DressageDaily: Linda Rands

Monday, October 12 1998

The Rands Report

Rands

Before the discipline of dressage was even attempted by most riders in the states, Linda Rands was travelling to Canada for competitions. In 1958, thirty years ago, Linda exhibited in the first US Dressage show in Pennsylvania. She managed her first recognized show eleven years later, in 1969, at Centaur Farms in Michigan. In 1970 the Waterloo Hunt Club asked for Linda's assistance in running a dressage show and twenty-eight years later she is still working with the Waterloo Hunt Club show. With almost the same staff from all those years back, the single event has expanded to three summer shows. At Foxlea Farms, Linda helped to run the biggest CDI in history, with 64 Prix St. Georges entries and 96 horses competing at the Grand Prix level.

With all that experience, it's no wonder that Linda has developed software specific for dressage show management. Twenty years ago she started investigating the concept, hired a programmer and "Showfest" was born. "The key is that it is simple to use. User friendly, " explained Linda. "You don't have to be computer literate." Written in DOS (pre-windows), the program is a menu driven cross-referencing database with options from entries to results to mailing lists to prize money won . . .

Linda and "Showfest" provided quick, easy to translate results for all the breeding classes at Devon. We at dressagedaily were able to quickly get the final results, due to the expediency of both Linda and the program. The software is available on a one-show basis, called a "one-shot" or multiple show managers often purchase the whole program. Questions and inquiries should be directed to Linda Rands at 248-645-9042 (MI) or 941-426-8506 (FL).

Many thanks to Linda and the entire office crew at Dressage At Devon.
These hard working women are an essential group behind a successful show. Pictured at right are: Linda Rands, Breed Show Secretary, Patsy Albers, FEI Event Director, Pat McConnell, Show Secretary and Melanie Sloyer, Chair, Breed Show.