United States Eventing Association

Woodside Horse Trials Jumps on Board with ShowConnect

Nestled on just over 270 acres of land leased from Stanford University, The Horse Park at Woodside is an equestrian paradise. The park, which has been a staple competition venue in Woodside, California, for over 40 years, not only offers three recognized events a year, with divisions from the Starter to Advanced levels, but they also host A-rated hunter/jumper shows, dressage competitions, FEI-recognized vaulting, reining competitions, and polo tournaments. With all the activity constantly buzzing through the park, Executive Director Steve Roon knows how to keep himself busy!

Roon, an eventer himself, had been on the Board for The Horse Park at Woodside for several years when in 2020, he was approached to take on the role as Executive Director. Roon had retired from his career in sales and marketing for medical devices and diagnostics and was ready to start a new chapter, as he reconnected with his childhood passion for horses.

“I failed retirement,” he said. “Running the Horse Park is certainly more than a full-time job, but it’s a whole lot of fun as well!”

Since taking over the role, Roon has jumped in headfirst to support all the equestrian activities that happen on-site. He is passionate about expanding the park’s offerings, and with that, improving the way that they do business. That passion for innovation is what pushed Roon and his team to move to utilizing ShowConnect for their events.

ShowConnect is a community-based event management system that serves as a hub for all professionals involved in running both recognized and unrecognized events. The program was launched by the USEA in an effort to provide a user-friendly, cost-effective way to manage events, and it continues to grow year after year as more event supporters, like The Horse Park at Woodside, utilize it.

When asked about the catalyst that made Roon switch systems, he explained that, “Rob [Burk] and I talked about this a while ago, and I just thought it was really important. Christina [Gray, of Gray Area Events] has been really supportive of the project as well, so it felt like a great fit.”

Gray, who serves as secretary for the park’s recognized events, has been a long-time supporter of ShowConnect and uses the platform at several other events that she manages as well, including Twin Rivers Ranch and Caber Farm.

The Woodside Spring H.T. in May this year was the first time that the team was able to utilize the program, and USEA Event Technology Operations Manager, Margaret Marcus, was on-site to assist with the transition. “Margaret is delightful; she pitched right in at the front desk at the show and gave us a real hands-on view of how the software stitches everything together.”

In the lead up to and during the event, Roon’s team and the competitors had the opportunity to use ShowConnect in real time and experience many of the updates that the USEA has been working diligently to enact this year. “We got a lot of feedback from people, and for the most part, it was very positive,” he explained. “The only real challenge was just getting them used to a new platform. People are just used to Start Box, but the cost of these things keeps increasing, and that ends up impacting everyone, so we need a better solution.”

With the positive experience this spring, The Horse Park at Woodside has committed to using ShowConnect for the Summer H.T. as well, which kicks off this Friday, Aug. 9. The USEA is proud to partner with the team at Woodside for another successful event! Best of luck to all the competitors this weekend. For more information and to view the entries and results throughout the event, visit showconnect.org/calendar.

About ShowConnect

ShowConnect has been designed with the future in mind. The system provides the critical features event organizers need to register, schedule, and score an event, but also provides many additional features to all sized events that would not be cost-effective by any other means. It’s designed to allow the flow of information, and in the future, transactions securely in real-time to and from the people and organizations who interact with your event.

ShowConnect facilitates the management of event entries by accepting manual entries and imports from Xentry, the USEA’s online entry system. Additionally, import options into ShowConnect are set to expand, enhancing its flexibility and ease of use.

ShowConnect provides one location with everything needed to run an event, state-of-the-art technology, enhanced scoring systems, real-time updates, easy accessibility, and support for organizers and secretaries when you need it most. Click here to learn more about ShowConnect.