Invoicing your yard, explained simply

Invoicing is the part of the job nobody chose. You do it in the evening, badly, late, and you end up not knowing who has paid what. Here is how to get out of it, explained without a single complicated word, the way you would over coffee at the yard.

The real problem is not writing the invoice

Writing an invoice takes two minutes. What takes the whole Sunday is working out who rode how many times, what was left on their package, whether March's livery was actually charged, and why that cheque for 180 does not match any invoice.

In other words: the problem is not the invoice, it is everything you need to know before writing it. And a notebook does not know that.

What changes when the diary and the invoice talk to each other

A lesson ridden deducts the rider's package. Livery runs on its own on the first of the month. A clinic invoiced in advance ends up on the same invoice as the rest. You never enter anything twice, so you never get it wrong twice.

And when a rider asks “where am I up to?”, you answer in three seconds, from your phone, at the side of the arena.

Unpaid invoices, without the awkward conversation

Asking for money from someone you see every Saturday is the most uncomfortable thing in this job. An automatic reminder, sent after the delay you set, settles it without anyone having to look daggers at anyone.

What to remember, in three sentences

What costs time is not writing the invoices, it is gathering what you need to know to write them. Software that already holds your horses, your diary and your riders already has it all to hand. The rest goes out on its own: you carry on looking after the horses, it looks after the paperwork.

Want to go further? Our page on invoicing for equestrian businesses covers the special cases (freelancers, clubs, VAT...).