Show expense billing lets a barn capture every show-day extra — services like schooling, braiding, clipping and hauling, and physical goods like branded apparel, supplies and tack — the moment it happens, and roll it all into the horse owner’s regular end-of-month invoice. Your barn builds its own list of show services and merchandise once, and staff simply pick from it at the show. No more scribbled notes at the ingate, no more forgotten charges, no more separate show settle-ups.
The show is where barns lose the most money on paper
Shows are busy, fast, and messy to bill. A trainer schools three horses before a class, someone braids at 5am, a mane gets clipped, a client grabs a branded cooler and a bag of shavings — and by the time everyone is home and unpacked, half of it never makes it onto an invoice. Those small, forgotten services and sales add up to real money left on the table every season.
Stables Systems fixes this by treating every show-day service and product like any other billable item: picked from your barn’s own list, logged where and when it happens, then added automatically to the owner’s next monthly invoice alongside board and lessons.
Build your barn’s show list once — services and goods
Every barn charges for show days a little differently, so you set up your own menu of show services and physical merchandise — with your names and your prices. Services like schooling and braiding and goods like branded apparel, feed, and supplies all live on the same list. Once it’s built, logging a charge is a matter of picking the item from the list and assigning it to a horse or client. That keeps pricing consistent, avoids typos and forgotten fees, and means anyone on your team can log a sale or service correctly without guessing.
How it works: from the ingate to the invoice
- Set up your show list. Add your barn’s show services and physical goods — schooling, braiding, clipping, hauling, day fees, plus branded apparel, feed, and supplies — with your own pricing.
- Pick and log at the show. Choose the service or product from your list and assign it to a horse or client from your phone the moment it happens.
- It attaches to the right horse and owner. Each charge lands on that horse or client’s record, so it is tied to the person who actually owes it.
- It rolls into the monthly invoice. At month-end, every logged show expense appears as a line item on the owner’s regular invoice — no separate show bill, no re-keying.
- They pay the usual way. Card or ACH, with automatic reminders, and it syncs to QuickBooks Online.
Show-day extras you can add to your list
- Schooling — pre-class schooling rides and warm-ups, per horse.
- Braiding & banding — mane and tail work logged the morning of.
- Body clipping & trace clips — grooming services billed as delivered.
- Hauling & trailering — to and from the showgrounds.
- Day fees, stall fees & coaching — the show-day charges that usually get forgotten.
- Physical goods & merchandise — branded apparel, feed, shavings, tack, and supplies sold on-site.
The old way vs. Stables Systems
| Show-day billing on paper & memory | With Stables Systems |
|---|---|
| Prices made up on the spot, differently each time | Services and goods picked from your barn’s own list at set prices |
| Extras and product sales scribbled on a hand or forgotten by Sunday night | Logged to the horse or client the moment they happen |
| A separate, painful show settle-up weeks later | Rolled into the owner’s regular monthly invoice |
| Show revenue quietly leaking every season | Every billable service and sale actually captured and paid |
Questions barn owners ask about show expense billing
Yes. Show-day services and product sales are logged against the horse or client and added automatically to the owner’s regular end-of-month invoice, alongside board and lessons.
Yes. Your barn’s list can include services like schooling, braiding, and hauling as well as physical goods like branded apparel, feed, and supplies — all billed the same way and rolled into the monthly invoice.
Yes. Each barn builds its own list of show services and merchandise with its own names and pricing. Staff pick from that list when logging a charge, which keeps pricing consistent and nothing gets forgotten.
Yes. Services and products are picked from your list and added to the horse or client from any device the moment they happen, so nothing gets forgotten by the time you are home.
No. Stables Systems is not a show-secretary or show-management platform for entries and results. It handles the billing side — capturing show-related services and product sales and getting them onto the owner’s invoice.
Yes. Payments and invoices sync with QuickBooks Online so your books reconcile without re-keying.
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