H&R Husband of the Year

After reading Juli Thorson's blog on her husband helping out with H&R's latest photo shoot in Idaho, I had to share these photos of my husband (then fiance), Tread Strickland, and his sacrifices for my job, especially during photo shoots. (And, let's just say he's not a huge fan of horses or other livestock for that matter...)

Tread pushing a wheelbarrow, in earnest, on a 100-degree Texas Sunday afternoon.

 Wonder if he'd rather be watching football in the air conditioner? Not sure how many wheelbarrows he's pushed in the past. He's kind of a city boy. Not to say he didn't do excellently!

Here, I made Tread demonstrate a Your Horse Your Life "Solutions" blurb about dispensing shampoo from a liquid soap dispenser. He was a fab hand model, and Memphis was thrilled to get his tail quaffed...although I don't think Tread's ever spent that much time up-close and personal with a horse's derriere.  

Dog duty: We needed dogs for the shots, but only intermittently, so Tread got to hold the pooches for us. Great patience. [The brown lab mix is our old-geezer Jaxs, although he's still kickin' it. The black mix (of some sort) is Jesse, a barn friend's dog.]

This shoot was marvelously hysterical. I needed some shots of "frightened" horses. It takes a lot to get some of my barn's senior citizens excited, much less scared. However, pre-hail storm, Tread diligently marched into the field wildly swinging a saddle pad. "Stormy," the dark bay mare, appears irritated with the entire situation. But, a huge "E" for effort on Tread's part. 

This was during the same shoot. After the lazy senior horses were completely oblivious to the saddle pads, plastic bags, rain coats, dynamite, firecrackers, Tread took the umbrella route...unsuccessfully. On another shoot, it started to sprinkle, and dear Tread used this very same umbrella over me and the camera for protection. Champ...no doubt.

 

And, not only does he do photo shoots, Tread does shows (more reluctantly than shoots, I admit). I think he's ready to hit the road here for a cold one. I'm still beaming from my reserve champ win for a jump off. At one point, my barn friend was dating a guy who was good friends with Tread. I loved it. Less complaining. Less getting yelled at by me, panicking before a class. And, I always told them to bring a cooler of beer, sit in the back of the truck with a game on the radio = pleasant experience for everyone. Then we can go for Mexican food and margaritas post-show.

I definitely think Tread deserves some type of H&R Husband-of-the-Year Award. I'll think on it. Maybe I'll take him on a l-o-n-g trail ride or a weekend cattle drive. Or, perhaps, I'll just take him to Hooters for beer and wings...on me! 

Erin's getting hitched in a little over a month, and her fiance has already had to model and do some hard labor for photo shoots. Being married to an H&R editor definitely requires understanding, patience, and a "horses-sometimes-come-first" mentality. Let us know if any of you a have horse-worthy hubby like mine!

~A 

Read Greed

Sherry Cervi and Clinton Anderson keep watch over the growing stack of equine industry publications we have subscriptions to. As a journalist, I feel it's part of my job to stay current in the industry I'm a part of. Plus, it's just plain interesting to know what's up in the western world of horses. But sometimes, it's just so darn hard to find the time! In a world where deadlines take priority and the magazine simply has to get out, other things get pushed to the side... and start to stack up (literally in this case!). But, I know how important it is for me and our magazine to keep our collective finger on the pulse of the horse world. So, when a spare moment provides itself (more like: when I force a spare moment into my day), even if it's just a few minutes, I dive into the nearest breed or discipline pub.

My latest time-splurge was with the NRHA Reiner. Did y'all know about the NRHA's new entry-level program for 2010? The program will “welcome riders of all levels into the reining arena.” It's a four-tier program, where you'll compete with riders of the same skill level. Reduced membership fees will apply, as will selected NRHA membership benefits. Some levels even don’t require ownership or a competition license.

Now, if only the guardian eyes of the Team Horse and Rider members could absorb all the info from the treasure trove of magazines, and provide me with a concise summary....

Clinton Anderson Photo Shoot--Behind-the-Scenes

Want to know what actually goes on behind-the-scenes of an H&R photo shoot? Hard work, a few trials and tribulations, and tons of fun! If you haven't seen it yet on our Web site, check out our slide show of a recent photo shoot at Clinton Anderson's facility in Stephenville, Texas. The shoot was for Clinton's current H&R series, Groundwork for Everyone.

Here are a few sample shots, but for lots more (plus, the juicy details), go to HorseandRider.com this month!

Too Hot To Trot!

Ahhhhhh….major sigh! We just put our September issue to bed, so I have a few seconds to breath and blog, before plunging into October. (Ya, we nag-mag editors have no clue what month it really is…ever!) It’s apparently July 16; our August issue should be out soon; we just finished September, and now working on October? Can you say, “Who’s on first?”

I’m heading out the barn shortly to give my poor Thoroughbred gelding, Memphis, the coolest bath I possibly can. It’s about 106 degrees or more here in Dallas today…which is high for July (even for us Texans). My guy has anhydrosis, a condition that prevents him from sweating in scorching temperatures. This can obviously be quite dangerous since horses, like people, rely on sweating to keep their body temps regulated. I have him on One-AC, which seems to help to some degree and make sure he gets salt and electrolytes. These help, but not to the point I wish they would. Anyone have other tips for treating horses with anhydrosis? If so, I’d LOVE to hear them.

I have a coworker (and several other sources) who claim giving your horse a beer one meal a day can help with the condition. Apparently, the yeast in the beer is supposed to help stimulate the sweat glands. Guinness is supposedly one of the best. BUT, I’ve also heard beer can cause digestive upset, etc. So, not sure how to play this one? Anyone have experience sharing a cold one with her/his horses?

Poor Memphis-Pooh in the scorching Texas heat!

I just want to try and keep him comfortable. When I go out to the pasture, and Memphis is panting like he just ran the Derby, it terrifies me. And, when it comes to riding…it’s 6:00 a.m., or nothing. It stays in the 100s until the sun goes down. Ahhh…am ready for fall.

But, after seeing Erin’s post with her ears’-up photo, I had to laugh (at both of us). We were absolutely freezing that day! And it was in the mid-50s to low-60s! (Wimps?) It reminded me of a photo shoot I did the second year I was with H&R. We used to run a supplemental publication called Everything for Horse & Rider—for riding apparel, tack, miscellaneous products, and so on. The pub is for both English and Western models. Since I primarily do the English thing, I was the fortunate candidate to wear hard-core winter-wear in 110-degree August. That was a grand time. My brother’s BFF, Joey Davenport, was the “cowboy” model—at least his clothes weren’t thermal!!!!

Talk about making sacrifices for your career…in jest, of course!

Below photos are from the aforementioned photo shoot; and, yes, that is Mr. Memphis modeling along with my brother's BFF, Joey Davenport, and my good friend's QH gelding, Scout. How hot are we???

Tunes for Typing

Many of you might already be aware of this great link, but for those in the dark, Pandora.com is a free internet radio site where you can create customized radio stations. Create a station based on a favorite band or song, and Pandora will play that favorite tune or artist, along with similar music.

This site is bookmarked on my computer and my account is loaded with stations for every occasion. When I'm buried deep in a feature (like I was this week), I log on to Pandora and listen to my Mozart or Handel station for some non-distracting, brain-boosting tunes. Today, when I'm working on something a little more menial (typing up our Horse and Rider article index), I can enjoy jamming to my Fleetwood Mac station.

If you're an iPhone-toter like myself, you can also download a free Pandora application for your phone, plug in your earphones or vehicle auxiliary cord, and listen to your personalized station on the run. Perfect for long hauls, down-time at shows, or stall-cleaning sessions.

Can't Judge a Horse by its Color

To wrap up the September magazine deadline, I'm finishing my work on Conformation Clinic. This department in the magazine is my duty each month. Despite having talked to a lot of judges about conformation, I'm amazed at how I learn something new each time I work on this handy little Practice Pen department. This time around, I learned some interesting tid bits about the conformation of young horses, particularly Quarter Horses, and how they have to "grow into" their croup.

While Conformation Clinic is a pretty straight-forward section of the magazine, as far as writing goes, working on it has really provided me with a wealth of knowledge. If I ever get to be in the happy place again in the future where I'm in the market for a horse, I think I'll be pretty equipped to assess the potential for soundness and function based on a horse's build. The judging classes I took at Texas A&M with Dr. Clay Cavinder built the foundation for my interest in conformation. You can build your horse-judging skills by visiting TAMU's Online Horse Judging Site.

If y'all never have, consider getting out there and taking a picture of your horse to submit to this department, especially while the weather is "nice" (100 degrees is nice to some) and your horses have a nice slick coat. We welcome (actually, desperately want) all breeds. September's issue will also have some helpful photography tidbits. There are also "Confo Clinic" instructs at HorseandRider.com.

Ears at Attention - HELP!

Alana shared her highly entertaining first photo shoot experience with y'all in a recent blog. My first photo shoot at Horse and Rider was far from that outrageous -- I think it was a fairly tame breed show, if I remember correctly. I've been a part of some interesting moments since then, not to mention our most recent photo shoot this week, where I had to stip down to my skivvies in the middle of a boarding-barn pasture for a quick costume change. (Alana ensured me that no one could see me...)

My most hair-pulling experience photo-shoot experiences so far have been begrudgingly assuming the role of "designated horse-ear-getter-upper." To put it gently, I absolutely STINK at this job. It's probably because I always come unprepared for the task and am left to beg for the horse's attention with something as banal and uninteresting as a handful of dirt or a jacket. It's probably also because I don't really enjoy being the only person on site making an absolute idiot of myself in front of a tough crowd up jaded horses and industry pros. The picture is from a shoot with Clinton Anderson, who kept requesting that I yell louder, run faster, do cartwheels, stand on my head, etc. I think at a certain point, this became more for his entertainment than anything.

Today I've been working on a feature about equine photography, and would like to include some tips and tricks for getting a horse's ears up. What are y'alls secrets? Because mine obviously aren't working! (Please include your name and state.)

A&E Hit the World Paint Show

Erin and I took a mini-road trip on Tuesday to the World Paint Show in Fort Worth. APHA has now divided the World Show into two separate events, one in the summer and the other in the fall. After attending multiple Paint Worlds in the past, this one seemed rather scarce on entries, but the split format explains.

We headed straight to Team Horse and Rider, Andrea Simons', stalls to chat and get the DL from her on this year's happenings. Andrea's daughter, Sara, coached one of her youth competitors to top honors. (Sara's become quite the trainer herself.)

From there our primary mission was to scout this year's show fashion trends. And, wow! If it was ever all about color...this year, it's more about color!!! Color and beyond mega-bling. Ultra-rich colors, Swarovski crystals out-of-control, delicate beading, wild prints--all big, bold, and beautiful. Check out some of the glitterati...

AND, we got to hang out with Jana Simons' adorable pooch, Addison...

First Photo Shoot: Poop, Dogs, Cattle

Alas, I'm terribly sorry for my recent absence. My husband and I FINALLY bought a house (yes, we've been married for three months and still haven't actually lived together). Anyway, I've been swamped with moving, our last deadline, and celebrating my big 3-0 b-day...merely excuses for my lack of posts.

I wanted to share a few photos of my first photo shoot with Horse and Rider. This was back in 2004 when Darrell Dodds was our head editor (and primary photographer). Our then Associate Editor Debbie Moors flew to Big D from Colorado, and Darrell, Debbie, and I headed to Larry Mahan and Diana McNab's ranch.

I was a little out of the loop (being a few generations behind the Larry Mahan "era"), and didn't realize what a mega-rodeo star he was. Even my parents, who are as far from rodeo fans as you can get, knew of Larry Mahan. So, apparently, it was a great honor for me to meet him. Unfortunately, I'd been up since about 3:45 in the morning to get to the Mahans' ranch before dawn, so I wasn't quite as witty and charming as I'd hoped.

This shoot was for a two-part series we ran in 2005 called "Fit to Ride." Diana and Debbie demonstrated various yoga poses and maneuvers in the middle of a massive pasture inhabited by longhorns, various other cattle, horses, and dogs. Fortunately, the yoga gals worked on exercise mats to avoid the abounding cow patties.

2004 Associate Editor Debbie Moors and Diana McNab-Mahan demonstrate a yoga pose (to help increase rider flexibility) in the middle of a cow pasture.

Throughout this shoot, I was assigned three primary responsibilities: 1.) Keep the dogs out of the photos; 2.) Remove cow patties from the camera's view; and 3.) Prevent the cattle from getting too close to the models. Being the low gal on the totem poll, at 23, I accepted these responsibilities with great seriousness. Kicking the cow patties out of the camera's view proved the easiest of the three tasks. (I used to be a ballet dancer, so leg coordination was a old talent of mine.) The dogs posed a challenge. There weren't two or three of them. I'd estimate, at the very, least six. They seemed to very much want to be included on the pages of Horse and Rider. Darrell thought their presence would be distracting to the articles' subject. So, I manically chased the hounds from one end of the pasture to the other (while dutifully kicking cow patties throughout my sprints) in an effort to contain them. It might have been useful to know their names, but with six names, it was hopeless.

Once I finally was able to tackle a few of them, I'd hurl myself to the ground (likely smack on top of a cow patty) and hold on to the dogs for dear life...that is, until one of the others raced toward Diana to offer a tongue bath. In between these absurd antics, I attempted to motivate the cattle to move out of the camera's view. They proved more difficult than the cow patties and the dogs, and I quickly learned that for some reason I could herd horses better than cattle. My cattle-motivational skills proved rather fruitless.

After Diana and Debbie completed their yoga routine, Larry couldn't resist a performance (or perhaps he was humored by my idiotic antics throughout the pasture and wanted to the laughs coming). Larry, who I gathered likes being the spotlight, proceeded to performn his own equine-related yoga moves, as well.

I don't know how old Larry Mahan is, but pretty impressive for an "older" gentleman, especially after years of rodeo-body smashing, eh?

Next, to my immense horror, Larry insisted I mount his barely 3-year-old colt and go for a spin. While I consider myself a fairly competent rider, this was a whole other ball game for me. My "go" cues apparently meant "stop" to this horse; and my "stop" cues seemed to indicate trot as fast as you can (wish I'd been wearing a few sports bras). All in all, it was a grand adventure. I got to meet a rodeo legend I didn't even know was legendary. I got to ride (I'm guessing) a very expensive horse. Plus, the Mahans invited us into their home for lunch post-shoot...although, I was nicely asked to remove my boots.

Larry insisted that I hop on one of his 3-year-olds. It was a bit different than riding my Thoroughbred. And look at my heels...English??