SHOWASSIST: People-Centered. Show-Driven. Your Digital Horse Show Aide

Malachi Hinton riding F15 at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. PC: Kendall Bierer/Phelps Sports

As a ‘mom-ager’ and horse show mom to her daughter, Malachi, Deidre McAuley-Hayes knows a thing or two about how stressful horse shows can be. She and Malachi, a young jumper professional came up with the idea for ShowAssist after a discussion they had when Malachi asked her mom, ‘Will you still travel with me to horse shows when I turn pro?’ They talked about how great it would be to have a service that allows people to hire a groom, braider or other support staff on-demand at a horse show. “Let’s call it ShowAssist,” recalled Deidre.

Building Connections and Creating a Healthy Work Environment
“We did some research on how people are finding help at horse shows – which was mainly posting on social,” said Deidre. Unfortunately, due to the algorithms and instant refresh of content on social media, the right people weren’t seeing the posts. They also discovered major issues plaguing the industry that include burnout and in some cases suicide especially with grooms and support staff. “There are communication issues in the industry and we are trying to help solve that by connecting owners/trainers/riders with service providers using technology that is specific to their needs,” shared Deidre. “The app also offers service providers flexibility; you can work as much or as little as you want to work.” The goal is to build connections and create a healthy work environment with the use of the app.

In Less Than 30 Seconds
Having a background in electrical engineering and currently a practicing intellectual law attorney, Deidre has a firm understanding of how an entrepreneurial business operates including how important the fine details are. “You really need to think outside the box when designing a new product or service,” she shared, “and think of all the ‘what ifs.’” The app answers the question – what are the owner’s needs at a horse show? “As we know, everything moves fast in this industry, people are busy and the app needed to be very simple to use and we designed it to take less than 30 seconds to post a job request,” said Deidre.

App Profile

Launched in July 2020, the free to download ShowAssist app is used at rated hunter jumper horse shows in the US and Equestrian Canada and offers two fee structures for users to post jobs. “Working with Stripe allows us to provide safe and efficient processing of our transactions with options that suit our users needs.” There is an auto pay option that includes a $10 fee plus a 5% service fee, and they recently added a cash pay option where users can pay their groom or other service provider in cash at the end of each job. Users can also offer cash tips. Service providers – grooms, braiders, etc. don’t pay any fees.
“Right now, you can post a job by show week and send re-hire offers to any past service provider for upcoming shows, and soon users will be able to duplicate a job post for the next show or post for an entire series,” highlighted Deidre.

Users receive instant alerts via text or email. Service providers receive instant job alerts. And owners receive instant applicant alerts to avoid the social media pitfall of missing critical information when needed the most.

In addition to the benefits of the app, ShowAssist is also working on creating an educational series to help grooms and other service providers improve their horsemanship skills and for others interested in pursuing careers in the industry.

Horse Show Heroes
As part of their mission to help foster better communication and to highlight the contribution the support staff play at horse shows, Deidre and Malachi have introduced the ‘Horse Show Hero Awards’ at select horse shows. “The owners get to nominate their horse show hero, and it is open to more than just grooms,” she said, adding, “It is a random drawing with a cash prize and a goodie bag for the recipient and we get an overwhelming positive response and participation from the horse show community.”

Market Savvy
Marketing a new horse app has its challenges however; ShowAssist is using social media and partnering with show organizers to help spread the word. “We also have a referral program where our users can win prizes each month for helping us help people in our industry. Our users have been great at helping spread the word about the app!” ShowAssist has also partnered with the Equestrian Aid Foundation to financially support their mission to assist equestrians and service providers in times of need.

Website: https://showassist.org

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Facebook: @ShowAssistApp
Twitter: @ShowAssistApp