Bulk importing horses and clients

Setting up a barn one horse at a time is slow. The import tool takes your existing list - a spreadsheet, an export from other barn software, your QuickBooks customers, or just what's in your head - and creates clients, horses, stall assignments, and recurring board charges together.

Open it from Clients → Import or Horses → Import.

One row per horse
This is the rule that makes everything else work. A client with three horses gets three rows, repeating their name and email each time. Stables groups those rows into one client with three horses - it doesn't create three clients.

Getting your list in

You have four ways to start, and you can mix them:

• Load from QuickBooks. If QuickBooks is connected, choose Load from QuickBooks to pull your existing customers straight into the grid - no file, no retyping. Customers you've already imported are skipped automatically, so you can run it again later to pick up just the new ones.
• Type directly into the grid. For a small barn, skip the file entirely and fill in rows by hand.
• Upload a CSV. Choose Choose a CSV file. Exports from other barn software work as-is - columns Stables doesn't recognize are ignored rather than rejected, and it tells you which ones it skipped.
• Start from the template. Download the template gives you the exact columns with instructions and example rows inside. Delete the example rows before uploading.

The columns are client first name, client last name, client email, client phone, horse name, location (barn or building), stall, and monthly board rate. Only the names are required.

Importing from QuickBooks

QuickBooks knows who your customers are, but not what they board. That's why loading them drops you into the same grid rather than importing silently - you fill in the horse side before anything is created.

1. Connect QuickBooks first if you haven't - see Connecting QuickBooks Online.
2. On the import page, choose Load from QuickBooks. Your customers arrive as rows, with names split into first and last, and emails and phone numbers carried over where QuickBooks had them.
3. Fill in what QuickBooks didn't have: horse names, stalls, and monthly board rates. Use the copy icon on a row to add another horse for the same owner.
4. Review and finish as usual.

Imported clients stay linked to their QuickBooks customer, which matters once you're syncing: invoices for those clients post to the right QuickBooks customer instead of creating a duplicate. That's true whether the import created the client or matched one you already had.

Already-imported customers are skipped
The loader leaves out any customer already linked to a Stables client, so re-running it after adding customers in QuickBooks brings in only the new ones. You'll see how many were loaded and how many were skipped.

Working in the grid

Everything is editable after loading, so a messy export is fine - clean it up here.

• Copy a row to add another horse for the same client. The owner's details come along, so you only type the new horse's name and stall.
• Delete a row you don't need.
• Invite is per client, set on their first row. Leave it off for clients you're not ready to bring into Stables - you can invite them later.
• Your work saves automatically as a draft for 30 days, so you can close the page and come back.

Clients without an email
Email is optional. A client without one is created as a record you manage - you can track their horses and bill them offline, but they can't be invited or emailed invoices until you add an address. QuickBooks customers often arrive without one.

Review before anything is created

Review checks your rows against what's already in Stables and tells you what will happen before it happens:

• Existing clients are matched by email, so importing someone you already have adds their horses instead of duplicating them.
• Stalls are checked against your barn: existing stalls are assigned, new ones are created, and anything already occupied or ambiguous is flagged for you to resolve.
• Errors point at the exact row and field, so you can fix and re-check.

Starting board billing (optional)

If you entered monthly board rates, the last step offers to set up recurring charges at the same time. You choose:

• Your billing day - the day of the month invoices generate.
• When to start - next month, or the current month if your billing day hasn't passed yet.
• Hold the first round as drafts - review the first invoices before they send. This is required when you bill the current month, since those invoices generate right away.

You can also skip billing entirely and set up charges later. Nothing is billed retroactively.

Stripe must be connected to collect payment
If your Stripe account is still being verified, the import and its schedules still work - the first invoices simply generate once verification completes. Have your business details, tax ID, and bank info ready; Stripe's review can take a day or two.

After it runs

You get a summary of what was created - clients, horses, stall assignments, and recurring charges - and anything that needs attention. From there, horses and clients are normal records: open a horse to add medical history, feeding, and care, or a client to manage billing.

FAQ

• What if I import someone twice? Clients with an email are matched on it - re-importing adds any new horses to their existing record. Clients without an email can't be matched automatically, so Review flags them as a possible duplicate when the name already exists at your facility; add an email to link them instead of creating a second record. Customers loaded from QuickBooks are skipped if they've already been imported.
• Can I import horses without owners? Every row needs a client name - that's how horses get grouped and billed. If a horse's owner isn't known yet, use a placeholder client and change it later.
• Do I have to include board rates? No. Leave the rate blank and the horse is created without any recurring charge; you can add billing whenever you're ready.
• Does importing send anything to my clients? Only if you check Invite for them. Invitations go out when the import completes; clients without an email are never contacted.
• My QuickBooks customer names came in wrong. QuickBooks stores one display name, so Stables splits it into first and last - including "Last, First" formats. Business names or unusual formats may split oddly; fix them in the grid before finishing.