Equestrian Photography Gallery: Organising a Horse Show by Class

Decide which of these you are running before the show. The gallery settings follow from it.

clientgallery.io has no per-photo checkout and no print store. If your show business depends on riders ordering prints or single images from a storefront, read the last section first.

A gallery holds sections, arranged studio-side. For a show, the class is the natural section.

1. Name sections the way the prize list does. “Class 14, 1.10m Jumpers” or “Novice Test A”. Riders recognise the class name from their entry.
2. Keep sections in the running order. Within a class, keep frames in the order the riders went, so a rider who remembers going early looks near the top.
3. Put a handful of show-wide frames first. Photos not placed in a section appear above the sections, as highlights.

Riders see one scrolling page. At the top, a jump bar lists every section with the number of photos in it, and a tap takes them to their class. There is nothing to click into and nothing to navigate back out of.

Sections are one level deep. A class cannot hold a section for each rider inside it. If the show runs two rings, put the ring in the section name, such as “Ring 2, Class 9”, rather than trying to nest it.

Show photos include juniors, private yards and riders who would rather their fall at the water tray stayed off the internet. A password is sensible.

On clientgallery.io the password is set per gallery, and it covers the whole gallery: every section, the downloads and the face index. There are no client accounts. A family opens the link, types the password once, and that is the whole sign-in.

That is the right trade-off for a show. Hundreds of families will not create accounts, and a password shared through the show office reaches exactly the people who were there.

Be honest with the show about the limit. A password shared with every competitor stops strangers and search engines. It does not stop a family forwarding the link and the password to a friend. Keep any frame that must not circulate out of the show gallery altogether.

What the password protects, and what it cannot, is covered in the password guide.

• Picks off. Everyone on one gallery link shares a single pick set, and sending picks locks picking for everyone. On a show gallery, the first family to send would close it for the rest.
• Downloads on. Each photo has its own download button, and a “Download all photos” button covers the gallery. A rider will use the single-photo button on their own round.
• A welcome note under the gallery title with the show name, the credit line you want when riders post, and how to reach you for full-resolution files.
• Split by day or ring if you pass 1,000 photos. That is the fair-use ceiling per gallery, counted across all sections. Galleries are unlimited, so a two-day show can be two galleries, one per day.

Here the show gallery is a shop window, and each paying rider gets a gallery of their own.

1. Show gallery with downloads off. The download buttons disappear. The photos are still shown in the browser, so treat the preview as viewable, not as locked.
2. A rider orders. By email, message or your own booking form. There is no ordering inside the gallery.
3. Create that rider's gallery. Upload their frames from every class they rode. Sections by class or by horse work well here.
4. Add your payment link. You can paste your own payment link on the gallery. Downloads do not unlock when the rider pays; you switch them on yourself once the payment has arrived.
5. Let the rider choose, if the package has a count. With picks on, a single tap stars a photo and a double tap loves it. When the rider sends, you get an email with the loved and starred counts.
6. Deliver. Switch downloads on. For print files, a paid account can attach a full-resolution ZIP. It stays live for 3 days per upload and can be uploaded again at any time.

A section of the show gallery also has its own share link. It is view-only: no downloads, no picks, no face search and no link back to the full show. Sending a rider the link to their class is a quick way to show them their round before they order.

Face search is included, off by default, and switched on per gallery. Matching runs in the visitor's own browser, the selfie is never uploaded, and the face index sits behind the gallery password.

Equestrian photos are a hard case for it. Riders wear helmets with peaks and chin straps, and they are often small in a frame dominated by the horse and the fence. Matching is a similarity search, and those conditions weaken it.

The search also cannot find a horse, a saddle cloth or a competitor number. The class sections are the dependable navigation; face search is a bonus when it works.

There is no consent step in the product, only a short explanation before the visitor picks a photo. When junior riders compete, switching it on is a decision for the show organiser, in writing. The race page covers the same trade-offs for a field of strangers in race photography photo delivery.

Per-rider galleries cost nothing extra, which is why the rider-package shape works on a flat plan: a show that produces forty rider packages produces forty galleries at the same monthly price.

Where another tool fits better: if riders expect to browse the show and buy single images or prints on the spot, with payment unlocking the download automatically, use a platform with a built-in store, such as Pixieset or Pic-Time. clientgallery.io does not automate that step.

For the related case of a club or team with a roster and a single organiser choosing photos, see team sports photo proofing.

This page states no external figure. Every number on it is a clientgallery.io product fact, checked against the product code on 24 September 2026: the plan prices, unlimited galleries under fair use, the fair-use ceilings of 1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB per paid account, the 3-day full-resolution ZIP with 100 GB of standing ZIPs, the absence of gallery expiry, and the absence of a store and commissions. Section behaviour, the shared pick set, the manual payment link, the download switch and face search were checked in the same code on the same day.

Pixieset and Pic-Time are named only as examples of platforms with a built-in store; no figure about them is stated.