This article is written by the Hovera team, so we have an interest in you choosing Hovera. That is why there is no vendor ranking and no table of other companies’ prices here — features and price lists change faster than anyone keeps comparisons up to date. Instead you get criteria and questions to bring to the demo of any system, ours included.
Five ways to run a stable
- Notebook and whiteboard. Works in a small yard where the schedule lives in one head. Breaks down when more people work there or someone asks about a horse’s history from last year.
- Spreadsheet. Free and flexible. Starts getting in the way when several people edit it at once, when lesson passes are tracked by hand and when invoices have to be raised from the same data.
- General-purpose booking calendar. Handles bookings well, but knows nothing about horses, livery or lesson passes — those live somewhere else.
- Messaging app plus separate invoicing tool. The most common setup in practice. Information is scattered across chats and client details are retyped into invoices.
- Software built for stables. Brings the schedule, horses, passes, livery and invoices into one place. There are several such systems, local and international — they differ in scope, price and onboarding.
Ten criteria worth checking
- Schedule and resources. Does the system track instructors, horses and arenas at once, or just time slots?
- Lesson passes. Does a pass deduct itself after a lesson, and can the client see what is left?
- Livery. Does the horse owner get their own access to the horse’s information and bills?
- Horse history. Vet, farrier, vaccinations, documents — in one place, with reminders?
- Invoicing. Is the invoice created from data already in the system, and does it go to the national e-invoicing system directly or need an export to another tool?
- Phone. Can you work at the stable without a laptop?
- Team. Do staff roles limit who sees and changes what?
- Moving data. Is import of clients and horses from a spreadsheet built in, and can you export your data if you switch later?
- Data and GDPR. Where is data stored, who is the controller, does the vendor sign a data processing agreement?
- Full cost. Subscription, setup fee, limits on horses or users, payment commissions — add up the yearly amount, not the monthly one.
Questions for the demo
- Show me how a client books a lesson and what happens to their pass.
- Show me an invoice from lesson to sending — with a real number and client.
- What does a livery owner see, and what don’t they see?
- How do I move my spreadsheet data and how long does it take?
- What happens to my data if I cancel?
- What will I pay when the stable grows by half?
A good vendor shows this live, in the product, not on slides. Hovera has a public demo with no sign-up — you can check these points yourself before talking to anyone.
When stable software isn’t worth it
- A few horses, a dozen regular clients and no invoicing — a spreadsheet is enough.
- You only need invoices — an invoicing or accounting tool will do.
- Nobody on the team will keep data up to date — no system replaces that.
Where Hovera fits
Hovera is option 5: schedule, lesson passes, livery with an owner portal, horse history, invoices and a public stable page with online booking. A small stable starts on the free plan, larger ones pay a subscription with no setup fee — current amounts are on the pricing page.