Creating an Event

Audience: Club organisers, committee members, and event organisers

Overview

Creating an event is the starting point for everything you run on Horsify — competitions, clinics, socials and gate-entry events. You choose how you want to build the listing, fill in the details, and Horsify saves it as a draft. Every event starts as a draft (visible only to your organisation) so you can keep working on it before you go live, then publish it from the edit page when it's ready.

There are five ways to create an event, so you never start from a blank page unless you want to:

The Add a new event page showing five ways to start as cards: Start from a template, Create with AI, Import from Nominate, Create manually, and Copy an existing event

Method Best for What it does
Start from a template The fastest setup for a standard competition Picks the event type and adds a set of starter classes for you
Create with AI Turning a flyer or schedule you already have into an event Reads a PDF/image or pasted text and fills in the form automatically
Import from Nominate Events already listed on Nominate Pulls the details across from a Nominate event URL
Create manually Full control over every field Opens the blank event form for you to complete
Copy an existing event Re-running an event you've held before Copies a past event's classes, tickets and settings into a new draft

Whichever method you pick, you land on the same event form to review and finish the details before creating the draft.

Your work is backed up on this device. Nothing exists on Horsify until you press Create event, so the form backs itself up to your browser a second after each change (the sidebar shows Backed up on this device). If the page is closed or your phone locks part-way through, the next visit to Add a new event offers to Resume draft or Discard it. The backup is per account, kept for seven days, and cleared the moment the event is created.

The Add a new event page with a blue "You have an unfinished event on this device" banner naming the backed-up draft and when it was backed up, with Resume draft and Discard buttons

Who can create events

You need to be an Organiser Admin or Organiser Contributor for the organisation you're creating the event for (platform admins can create for any organisation). If you don't have organiser access, Horsify will prompt you to request it.

Creating events also requires an active subscription:

  • Limited Plan (free for 12 months) — list external events that link out to your own registration platform. Internal ticketing is not included.
  • Basic Plan (from $10/year) — everything in Limited, plus Horsify's internal ticketing, online registration and payments, and member management. The price is banded by how many active members your club has: $10/year up to 100, $20/year to 200, $30/year above that.

If your organisation doesn't have a subscription yet, the create page shows the plan options first. See Subscription plans below for what each plan unlocks on the event form.

How to get here

Open Create Event from the Organiser menu, or use New Event on your Organiser Dashboard or Events list. The create page is at /events/new.


Method 1 — Start from a template

Templates are the quickest way to stand up a standard competition. Each template sets the event type and seeds a set of starter competition classes (or starter tickets), which you can edit, rename or remove before publishing. Entry fees on the starter classes are set to $0 so you can price them afterwards on the Competition Classes page.

The template gallery showing ready-made event types such as Show Jumping Day, Dressage Day, One-Day Event, Combined Training Day, Pony Club Gymkhana, Extreme Cowboy Race and Clinic / Social, each listing its starter classes

Template Type Starter classes / tickets
Show Jumping Day Show Jumping 60cm, 70cm, 80cm, 90cm, 1.00m, 1.10m
Dressage Day Dressage Preliminary, Novice, Elementary, Medium
One-Day Event (ODE) Eventing EvA60, EvA80, EvA95, EvA105
Combined Training Day Dressage + Show Jumping Preliminary Dressage, Novice Dressage, 80cm Show Jumping, 90cm Show Jumping
Pony Club Gymkhana Pony Club Flat / Hacking, Rider Class, Bending Race, Flag Race, Barrel Race, Mounted Games
Extreme Cowboy Race Extreme Cowboy Racing Youth, Green Horse, Novice, Intermediate, Non-Pro, Pro / Open
Clinic / Social Ticketed (pick a discipline) Starter tickets: Clinic Spot, Auditor

Choose Use this template and Horsify pre-fills the event form with the type, disciplines and starter content. Review everything, add your dates and venue, then create the draft.

Your saved templates appear above the built-in ones once you have saved an event as a template (Save as event template on the event's edit page). A saved template also carries the classes' fees and capacities, the tickets' prices and the entry form riders complete — see Entry Form Designer, Rules and Event Templates.


Method 2 — Create with AI

Watch: Creating an event with AI (0:44)

▶ Watch: Creating an event with AI (0:44)

Already have a flyer, schedule or event write-up? Let Horsify read it and fill in the form for you. There are two ways to provide the source material:

The Create with AI screen offering two options: Upload a document (a PDF or image of the flyer or schedule) and Paste the details (type or paste the event details)

  • Upload a document — upload a PDF or image (.pdf, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, up to 50 MB). Horsify reads the text, then picks out the event details.
  • Paste the details — type or paste the event details (and an optional title) into a rich-text box, then choose Pick out the event details.

The Paste the details screen with an optional event-title field, a rich-text editor for the event details, and a "Pick out the event details" button

Once the details are extracted, the event form opens with a green banner: AI has filled in what it could find. Check every field below, add the venue, then create the event. Horsify fills in the title, description, capacity, disciplines and dates where it can; Back to AI input takes you back a step if you want to try a different source.

Always review AI-extracted details. The venue is not matched automatically — you'll need to select it yourself — and dates, disciplines and capacity should be double-checked before you create the event.


Method 3 — Import from Nominate

If the event is already listed on Nominate, paste its URL and Horsify imports the details for you.

The Import from Nominate screen with a "Nominate event link" field and an "Import event" button

Enter the full Nominate event link (for example https://nominate.com.au/Event.aspx?e=12345) and choose Import event. Horsify fetches the page, parses it, and creates the event. When the import needs a quick check, you'll see a confidence note so you know to review the result.

If Nominate blocks the request, you'll get a clear message — in that case use Create with AI (paste the event text) or Create manually instead.


Method 4 — Create manually

Choose Create manually to open the blank event form and fill in every field yourself. This is the same form used by the template and AI paths — see Filling in the event form below for a walkthrough of every section.


Method 5 — Copy an existing event

Running an event you've held before? Copy a previous event into a brand-new draft instead of rebuilding it. Horsify copies the disciplines, sessions, divisions/classes, tickets, entry form and settings, and resets the things that must be unique to the new event.

The "Copy an existing event" screen with a "Show events from" organisation picker and a list of past events, each showing its date, status and discipline with a "Use this event" button

If you manage more than one organisation, use Show events from to switch which organisation's events you're browsing. Pick an event and choose Use this event to create the new draft.

What's copied

  • Disciplines, sessions and divisions/classes (including entry fees, member fees, prize money, capacity and eligibility)
  • Ticket types (with sold counts reset to zero and sales windows cleared)
  • The entry form and its fields
  • Event settings — venue, capacity, registration options, accepted payment methods, stabling/yard and camping options, cancellation/refund policy, health-declaration and biosecurity settings, and SEO details

What's reset

  • Status back to Draft and the event hidden until you publish
  • Event dates and registration windows (recalculated so the new event sits in the future — the original duration is kept)
  • The flyer image (add a new one on the edit page)
  • The title, which gets a (Copy …) suffix you can rename

You're taken straight to the new draft's edit page to update the dates and finish the details.


Filling in the event form

The template, AI and manual paths all land on the same event form. A banner reminds you that you're creating a draft — nothing is public until you publish it later.

Use the Sections sidebar (or the "Jump to section…" menu on mobile) to move between sections, and Create event to save when you're done. The sections run in the order the decisions depend on each other: what kind of event, its basics, who hosts it and where (which fixes the timezone), when, how entries work, what is sold, and finally accommodation.

The manual event form showing the draft banner, the "What kind of event is this?" chooser, and the Basics, Host and venue, Schedule and Registration sections with a Sections sidebar

What kind of event is this?

This choice decides how people take part and which sections follow. You can change it later while the event is still a draft.

  • Competition with classes — riders nominate horses and enter the classes you set up (dressage tests, jumping heights, and so on). The fee is charged once per entry (horse and rider), whichever rings the classes fall in — see How the fee is charged in the editing guide.
  • Ticketed event — sell tickets for a clinic, social or gate entry. No competition classes.
  • Free RSVP — free to attend; riders simply register their interest. No payment is taken.
  • Entries taken elsewhere — Horsify lists the event and sends riders to your own entry system (Nominate, for example). You add the entry link and an enquiries email under Registration.

On the Limited plan the choice is made for you: every event is listed with entries taken elsewhere, and the form asks for the link riders use to enter.

Basics

  • Title (required) — the event name riders will see.
  • Description (optional) — up to 4,000 characters.
  • Disciplines — required for competitions; optional for ticketed or free events.

Host and venue

  • Organising organisation — the club or business running the event. You can only pick organisations where you are an organiser admin or organiser contributor. If you belong to just one, it's selected for you; you can also Create a new organisation from here.
  • Venue (required) — pick from your organisation's favourite venues, type to search all venues, or choose To be advised if the venue isn't confirmed yet. Create a new venue adds a venue on the spot and saves it as a favourite.

Timezones: the venue decides the timezone the schedule is read in, which is why it is asked before the dates. Horsify resolves it from the venue's country and state (or your organisation's while the venue is To be advised): WA runs on Perth time, SA on Adelaide, NSW and Victoria on Sydney/Melbourne, Queensland on Brisbane, and a New Zealand club on New Zealand time. The Schedule section names the zone it is using.

Schedule

  • Start date and Start time (required) — the time defaults to 8:00 am.
  • End date and End time — the end date fills in from the start date (a one-day event is the common case) and the end time defaults to 5:00 pm. Change either for a multi-day event.
  • Runs as more than one session — tick this for a multi-day show, or a competition with more than one ring running at once. You set up each session, with its own times and capacity, on the edit page. On a competition day, add one session per ring (a dressage arena and a jump ring running side by side) and leave them unticketed: riders pay the entry fee once and the classes they tick sit under their ring.

Registration

  • Entry link and Entry enquiries email (entries taken elsewhere only) — at least one is required. The link is where the Enter button on the event page sends riders.
  • Total capacity (optional) — leave empty for no limit, or cap the total entries across every ticket type.
  • Visibility — Public (in the listings), Hidden (direct link only) or Featured (highlighted on the homepage).
  • Approve each entry by hand — entries wait as pending until an organiser approves them; leave it off to confirm entries automatically.
  • Early bird pricing ends (competitions and ticketed events) — the one deadline every early bird price on the event shares. See Early bird pricing.
  • Instructions for riders (optional) — shown behind a "Read the organiser's instructions" button at the top of the entry page (up to 4,000 characters).

Tickets (Basic plan and above)

Add one or more ticket types with their own prices. In the Tickets section choose Add a ticket (or Manage tickets once the event has some) and configure each one. On a competition with classes the section is headed Optional extras riders can buy alongside their entry — the entry fees themselves belong to the classes — while on a ticketed event the tickets are what people buy:

The Event Tickets editor showing fields for Ticket Name, Price, Member Price, Early bird price, Early bird member price, Grants club membership, Description, Quantity and "Allow multiple per order", with an amber note that early bird prices are only charged once the event's Early bird pricing ends date is set

Per ticket you can set:

  • Ticket Name and Price (required)
  • Member Price (optional) — active members of your organisation automatically pay this discounted price
  • Grants club membership (optional) — link the ticket to one of your membership types, so buying it enrols the buyer as a member of your club; the price then follows that membership's fee. See Membership from Event Tickets
  • Description and Quantity (leave quantity empty for unlimited)
  • Allow multiple per order — let buyers purchase more than one of this ticket in a single order
  • One ticket type per session — selecting this ticket in a session locks out other ticket types for that session
  • Payment Mode — take full payment upfront or require a deposit (with the deposit amount)
  • Early bird price and Early bird member price (optional) — charged instead of the standard / member price until the event's early bird deadline, then the ticket reverts to its standard price on its own (see below)
  • Sales Start / End — an optional window outside which the ticket cannot be bought at all

Total ticket quantities are checked against the event capacity, and tickets that have already sold can't be deleted.

Early bird pricing

Early bird pricing is one deadline for the whole event plus an optional early bird figure on each ticket and each competition class:

  1. On the event's edit page, under the registration window, set Early bird pricing ends (date and time, in the event's timezone). It must fall before registrations close.
  2. On each ticket (in the ticket editor) and each class (in the class editor), enter an Early bird price / Early bird entry fee — and, if your members get a different early bird rate, an Early bird member price. Leave either blank on anything that has no early bird rate.

That is all. While the deadline is in the future the early bird figures are charged; the moment it passes, every ticket and class reverts to its standard (or member) figure — there is no second "standard" ticket to create and no sales window to line up. The event page and the register page show the early bird price with the standard price struck through and the deadline beside it, the cart labels each line Early bird price, and the invoice, receipt and confirmation email record the early bird price and the standard price it replaced, so the saving stays visible long after the deadline.

A rider who adds early bird items to their cart but only checks out after the deadline is not charged the early bird rate: the cart is re-priced, they are told "Early bird pricing has ended" with the old and new price, and they check out again at the current price. Members entering early pay the early bird member price if you set one, otherwise whichever of the member price and the early bird price is lower.

Payment methods (Basic plan and above, once you have tickets)

Choose how riders can pay: Cash on the day, Bank transfer, and Online payment (card, through Stripe). The boxes start with every method your organisation accepts; untick any you don't want for this event. Methods switched off in your organisation settings cannot be chosen here.

Accommodation (when the venue offers it)

When the selected venue records stabling, day-yard or camping capacity, an Accommodation section lets you offer them as paid add-ons at checkout:

  • Overnight stables and Day yards or stalls — a fee per night or per day, an optional refundable bond, and how many are available.
  • Powered and Unpowered camping sites — a fee per night and how many are available.

The same section appears on the edit page, so nothing here has to be decided now. See Camping & Accommodation.


Creating the event

Choose Create event. Horsify checks the required fields — title, a venue, a start date and time, at least one discipline for competitions, and an entry link or email when entries are taken elsewhere (the start can't be in the past, and the end must be after the start). If anything needs fixing, a summary at the top of the form lists every issue at once — click an item to jump straight to that field. The Sections sidebar shows a count next to each section that has a problem, and both the summary and the counts update live as you fix things.

On success, Horsify:

  1. Saves the event as a Draft.
  2. Creates any ticket types you added.
  3. Creates the starter classes from a template (priced at $0 so you can set fees).
  4. Takes you to the next step — the Competition Classes page when starter classes were created (so you can set entry fees), otherwise the event's edit page.

Imported and cloned events land differently: a Nominate import opens the new event's page, and a cloned event opens its edit page.

After you create the event

Your event exists as a draft. From the edit page you finish the setup — add classes, tickets, sessions, the entry form, a flyer image and SEO details — then publish when you're ready for riders to see and enter it.

The Running an Event, Start to Finish guide walks through the whole journey from here: building the running order, running the day live, and publishing results.

Subscription plans

Limited Plan (free 12 months) Basic Plan (from $10/year)
External event listings ✅ Unlimited ✅ Unlimited
Link to your own registration platform ✅ ✅
Event discovery on Horsify ✅ ✅
Internal ticketing & payments — ✅
Online registration management — ✅
Member management — ✅ (up to 100)

On the Limited Plan, the event-type chooser shows Entries taken elsewhere already chosen, the Registration section asks for your entry link, and the ticketing and payment sections are hidden. Upgrade to Basic to unlock Horsify's built-in ticketing, registration and payments.

Related help

Admin Communications Platform - User Guide
Client Management