Overview
Riding schools teach against a progression — lead rein, then off the lead, then walk and trot, and on toward canter and jumping. Student Progress brings that progression into Horsify. You keep a skills curriculum of levels and skills, assess each student against it as they learn, and every student gets a My Progress page that shows how they're tracking.
- You shape the curriculum and mark off skills as students master them.
- Students (and parents whose child's client profile sits under their account) see their level, their skills, a mastery score and achievement badges.
Who this is for: Riding schools and instructors using Horsify's Riding School tools. The three organiser pages live under Organiser → Riding School: Student Progress, Curriculum, and each client's assessment page.
Key Features
- 🎯 Your own curriculum — levels and skills that match how your school teaches
- 🌱 Ready-made starting point — seed an editable "Learn to Ride" framework in one click
- 📊 Simple assessment — mark each skill from Not started to Mastered, saved as you go
- 🏅 Certify levels — mark a level complete once a student is competent across it
- 📱 Student My Progress page — levels, skills, mastery ring and badges on any device
- 📅 Progress at a glance — a summary card on the student's My Bookings page
The Skill Ladder
Every skill is marked with one of five statuses, from least to most progress:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not started | Not yet worked on |
| Introduced | The student has had a first attempt |
| Developing | Practised, but not yet reliable |
| Competent | Performs reliably with minimal help |
| Mastered | Performs confidently and independently |
A level is achieved once every skill in it reaches Competent (or above) — that's the point you can certify it. A student's current level is the first level they haven't yet achieved.
Step 1: Set Up Your Curriculum
- Go to Organiser → Riding School → Curriculum.
- Click Seed default curriculum to create an editable copy of the built-in "Learn to Ride" framework — six levels (Lead Rein → Off the Lead → Walk & Trot → Canter → Introduction to Jumping → Improver), each with a set of skills.
- Tailor it to your school:
- Rename a level — click the pencil icon next to its name, edit, and click the tick.
- Add a level — type a name in Add a level… at the bottom of the framework and click + Level. New levels are added after the last one.
- Add a skill — type in Add a skill… under a level, choose its category (Safety & horse care, Riding & flatwork, Jumping, Stable management, Theory, or General), and click +.
- Rename or recategorise a skill — click the pencil icon on the skill row.
- Delete a level or skill — click the bin icon and confirm.
The curriculum belongs to your organisation — it's yours to shape.
Note: A level or skill that already has student assessments recorded against it can't be deleted — Horsify tells you so, and suggests renaming it instead. That keeps past assessments intact.
Note: The Add another "Learn to Ride" framework link at the bottom creates a second, fresh copy of the starter framework — and the newest copy becomes the one students are assessed against on every progress screen. Only use it if you deliberately want to start again with a clean framework.
💡 Pro Tip: Start from the seeded "Learn to Ride" framework rather than a blank page. It's a sensible, non-branded progression you can trim and reword in minutes. Levels and skills can't currently be dragged into a different order, so if order matters, rename rather than delete-and-recreate.
Step 2: Assess a Student
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Go to Organiser → Riding School → Student Progress. This is your roster: every active client, with their current level and a progress bar showing how far through that level they are. Students who haven't been assessed yet show Not started. (If you haven't set up a curriculum, this page offers Seed default curriculum instead.)
Click a student to open their assessment page.
Use the level stepper across the top to pick the level you're working on. The student's current level is highlighted in green; achieved levels are shown in light green; the percentage under each level name is how far through it they are.
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For each skill, grouped by category, choose its status from the dropdown — Not started, Introduced, Developing, Competent, Mastered.
Changes save as you go — there's no Save button. Each time you set a skill's status, Horsify records it and shows "Progress saved." The level you're viewing stays put after each save, so you can work down a level without losing your place. Use Back to progress to return to the roster.
Certify a level
When a student reaches Competent on every skill in a level, a Certify level button appears in that level's heading. Certifying marks the level complete and shows a Certified badge — a clear milestone for the student.
💡 Pro Tip: Assess little and often — a few skills at the end of each lesson keeps every student's progress current without a big catch-up session.
Step 3: What Students See
Every client with a Horsify account has a My Progress page (from their menu, My Progress). It's live as soon as your school has a curriculum — before you've assessed anything it simply says they're just getting started, and skills light up as you assess them. Students who ride at more than one Horsify school can switch between them (Enrolled at / Also at).
On it, a student sees:
- Currently on — their current level, and the level they're working toward (or Top level reached at the end of the ladder).
- A mastery ring — a percentage that grows as their skills move up the ladder (see below).
- A journey bar showing the whole path of levels, and a Mastered / In progress / To go breakdown for the current level.
- Skills progressing — a trend of how many skills have moved along recently.
- Achievements — badges earned automatically from real assessments: First lesson, Helmet hero (a Safety & horse care skill at Competent or better), 5 skills started, First mastery, Level complete and 10 mastered.
- Skills by level — tap any level to see each skill and where it sits on the ladder, plus a Certified marker on levels you've certified.
Students also get a My Progress summary card at the top of My Bookings — their current level, what they're working toward, and a ring showing how far through the current level they are — with a View full progress link.
A note on the two percentages
You and your students see progress measured slightly differently — by design:
- On your side (the roster, the level stepper and the My Bookings summary card), a level's percentage treats Competent as the finish line: a level is 100% — and achieved — once every skill is Competent or better.
- The mastery ring on My Progress rewards Mastered above Competent. A level where every skill is exactly Competent shows as achieved to you, but around 75% on the student's ring. The ring only fills to 100% when every skill is Mastered.
That's intentional: you certify at Competent, while the student's ring keeps rewarding them for pushing on to true mastery. It's the same underlying data, shown two ways.
Best Practices
✅ Shape the curriculum before you assess. Get your levels and skills right first, so every student is measured against the same ladder.
✅ Assess at the end of each lesson. Small, frequent updates keep progress live and give students something to see after every visit.
✅ Use categories. Sorting skills into Safety & horse care, Riding & flatwork, Jumping and so on makes both your assessment page and the student's view far easier to scan — and unlocks the Helmet hero badge for students.
✅ Certify as you go. Certifying a level the moment a student is competent across it gives them a clear milestone and a Level complete badge.
✅ Explain the mastery ring. Let students and parents know the ring rewards reaching Mastered, so a "75%" on an achieved level isn't a step backwards — it's the encouragement to keep improving.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Issue: There's nothing to assess yet
Problem: The Student Progress page asks you to set up a curriculum first, or a student's page says No curriculum set up yet.
Solution: Click Seed default curriculum (on that page or under Organiser → Riding School → Curriculum), then edit it to suit your school.
Issue: A student isn't on the roster
Possible Causes:
- They aren't a client of your school yet — clients are created when you (or they) make a booking. See Client Management.
- Their client profile is inactive.
Issue: A student can't see their progress
Possible Causes:
- Your school hasn't set up a curriculum yet — My Progress only lists schools with one.
- The student is signed in under a different account or email address from the one on their client profile.
- A parent is looking under their own login, but the child's client profile was created with a different email address.
Solution: Confirm the email on the client's profile (Organiser → Riding School → Clients) matches the account they sign in with. For children, the client profile is normally created with the parent's email, so the parent sees the child's progress when they sign in.
Issue: I can't delete a level or skill
Explanation: It has assessments recorded against it, so deleting it would erase student history. Rename it instead.
Issue: A student's mastery ring shows 75% on a level I've certified
Explanation: That's expected. Certifying happens at Competent; the mastery ring only reaches 100% when every skill is Mastered. Both are correct — see the two percentages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I use my own levels and skills instead of the built-in ones? A: Yes. The seeded "Learn to Ride" framework is just a starting point — rename, add and remove levels and skills to match your school. (Reordering by drag-and-drop isn't available yet; new levels and skills go on the end.)
Q: Do students need to do anything to get a My Progress page? A: No. As long as they have a Horsify account linked to their client profile, it's there as soon as your school has a curriculum.
Q: Can parents see their children's progress? A: Yes — when the child's client profile uses the parent's email address (the usual setup for junior clients), the parent sees the child's progress on their My Progress page.
Q: How is a level "achieved"? A: When every skill in it reaches Competent or above. At that point you can certify it.
Q: Can I un-certify a level or lower a skill's status? A: You can change any skill's status back at any time from the dropdown. Certifications stay on record.
Q: Why does my "% to next level" differ from the student's "mastery"? A: They measure different things on purpose — you certify at Competent, while the student's mastery ring keeps rewarding progress up to Mastered. Same data, two views.
Related Features
- Riding School Setup Guide (End to End) — where progress tracking fits in the full riding-school setup.
- Riding School Management — the wider riding-school toolset.
- Client Management — the student (client) profiles you assess against.
- Instructor Management System — the instructors who teach your students.
Support
Need help setting up your curriculum or assessing students? We're here to help.
- In-app help: Click the Help link in the top navigation.
- Email: support@horsify.com.au
Build your ladder once, tick off skills as students climb it, and give every rider — and every parent — a page that shows how far they've come.\n\n---\n\nSource: wiki/features/RIDING_SCHOOL_STUDENT_PROGRESS.md \nLast synced: 2026-09-07 11:51:47 UTC