Unpaid Office Staff

Today on Juli Thorson's Horse Talk blog, Juli spotlighted some of Horse & Rider's canine staff members.

Even though Alana and I (along with our Art Director, Adam) are stationed in the Lake Dallas office, in an actual office building, we still get to bring our pups to work. It's one of the upsides to having a small staff. Luckily, we're all dog fanatics. Adam has yet to bring his pint-sized terriers in... although he has brought in his pint-sized human newborn, Holden.

While the dogs can be a distraction at times, like when Murphy has too much to "say" to the UPS delivery man or the dog's wrestling matches get a little too raucous (doesn't happen as often now that Happy is recovering from kidney-removal surgery and Addison's disease diagnosis), overall it's great to have the critters at work. There's a comfort that comes from having your dogs nearby, and a break to curl up on the floor with the pup is a welcome stress-reliever during deadline days.

Now that I've been lucky enough to experience the benefits, it'd be hard to work somewhere where I couldn't bring the dogs to work. All of you who also get to take Fido to the office, whether it's an indoor or outdoor one, know what I mean!

Happy (my dog, chocolate Lab) having some serious jealousy issues over the bone Murphy (Alana's dog, yellow Lab) is munchin'.

This rabbit has long since been destroyed.

An occasional visitor, my part-time receptionist, Striker. (He and Murphy are NOT friends.)

Cowboy Saying

Each month, one of my quick little tasks (funny how these "little" bits end up adding up into one huge to-do list!) is to supply our production team with quotes, tidbits, and fun facts for the Marketplace section in the back of H&R. The Marketplace is where you can find helpful advertisements for everything from horse insurance to manure vacuums -- yes, I'm serious (check out www.greystoneamerica.com).

One of the quotes I ran across today while I working on this:
“When in doubt, let your horse do the thinkin’.” ~ Cowboy saying

I'm thinking, whoever came up with this must have had a really good horse. If I dropped my reins and let my horse do the "thinkin,'" we'd end up at the feed bucket 9 times out of ten! And that tenth time, we'd end up going for a nice roll in the dirt, which means I'd end up squooshed!

What would would happen if y'all let your horse do the thinkin'?

P.S. Know any cool horse quotes I can borrow?

Kissing Horses

One of the many perks of working at H&R: your coworker knows her way around a photo shoot. Alana kindly donated her camera-savvy and photo shoot production skills during my engagement photo shoot. The direction she gave Tanner and I was a little different from what she usually does at H&R shoots (she doesn't typically shout to trainers "Look longingly into each other's eyes; Twirl her around; Stare up in the sky and laugh really hard"). But the results were the same: great pics! She even got our horses to kiss. I'll treasure these pictures forever. Maybe I can convince Alana to snap me on my horse in my wedding dress after my September wedding?

How I Landed My H&R Job

Alana Arrives!

Sorry to be late on the scene…deadline weeks have a way of consuming your life. But, I want to welcome you to our new H&R blog, and give you a lil’ insight as to how I got my start here.

At age 10, I went on an elementary-school field trip to this Stepford-Wives’-pseudo town, called Enterprise City, where fifth-graders learned how to “hold jobs,” write checks, manage their money and time, eat at a restaurant without their parentals, and basically pretend to be grown-ups. My job for the day: editor of the Enterprise Tribune. It was that day I decided to follow the yellow-brick-road of journalism...

PHOTO ABOVE: My brother Mac, 2, and I, 5, aboard my great aunt's American Saddlebred in Appleton, Wisconsin.

...A little less than a year later, my mom shook me out of bed with some good news. There had been a cancellation at the riding camp I’d tried to get into all summer. I was in. And, it was that day I decided the horse life was for me. I won’t bore you with the next decade’s worth of “I love horses” stories, but besides the occasional recreational trail ride, I did the hunter/jumper thing. After honing my own skills, I also taught riding lessons at my barn’s camp program and throughout the school year…

PHOTO ABOVE: My occasional trail ride op...this one took place somewhere outside Tempe, Arizona? Going to take a wild guess and say late 80s?...as denoted by my pumped-up bangs, hideous rolled-up, ultra-stone-washed jeans-------and ridiculous rolled-up T-shirt sleeves. OMG.

...Thirteen years later. Berlin Wall down. Twin Towers down. 2002 graduate of Texas A&M University (coincidentally the university of my co-blog-host, Erin); B.A. in journalism, English; former A&M Varsity Equestrian Team rider and co-captain. I returned to Dallas to live with my parents-------just until I could find a job. That plan didn’t move along as quickly as I’d assumed. After working at a small suburban newspaper for a year-and-a-half while teaching riding lessons, my then boyfriend (now husband) was flipping through The Dallas Morning News and came across the H&R Editorial Coordinator ad. (Yes, I almost peed in my pants.)...

PHOTO ABOVE: Me at 15 (on right), beaming after winning reserve champion a local North Texas Hunter Jumper Club show on my then leased American Saddlebred, C.B.

...I landed the job, and hit my fifth year mark about a month ago…moving through the ranks from editorial coordinator to production editor to managing editor. While five years may not sound like an exponential amount of time, I’ve been privy to quite a few changes at H&R since I started this gig-------from moving offices, to changing editors, to a mag redesign, to new art direction, and so on.

On a day-to-day basis, I head-up our “home base” office in Lake Dallas, Texas (just north of Dallas, south of Denton). Our other editors live in California, Idaho, and Houston (telecommuting is quite the miracle invention). These days we wear (and love wearing) many hats, but my “office” responsibilities include writing, editing, and managing editorial material for each issue, as well as coordinating words and photos with our art director, Adam Purvis. I also serve as liaison and primary writer for our Team H&R members (yes, I do know some of their secrets). And, in the last few years I’ve even learned to shoot a little (that is, with a camera)…so you’ll occasionally see my pics on the pages of H&R. I’m no Cappy Jackson, but I do love the photog thing!...

PHOTO ABOVE: Another rare chance I get to ride Western-------and an even more rare opportunity to ride on the beach. Me, at 18, riding along the Gulf Coast on Padre Island, off of Texas' very southern tip.

...But, my absolute favorite part of the gig? Planning and directing on-site photo shoots (you never know what will happen; don’t worry we’ll share plenty of “interesting” photo-shoot experiences with you along the way), AND traveling to major shows and other events where we get to meet readers like you, and have fun chatting with the pros.

While I now have a reasonably firm grasp on the Western world, I still primarily ride English (also being the only saddle I can afford), and show in hunter/jumpers on my 17.2-hand bay Thoroughbred gelding, Memphis. (BTW: Even though TBs are somewhat ostracized in the Western world, Memphis has graced the pages of H&R a few times.) I still teach riding lessons on the weekends (and love it), and I still reside in Big D...

ABOVE PHOTO: Taken a year or two ago, this is me and my crazy 17.2-Thoroughbred gelding, Memphis, after taking reserve champion at a jumping show. Indeed, we were proud that day. (Wish you could see our saddle pad and polo wraps-----all matching in sea-foam green!)

...Now that I’ve unwittingly forced my autobiography on you, PLEASE let me (and Erin) know what aspects of the nag-mag biz (as we call it), you’d like to hear about? The day-to-day details? Deadline horror stories? Industry gossip? The most idiotic thing I’ve ever had to take a picture of for this magazine? The inside scoop on what our Team H&R members are really like? Worst H&R traveling experience ever? We’re here to give you the goods! Talk to us!

~Alana

Plush Ponies & "Hot" Hats

We're hunkering down here at the office as we enter the home stretch of our August magazine deadline. If you spend any time reading Juli Thorson's Horse Talk blog (and you should!), you know in the magazine world we seldom get to live in the present. My mind is always on a 2-3 month fastforward (which can be a problem when I'm dating personal checks at the grocery store -- "Ummm, ma'am it's June, not August").

Despite my mad dash to make it to the office a little early this morning so I could make a dent in the last of my August assignments, I found time, as always, to grab a bite to eat (of course!) and make my bed (yes, I'm one of those people who always makes their bed -- Mom must be proud). The last step in my bed-making process is aligning my three stuffed animals neatly across the bed. YES, I said it, stuffed animals. Am I the only woman over the age of 9 who still has a soft spot for them? I have my stuffed dog whom I've slept with since I was 8, a Winnie the Pooh my childhood best friend gave me, and one newcomer -- a plush pony I purchased at the Quarter Horse World Show.


Alana and I were there to snap some pictures, support some Team H&R members (including Charlie Cole and Bob Avila), and chat it up with the exhibitor and spectators (If you ever see us at an event, STOP us and say hello!). While taking a break to peruse the booths, this little guy caught my eye. I debated over him for quite a while, pondered how much Alana would make fun of me, and finally had to splurge on the chubbster. Alana ended up having little ammunition against me. I caught her seriously considering this peppery get-up.

So, I'm wondering a couple things. First, am I the only "grown-up" who still has a soft spot for stuffed-animal ponies? Second, what are some of y'all's favorite horse-show splurges?

My Ride

Welcome to our new blog, On Staff at Horse&Rider, where we'll be sharing our wacky and wonderful H&R adventures with you. Alana (you'll hear from her later) and I have many a horse enthusiast's dream job, working with some of the most talented professionals (human and horse alike) in the equine biz and getting to be part of a team (more like a family) that produces the industry's leading Western training, how-to, and advice mag. H&R has a legacy of excellence and is beloved by many devoted horse enthusiasts, so we don't take this privilege lightly. BUT, no matter how serious we take our jobs, we always manage to fit in plenty of fun and occasionally find ourselves in a few hairy (and usually hilarious) situations. We'll be happy to share those with you in the future (at the sake of our pride).

One of my responsibilities here at the mag is to respond to our reader mail. It's one of the parts of my job I love most. For the last year or so since I've been at the mag, our readers have generously shared their horse tales and lives with us. So, I'll return the gesture and share a bit about how I landed here at H&R.

Growing up in downtown Houston, Texas, my equine experience was limited to the imaginary horse worlds I created with my Grand Champion and Breyer model horses and the occasional vacation trail ride (above). But for some reason, my sister and I, concrete bound as we were, got bit by the horse bug. We begged long and loud enough to get our parents to take us to horseback riding lessons, and many of our favorite childhood memories were created at Steve Archer Quarter Horses in Richmond, Texas. (Read more about my experiences at Steve Archer at HorseandRider.com)

While I grew up riding hunter/jumper, I was introduced to western riding by my then boyfriend, now fiance, while attending Texas A&M University. I purchased my first horse, Stetson, (the red dun above), and many a college afternoon was spent with friends, meeting up after class and hitting the trails in the Texas heat. I graduated with a bachelors degree in English in 2006 and also received a masters degree in Agricultural Communications. My goal: to combine my love of writing with my life-long passion for horses.

I was eager for experience and during my graduate program, I packed my bags (and my horse, and my dog, AND my cat) and headed for Amarillo, TX where I interned for five months at the phenomenal American Quarter Horse Association (in front of the museum, above), writing for America's Horse and The American Quarter Horse Journal. I picked up loads of journalistic experience (and a little roping skills too) and broadened my recreational riding horizons by exploring the ever-burgeoning QH show world.

At the end of my internship, I tossed my hat in the ring for a spot at H&R as editorial coordinator, and was thrilled to land the spot. So once more, I packed up my crew and relocated, this time to north Dallas. The rest is history in the making. I continue to grow as a horse woman and a journalist thanks to my opportunities at H&R.

With that introduction out the way, we hope to continue to share glimpses of our wild ride at H&R. What would you like to know about life behind the scenes at H&R? What's it like produce a photo shoot? Is Clinton Anderson really that cute in person? (Yes!) Let us know, and we'll provide the scoop.