days, demos, seminars — events that don’t fit a recurring timetable. Set capacity, entry requirements and payment exactly as you need for each event.
Arena Hire
Arena slots bookable directly through the system, with your pricing and availability rules. Works for individual hire, pre-booked group sessions and livery owner access — all visible in one calendar alongside any other activity on the yard.
Groups & Clubs
Create club or group entities with their own membership. Club members can be given access to specific activities, reduced rates, or restricted to club-only sessions. Useful for breed society affiliates, Pony Club groups or in-house clubs.
Subscriptions & Memberships
Monthly memberships, block booking access and recurring payments via GoCardless Direct Debit. Members can have different booking permissions to non-members — access gates, priority booking windows, or different pricing.
Restrictions and entry requirements that actually work
One of the most common problems centres face is taking bookings from people who shouldn’t be in a particular session — wrong age, wrong experience level, not a club member, not passed a required assessment. Managing this manually means checking every booking yourself, or finding out on the day when the wrong person turns up.
In Equestrian Systems, every activity can have entry requirements attached. Customers who don’t meet them simply can’t book. No manual checking needed:
- Age limits — minimum or maximum age for any session or activity type
- Grading and experience gates — only customers at or above a specified grade can book
- Membership requirements — restrict sessions to members of a specific club or subscription tier
- Capacity controls — hard limits on places, with waitlists when full
- Custom approval — require staff sign-off before a booking is confirmed, for activities where automatic entry rules aren’t sufficient
These tools were designed for riding schools, but they apply just as well to non-ridden activities. A groundwork clinic for intermediate handlers is just as restricted as a jumping lesson for Grade 4 riders — the system doesn’t care what the activity is.
What generic booking software misses for equestrian centres
- Horse and participant grading linked to booking eligibility
- ABRS and BHS licensing record requirements
- Club membership as an entry gate, not just a discount code
- Multi-session course bookings as a single transaction
- Arena availability visible across livery, hire and lessons
- UK-based support who understands how equestrian centres work
If you also run ridden lessons
Non-ridden activities, arena hire, courses and ridden lessons all sit on the same platform. If your centre does both, you don’t need separate systems or workarounds — everything is on one calendar, with one set of customer records and one reporting view. Staff see the full picture of the day in one place.
The riding school tools — horse management, rider grading, instructor assignment, ABRS-compliant records — are fully available alongside the broader activity management. You’re not choosing between a riding school system and a general events platform; you get both.
One price. Everything included.
There’s no separate module for courses, no add-on for club management, no extra fee for non-ridden activities. Everything described on this page is part of the standard Equestrian Systems subscription.
No setup fees. No booking fees charged to your customers. No long contracts. See full pricing →
“Amazing quality, and for affordable prices. Jack has been on hand to adapt any features on the booking system — he has developed everything from scratch making it very personal to the riding centre. Highly recommend.”
Barton End Equestrian Centre