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, or staff with Members and volunteers at Manage (see Staff Access)
- 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 | Assigned automatically when your club has automatic membership numbers turned on; otherwise you can enter one when you edit the dependant |
| Relationship | Parent, Guardian, Carer, Step-parent, Grandparent, Spouse, Partner, Sibling or Other |
| Medical Notes | Optional: medical conditions, allergies or special requirements. Only admins and staff with Members and volunteers at Manage can see them; staff at View see the dependant without their medical or disability details |
| 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
- In the organiser menu, open People → Members
- Find the guardian (parent) member, open the More actions menu on their row and choose Manage dependants. A member who already has dependants also shows a small dependants count you can click. That opens a Dependants: [member name] panel; you don't go through the Edit modal.
- Click Add someone new, then 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 (optional)
- Medical notes (optional). If you enter any, tick the box confirming their parent or guardian (or, for an adult, the person themselves) has agreed to the club recording this health information. You can't add the dependant with medical notes until it's ticked
- Click Add Linked Rider. The dependant becomes an active member of your club, with a membership number if your club generates them automatically
Already in your club on their own row? Use Link an existing member in the same panel instead of adding them again. It adds that child or partner to the member's family and leaves their own membership as it is.
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 unlinks them from this member and cancels the club membership that was made when you added them (a membership they held before you linked them is left alone)
- 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 Profile → My Riders, or from the Registering as panel on an event's entry form.
Either way, each child is one rider on the guardian's account, so the guardian can enter them in any club's events, including a child your club added. What differs is the membership:
| Added by | Has a membership with your club |
|---|---|
| Your club (this page) | Yes, made when you add them |
| The guardian, on their profile or an entry form | No, until the child joins your club through your membership application |
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.
Members-only events reach the family
A Hidden event your club has published shows under From your clubs on the Events page for anyone whose family holds a current membership with you, including a parent whose only link to your club is a child's membership. The parent can open that event and enter the child. Draft events stay visible to your own organisation only, and once the child's membership lapses the parent can no longer open the event.
Club emails reach a child through their parent
A dependant usually has no login or email address of their own. When you send a club email to your members, a dependant's copy goes to their guardian, greeted by the guardian's name. Brothers and sisters collapse into one email to the same parent, and a parent who is a member too still gets just one. A parent who has unsubscribed from your club's emails is left out. SMS and app notifications still only reach members with their own login.
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: 2026-10-21 13:12:56 UTC