Privacy Policy

1. Information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you use RingHQ — as an entrant, a rider or competitor, a horse owner, a club member, an official, a volunteer, or an event organiser. It can include:

• Account and contact details — your name, email address, phone number, and the password you set (stored only in encrypted/hashed form).
• Competitor and rider details — such as name, date of birth or age, address, emergency contact, and club or association membership and registration/grading numbers.
• Insurance and eligibility details — such as your association or day-membership insurance status, policy details, and information used to confirm you are eligible to enter a class.
• Sensitive details you choose to provide — for example a rider's age for age-restricted classes, guardian details and consent for minors, or medical, allergy or dietary information where an event or club form asks for it.
• Horse details — such as name, competition name, breed, height, colour, sex, and registration or microchip numbers.
• Entry, event and result information — the events, classes, camping, yards and other options you enter, your draws and running order, and your scores, placings and results.
• Club membership information (ClubHQ) — where you join or belong to a club, your membership category, gradings, attendance, compliance records, rally and event RSVPs, and related member records.
• Official, judge and volunteer information — where you take part in running events, your judging or official profile, availability, assignments and volunteer shifts.
• Payment information — card payments are processed securely by our payment provider, Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number; we do keep a record of what was paid, when, and the payment status of your entry.
• Communications — messages you send us or an organiser, and records of the emails we send you (such as confirmations, receipts and event updates).
• Technical and usage data — including your device and browser type, IP address, and log data, collected automatically as you use the site.

2. How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you when you create an account, complete a rider or horse profile, enter an event, or join a club. We may also receive information about you from an event organiser or club you deal with (for example when they set up an event, import a membership list, or record your attendance or results), and from a governing body or association where your membership is verified. We collect technical data automatically through cookies and similar technologies.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Create and manage your account, rider and horse profiles;
• Process your event entries, class selections and payments;
• Make your entry information available to the organiser of the event you enter, and to the club you belong to, so they can run their event or manage their membership (see section 4);
• Produce draws, running orders, programs, start lists, scoring and results;
• Send you transactional emails such as entry confirmations, receipts, draws, event updates and, for clubs, committee and membership communications;
• Provide event organisers, clubs and their committees with the tools to manage entries, members, gradings, officials, volunteers, communications and results;
• Respond to your enquiries and provide support;
• Maintain the safety, security and integrity of the platform, manage incidents, and meet our legal obligations; and
• Understand how the service is used so we can improve it.

4. Who we share it with, and what they receive

We do not sell your personal information. Because RingHQ is a platform that connects you with the organisers and clubs you deal with, we disclose information as follows:

• Event organisers and their officials — when you enter an event, the entry information you provide is passed to that event's organiser and the people they authorise to run it — for example event managers, secretaries, ring or section coordinators, judges and officials, and, where the event is run by a club, the club committee. This includes your name and contact details, the competitor's name and (where relevant) date of birth or age, address, emergency contact, club or association membership, registration and grading numbers, insurance and eligibility details, any guardian details for minors, any medical or dietary information the event form collects, your horse's details, the classes and options you entered, your payment status, and your results. Organisers use this to run the event, produce draws, programs and results, contact you, manage safety and incidents, and meet their association's requirements.
• Clubs and their committees (ClubHQ) — if you are a member of, or apply to join, a club that uses RingHQ's club tools, your membership, grading, attendance, compliance, RSVP and related records are available to that club's committee members and administrators so they can manage membership, gradings, rallies, communications and committee business.
• Governing bodies and associations — where an event or club is affiliated with a governing body or association, we may share or verify membership, registration and grading details with that body as needed — for example to confirm you are a current member, record a grading, or return results.
• Other competitors and the public — some event information is public by nature. Start lists, draws, programs, results and placings may display the competitor's name, the horse, the class and the placing on public event pages.
• Payment provider (Stripe) — card payments are processed by Stripe. Where an event or club takes payment to its own connected Stripe account, that organiser or club is the merchant and receives the transaction details for your entry from Stripe.
• Our service providers — we use trusted providers to operate RingHQ, including Resend (email delivery), Supabase (database and authentication) and Vercel (application hosting). They may only use the information to provide their service to us.
• Linked products (HerdHQ / lovemy.horse) — if you choose to link your RingHQ account with our HerdHQ horse-management product, information about your horses and your competition history may be shared between the two products so you don't have to re-enter it. This only happens when you start the link yourself.
• Legal and safety — where we are required or permitted by law, or where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, safety or property of RingHQ, our users or others.

Once your information has been shared with an event organiser, club or governing body, that organisation handles it as a separate entity and is responsible for its own use of your information. If you have a question about how a particular organiser or club uses your details, please contact them directly.

5. Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store or process data on servers located outside Australia. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

6. How we keep it secure

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, including encrypted connections, access controls, row-level database security, and reputable infrastructure providers. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. How long we keep it

We keep personal information for as long as your account is active and for as long afterwards as we need it to provide the service, resolve disputes, keep event and financial records, and meet our legal obligations. Event organisers and clubs may keep their own copies of the information you provided to them, under their own retention practices. You can ask us to delete your account — some information may be retained where the law requires it.

8. Cookies

RingHQ uses essential cookies to keep you signed in and to keep the site working securely. We do not use them to build advertising profiles. You can block cookies in your browser, but parts of the site may not work if you do.

9. Accessing and correcting your information

You can view and update much of your information at any time in your account — your profile, your riders and horses, and your entries. Some records held by an event organiser or club (such as results, gradings or attendance) are managed by that organisation; you can ask them to correct those. To request access to, or correction of, other personal information we hold about you, contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable time.

10. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page, with the “Last updated” date above.

12. Contact us

For any privacy question or request, contact Veterinary Nurse Solutions Pty Ltd (ABN 88 155 687 906) at harrie@vetnurse.com.au.

See also our Terms of Service.