Overview
Organisations can add child or dependent members linked to a parent/guardian's membership record. Dependent members have their own first name, surname, date of birth, membership type, and membership number — but are always associated with a guardian member in the same organisation. This supports junior riding clubs, pony clubs, and any organisation where children participate under a parent's account.
Who Should Use This Feature
Perfect For
- Pony club administrators managing junior riders under a parent member account
- Riding clubs with junior membership categories
- Horse associations tracking child competitors linked to a guardian member
Prerequisites
- You must be an admin of your organisation
- The guardian member must already exist before adding dependants
Key Features
👶 Dependant Profiles
Each dependant record stores:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| First Name | Dependant's given name |
| Surname | Dependant's family name |
| Date of Birth | Used to calculate age for junior membership validation |
| Membership Fee | The membership type (e.g., Junior) selected for this dependant |
| Membership Number | Auto-generated or manually assigned membership number |
| Relationship | Parent, Guardian, Carer, Step-parent, Grandparent, Spouse, Partner, Sibling or Other |
| Guardian Member | Link to the parent/guardian's member record |
🔗 Dependants Shown Under Their Guardian
On the Member Management page, each dependant appears as its own row directly beneath the guardian member, so admins can see a family's full membership picture at a glance. Dependants are added and edited from the guardian's Manage Dependants panel.
How to Use
Adding a Dependant Member
- Navigate to Organiser → Members
- Find the guardian (parent) member and click Manage dependants on their row — in card view it's the Dependants pill. That opens a Dependants — [member name] panel; you don't go through the Edit modal.
- Under Add Linked Rider, fill in:
- First Name and Surname
- Date of Birth
- Relationship — Parent, Guardian, Carer, Step-parent, Grandparent, Spouse, Partner, Sibling or Other
- Membership type
- Save — a membership number is automatically assigned
Viewing Dependants
Dependants aren't listed on a separate page — they appear inline as rows underneath their guardian in the member list. To see and manage all of a family's dependants together, click Manage dependants on the guardian's row, which lists every dependant attached to them.
Removing a Dependant
- Open the guardian's Manage dependants panel and remove the dependant there
- Removing a dependant marks them as inactive
- The record is preserved for audit purposes — it is not permanently deleted
Linking an adult, not a child
A linked rider doesn't have to be a child. When the date of birth you enter makes the person an adult, the form asks "This person is an adult. How are they linked to this member?" and you must choose one of two, because they mean genuinely different things:
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| They just don't have their own login | The member enters and pays for them. They stay responsible for their own waivers, and can claim their own account later. Choosing this also asks you to confirm the person knows about and agrees to the arrangement. |
| The member is their legal guardian | The member signs waivers on their behalf and may authorise medical treatment. Only choose this where legal guardianship actually applies — it is not the tidier-looking option. |
For someone under 18 there is no choice to make: a child is always a guardian link.
How Dependants Behave at Entry Time
Guardians can add their own riders too
Admins aren't the only route in. A guardian can add a rider to their own account from My Profile → My Riders, or from the Registering as panel on an event's entry form. Those riders belong to the guardian's account rather than to your club, so they can be entered in any club's events.
The difference matters when a family asks why a child you added isn't showing up elsewhere:
| Added by | Visible when entering | Has a club membership number |
|---|---|---|
| Your club (this page) | Your club's events only | Yes |
| The guardian, on their profile or an entry form | Any club's events | No — until a club adds them |
A guardian can copy a club-added dependant onto their own account with Add to my profile on the rider's row in My Riders. Your club's record stays authoritative for membership; the copy just makes the rider selectable at other clubs.
The member rate follows the competitor
Where a ticket or division has a member price, Horsify charges it based on the rider being entered, not the account paying:
- A dependant with an active membership at your club gets the member rate — even if the guardian paying has no membership with you.
- A dependant without one pays the standard rate — even if the guardian does.
- A rider entered by name only, with no membership record anywhere, is charged on the paying account's membership.
So if a family reports being charged the wrong rate, check the dependant's own membership status and expiry on their row, not the guardian's.
One order can hold a whole family
A guardian enters each rider in turn and pays once. Your entry list still shows one registration per rider, each with its own entry-form answers and its own bridle number — there is no combined "family registration" record to work around.
Age ranges on divisions are advisory
Where you set a minimum or maximum age on a division, the entry form shows it against the rider being entered and warns the guardian when it doesn't fit. It does not block the entry, so you keep your discretion to admit a rider outside the published range.\n\n---\n\nSource: wiki/features/DEPENDENT_CHILD_MEMBERSHIP.md \nLast synced: 2026-10-06 06:10:10 UTC