Lesson Cancellation Fees

Audience: Riding schools and instructors Last Updated: 2026-11-03

▶ Watch: Lesson cancellation fees (1:37)

Overview

Cancellation fees let your riding school charge for lessons cancelled late. You set tiers of notice once (for example, under 24 hours' notice costs a set $30, under 12 hours costs the whole lesson). Then, whenever you cancel a lesson or approve a client's request to cancel, Horsify works out how much notice the client gave and suggests the fee that applies.

The policy only ever suggests. You decide each time: charge the suggested fee, choose another tier, enter an amount of your own, or let the client off. Money already paid for the lesson is kept towards the fee, and anything more is put on its own invoice and emailed to the client with a link to pay.

Every fee decision is kept in the client's cancellation history on their client card, so you can see who cancels often and who has just been unlucky.

The same cancel box also asks for your reason for cancelling, which goes in the client's cancellation email. See Cancelling a lesson and giving a reason below.

Setting your fees

1. In the organiser menu, open Settings, then the tab named after your riding school.
2. Jump to Cancellation fees in the section list.
3. Under Your school's fees, press Add a tier. Each tier has:
   • Name, for example Late cancellation. Each tier needs its own name.
   • Under (hours' notice): the tier applies when the client gives less notice than this. Each tier needs a different number of hours, between 1 and 336 (two weeks).
   • The fee is, one of:
     • A set amount, such as $30. Press A different amount for a lesson type to charge, say, more for a private lesson than a group lesson. Lesson types without their own amount use the tier's amount.
     • A percentage of the lesson, such as 50%.
     • The whole lesson. Nothing is given back, and a lesson paid from a package keeps its credit.
4. Add more tiers if you need them (up to 5). The shortest notice wins: with tiers at 24 and 12 hours, a client who gives 9 hours' notice falls in the 12-hour tier.
5. Press Save fees. Beside the tiers, Horsify shows the point at which cancelling is free, for example Free with 24 hours' notice or more.

The first tier you add starts as Late cancellation, under 24 hours, a set amount. The second starts as Short notice, the whole lesson, at half the hours of the first. Change any of these before you save.

To switch cancellation fees off, remove every tier and press Save fees. With no tiers, cancelling costs nothing however late it is.

Instructors who charge differently

An instructor can have their own fees, for example a new coach who charges half the lesson. Their lessons follow their own fees instead of the school's.

1. Under Instructors who charge differently, choose the instructor in Give an instructor their own fees and press Add. Their tiers start as a copy of the school's.
2. Change their tiers, then press Save (their name)'s fees.
3. To put them back on the school's fees, press Use the school's fees.

Who can change the fees

Admins can. Staff need Organisation profile and settings at Manage to save fees (at View they can see them). See Staff Access: Who Can Do What.

Cancelling a lesson and giving a reason

Whenever your office cancels a lesson, you choose a reason, and Horsify puts it in the email that tells the client their lesson is off. The reason is also kept on the booking.

Where to cancel from

• The appointment book (Riding School → Bookings): click the lesson and press Cancel.
• The bookings List (⋯ menu → List view): press Cancel on the lesson's row.
• The booking form: open the booking and press Cancel booking.

Each opens the same Cancel Booking box.

Steps

1. Leave Tell the client it is cancelled (email, or a text where they have no email) ticked to let the client know. It is ticked every time the box opens. Untick it when the client already knows, or when you are cancelling a lesson only to enter it again.
2. Under Reason for cancelling, choose a reason from the list:
   • Bad weather
   • Instructor unavailable
   • Horse unavailable
   • Arena unavailable
   • Not enough riders for the lesson
   • Illness
   • At your request
   • Something else
3. Your choice fills the box underneath. Leave it as it is, add to it (for example Bad weather, the arena is flooded), or choose Something else and type your own. The reason can be up to 500 characters.
4. Check the note under the box. While Tell the client is ticked it reads The reason for cancelling will be included in the cancellation email to the client. Unticked, it says the client isn't being told, so the reason is kept on the booking only.
5. Decide any cancellation fee (see Charging a fee when a lesson is cancelled below), then press Confirm Cancellation.

A reason is needed to cancel from the bookings List or the booking form. In the appointment book it is optional, but the client's email only gives a reason when you choose or type one.

What the client receives

When Tell the client is ticked, the client (or the parent, for a child's lesson) gets:

• A Lesson cancelled email naming the lesson, its date and time, with a Reason: line stating your reason. For a facility hire the email reads Booking cancelled.
• A notice in the Horsify app, when they have a Horsify account.
• A text message, only if the lesson was due to start within the next 12 hours and your school has Text clients who have a mobile number turned on (Settings → Communications, under Texting).

A client with no email address gets the app notice and, for a lesson within 12 hours at a school that texts, the text.

If you have turned off Email clients when staff book for them (Settings → Communications → Booking Notifications), clients aren't emailed about lessons your staff booked for them, and that includes the cancelled email.

When you approve a client's own cancellation request, their email says the lesson was cancelled as you asked and doesn't repeat their reason back to them.

Charging a fee when a lesson is cancelled

The Cancellation fee section appears in every place the office cancels a lesson:

• Cancel on a lesson in the appointment book (Riding School → Bookings).
• Cancel and Approve (a client's cancellation request) in the bookings List.
• Approve on the booking's page.
• Cancel on the booking form.

It appears for lessons only, not facility hires.

1. When did the client let you know?

Notice is counted from When did the client let you know?. For a client's cancellation request, it starts at the time they asked. Otherwise it starts at now. If the client emailed or rang earlier (for example last night at 7 pm, and you only read it this morning), change it to when they told you. Horsify shows the notice under the field (for example 21 hours before the lesson) and moves the suggestion to match. The time can't be in the future.

If the client has cancelled other lessons in the last 90 days, the section says how many.

2. Pick the fee

Horsify lists No fee, each of your tiers with what it costs for this lesson, Forfeit the lesson (unless one of your tiers is already the whole lesson), and Another amount. The tier the notice falls in is marked Suggested. If the client gave enough notice to fall outside every tier, No fee is suggested.

• Take the suggestion, or pick another tier.
• Forfeit the lesson: the client loses the lesson, with nothing to look up or type. A package lesson comes off their block and nothing is invoiced; a paid lesson keeps what was paid; an unpaid lesson invoices the lesson. The client's history records it as Late notice forfeit.
• Another amount: type your own fee.
• No fee: let the client off.

Charging less than the suggestion (a cheaper tier, a lower amount or no fee) needs a reason, such as Spot refilled or Good client. Horsify won't cancel the lesson until you give one. The reason is kept in the client's cancellation history. Charging the suggestion or more only takes an optional note.

If you haven't set cancellation fees, the section says so and suggests no fee. Forfeit the lesson is still offered.

3. Check what happens to the money

Under the choices, Horsify says what the fee will do for this lesson before you confirm. It depends on how the lesson was paid:

When something is owing and the client (or a child's parent) has an email address, Email the client the invoice and a link to pay it is ticked. Untick it to tell them yourself. If there is no email address on file, Horsify says so and the invoice is waiting in Invoices.

Then press Confirm Cancellation (or Approve cancellation for a client's request). Horsify confirms the fee in a message, for example Cancellation fee $30.00 on invoice INV-2026-00051 and was emailed to the client.

Cancelling doesn't refund anything by itself. When you cancel a paid lesson from the appointment book, the refund is offered straight after, filled in with what the fee didn't keep. Refunding needs Finances at Manage, cancel and refund. See Refunds in Riding School Management.

A lesson can only have one cancellation fee.

What the client gets

The client (or the parent, for a child's lesson) is emailed the fee with the invoice attached and a link to pay. The link opens a page showing the fee, anything already paid for the lesson, and what is owing. They can pay:

• By card, when your school takes online payments through its own connected Stripe account.
• By bank transfer, using your school's bank details and a reference. You mark the fee paid when the transfer arrives.

A card payment is recorded against the fee automatically. If the fee is no longer owing, or a newer email has replaced the link, the page says the link isn't valid.

The fee's invoice is in Invoices like any other. Marking it paid there records the payment on the fee, and cancelling the invoice there waives the fee.

Pausing online booking until a fee is paid

Under Riding school settings → Booking a lesson you can ask clients to call you rather than book online:

• Pause online booking while a cancellation fee is owing. A client with a fee still to pay can't book a lesson, program or hire online until it's paid. They're told why, that they can pay from the email you sent, and your phone number.
• Pause online booking when a client owes more than an amount. Counts cancellation fees, agistment, and lessons and hires that have already happened. A lesson booked ahead to pay on the day doesn't count until its time. Enter 0 to pause for any amount owing.

A parent's fee or balance pauses booking for the children they book for, and a child's pauses the parent booking for them. You can always book them yourself from the office. Both settings are off until you turn them on.

To stop one client booking online whatever they owe, open their card and choose Hold online booking. Their card says so, and they're asked to call you. Choose Allow online booking to undo it.

A client's cancellations (client card)

Open Clients, open the client's card and press Cancellations. It shows:

• Totals for the last 90 days: Cancelled, last 90 days, Charged a fee and Let off or charged less. Beside them, Fees owing is what the client still owes in fees for lessons cancelled in the last year.
• Each cancelled lesson in the last year: the notice given, the tier and amount charged, what the policy suggested when you charged less, the invoice number, the reason, and a status such as $30.00 owing, Fee paid, Fee waived, Kept from payment or Package credit kept.

For a fee still owing:

• Waive the fee lets the client off. Its invoice is cancelled too.
• Email it again sends the fee with a new link to pay. The old link stops working.

Lessons cancelled before you set up fees, or cancelled by the client while still pending, show No fee decided.

Seeing the history needs Clients and progress at View. Waiving needs Finances at Manage. Emailing it again needs Bookings at Manage.

Reinstating a lesson that had a fee

If you reinstate a cancelled lesson (see Reinstate lesson in Riding School Management):

• A fee still owing is withdrawn, and its invoice is cancelled.
• A package lesson whose fee kept its credit comes back without taking a second credit.
• A fee that has been paid stops the lesson being reinstated. Refund the fee from Invoices first, or book the lesson again.

Good to Know

• The fee is your call every time. Horsify never charges a fee on its own: a fee is only recorded when someone in your office decides it while cancelling or approving.
• A client cancelling online isn't told the fee first. When a client cancels a Pending lesson in My Lessons it is cancelled straight away with no fee. A Confirmed lesson becomes a cancellation request, and you decide the fee when you approve it. The client isn't shown a fee before they ask.
• My Lessons doesn't show the fee. The client learns about it from the email and the pay link.
• Online booking carries on while a fee is owing, unless you pause it. A client with an unpaid fee can still book online until you turn on Pause online booking while a cancellation fee is owing (see Pausing online booking until a fee is paid above). Fees owing on their card shows what they still owe.
• Changing the policy doesn't change past fees. A fee already decided stays as it was.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the client see why I cancelled? Yes, when Tell the client is ticked. Your reason appears on a Reason: line in their Lesson cancelled email. Untick it and the reason stays on the booking only.

Can I give my own reason instead of one from the list? Yes. Choose Something else and type it, or pick a reason and add to it in the box. Keep it to 500 characters.

Can I charge more for a private lesson than a group lesson? Yes. Make the tier A set amount and press A different amount for a lesson type, or use A percentage of the lesson so the fee follows the lesson's price.

The client rang last night but I'm only cancelling now. Do they pay the short-notice fee? No, as long as you set When did the client let you know? to when they rang. The suggestion moves to the tier that notice falls in.

I don't want to charge a regular client this time. Pick No fee and give a reason. If you've already charged them, open their card, press Cancellations and Waive the fee.

The client paid for the lesson by card. Do they get an invoice? Only if the fee is more than they paid. Otherwise the fee is kept from their payment and the rest is left for you to refund.

What if the lesson came out of a package? With the whole lesson tier or Forfeit the lesson, the credit is kept as the fee and nothing is invoiced. With any other fee, the credit goes back on their block and the fee is invoiced. See Lesson Packages.

Related

• Riding School Management (cancelling, approving requests, refunds and reinstating)
• Setting up lessons: lesson types, pricing and instructor rates
• Lesson Packages
• Staff Access: Who Can Do What
• Checking Your Upcoming Lesson (what riders see in My Lessons)

Support

Questions? Email support@horsify.com.au.\n\n---\n\nSource: wiki/features/LESSON_CANCELLATION_FEES.md \nLast synced: 2026-11-05 19:17:59 UTC