Why the ordinary phone calendar isn’t enough for a stable
An ordinary calendar knows that the farrier is coming on Tuesday at ten. What it doesn’t know is which horses he is coming for, when he was here last, that he should come again in six weeks, and that the groom who gets the horses ready should know about it too. A stable calendar has to understand animals, people and repetition — otherwise it is just a list of times and names.
Three kinds of appointments meet in a stable. The regular ones that repeat for years: hoof trimming, vaccination, deworming, the dentist. The one-off ones: a competition, transport, a check-up after an injury. And the daily routine that only needs confirming: feeding and tasks. iPalomino keeps them in one calendar and distinguishes them by colour and icon, so you can see at a glance what kind of day lies ahead.
At the same time the calendar is not isolated. Once confirmed, a vaccination appointment can be written into the horse health record, a farrier visit is linked to a contact in the directory of professionals, and everything concerning a particular horse can also be found in its profile in the animal records.
Farrier, vet, vaccination and deworming appointments for horses
When creating an appointment you choose its type. Each has its own icon, so you won’t mix them up in the day’s list:
- Farrier — trimming and shoeing, typically every six to eight weeks.
- Vet — check-ups, treatments, ultrasound, dental examinations.
- Vaccination — influenza, tetanus and other vaccinations according to your vet’s plan.
- Deworming — spring and autumn deworming of horses or a plan based on faecal egg counts.
- Training — riding lessons, groundwork, hacks.
- Breeding — covering, pregnancy checks, the foaling date.
- Competition — shows and events you are preparing for.
- Feeding — a planned feeding linked to the feed stock.
For each appointment you add a date and time, select the animals, set the repeat and the reminder, and you can add a note. Appointments that arise automatically — for example gestation milestones from the horse breeding and foaling date module — appear in the calendar on their own.
Repeating appointments: the farrier every 6 weeks without retyping
Most of the work in a stable comes from what repeats. That is why every appointment has a Repeat field — every day, every week, every two or three weeks, every month, all the way to once a year. You enter a repeating appointment just once and the calendar shows its future occurrences ahead with a dot under the relevant day. When you confirm an appointment as done, the next one is scheduled by itself.
Try out what a year looks like with different intervals. The chart shows how many appointments await you in each month and when the nearest one comes:
The intervals are only an illustration — the actual vaccination and deworming plan for horses is always set by your vet. In the app you set exactly the rhythm you have agreed on.
How to schedule an appointment in the calendar step by step
- Tap a day or “New”The calendar offers a new task, a new appointment or a new feeding. Choose appointment.
- Choose the type and nameFarrier, vet, vaccination, deworming, training… Write the name the way you say it in the yard.
- Select who the appointment concernsThe whole stable, one horse or several horses at once. If you have more stables, you choose among them too.
- Set the repeat and the reminderDecide how often the appointment returns and how many days in advance you want to be alerted.
- Confirm when it’s doneAfter the visit you mark the appointment as done. It stays in the history and a repeating appointment is scheduled again.
The filters above the calendar switch you with one tap to upcoming items, today, overdue things or completed ones. If tasks are divided within your team, the “Mine” filter shows only what is assigned to you.
Who the stable calendar helps
Horse owners
You no longer have to count when the farrier was last here or when a booster is due. You enter the horse’s vaccination appointment once with a yearly repeat and the calendar reminds you by itself — with enough notice to book the vet.
Farms and breeders
On a farm, appointments concern whole groups of animals. You create the autumn deworming of the entire herd as one appointment for the whole stable, not as twenty entries. At an inspection you can show exactly what took place and when.
Ranches and stables with a team
In a stable with a team, everyone who should see the calendar sees it. The groom knows the farrier is coming tomorrow at eight and which horses to prepare, the trainer sees their lessons, and the owner of a boarded horse sees their horse’s appointments.
Professionals: farrier, vet, trainer
A professional connected to the stable sees the appointments that concern them right in the app and gets an alert for them. No more reminding by message and no more misunderstandings like “I thought it was next week”.
The most common mistakes when planning appointments in a stable
A missed farrier or a lapsed vaccination is rarely the result of carelessness. Usually one of these planning mistakes is behind it:
- An appointment without a repeat. The farrier leaves, everyone breathes out and nobody writes down the next date. A repeating appointment schedules itself once it is done.
- The stable in a private calendar. Deworming is easily overlooked between birthdays and the dentist. A stable calendar shows only what concerns the animals.
- A reminder only on the day. The vet has to be booked for a vaccination in advance. A reminder a week ahead gives you time for that.
- An appointment without an animal. “Farrier on Thursday” — but for which horses? For an appointment you select the animals it concerns, and the farrier knows what awaits him.
- A calendar only the owner sees. If the groom doesn’t know about the appointment, the horses won’t be ready. In a shared stable the whole team sees the appointments.
The common denominator is simple: an appointment should be entered once, in one place, with a repeat and with the people it concerns. Notifications and reminders take care of the rest.
One calendar for several stables, clients’ horses and professionals
If you manage more than one stable, the calendar merges their appointments into one overview and shows for each item which stable it belongs to. You don’t have to switch between sites to find out what awaits you tomorrow.
Things from other modules are reflected in the calendar too. Planned visits from contacts, the end of a withdrawal period after medication, or gestation milestones — everything that has a date has its place in the calendar. When you are waiting for someone at an appointment, notifications and reminders for the stable help; when you need to divide the work, reach for tasks for grooms and the team.
The stable has twelve horses and the farrier comes every six weeks. The owner creates one appointment, “Farrier — trimming and shoeing”, selects all the horses, sets the repeat to six weeks and the reminder to three days in advance.
From then on she no longer thinks about the farrier. Three days before the appointment she gets an alert, and once more on the day of the visit; the groom sees the appointment in the calendar and prepares the horses in the morning. After the visit he confirms the appointment and the next one is scheduled in six weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How do I set a farrier appointment to repeat every 6 weeks?
When creating the appointment choose the type Farrier and pick the interval in the Repeat field. The appointment will be shown ahead in the calendar, and after you confirm it the next one is scheduled.
Can one appointment belong to several horses?
Yes. In the “Who it concerns” field you select the whole stable or any number of horses. In the calendar it is still one appointment, not a copy for each horse.
When will I get the reminder for horse vaccinations?
According to what you set — on the day of the appointment or several days in advance. With an advance reminder, an alert also arrives on the day itself.
Will the farrier or vet see the appointment too?
If you invite them to the stable with an invite code, they see the stable’s calendar within the scope of their role and get alerts for new appointments. See the invite code for staff and professionals.
Can I see what was in the calendar last month?
Yes, you can move freely into the past in the calendar. Completed appointments stay in the history and you can also find them with the Done filter.
Related features of the iPalomino app
The calendar is at its strongest in combination with these modules:
Your whole ranch in one pocket.
iPalomino is now on the App Store. Download the app and try it in your own stable. An Android version is in development.