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How The Chronicle of The Horse Helped Me.

When I first arrived in the United States of America, I was in my twenties, and was an ardent writer with no outlet.

My father arranged a very special interview for me when I was back in London in my late teens and headed to college. It was with a leading advertising firm on Fleet Street. The powerhouse street that used to engage all major journalists in Britain. Home to the most revered journalists of the day. The large conference room was daunting. Little me sat at the end of the shiny mahogany table as instructed by a friendly assistant. The lady did look quizzically at my green Paddington Bear duffel coat, Levi jeans and black clogs, (it was what I was wearing at short notice when dad called to say, head on over to Fleet Street NOW).

The table was so long and the room so big that it took the tall, immaculately dressed 'Director' a few minutes to reach me. This gentleman guided me through studios of photo shoots of various food products that were ongoing. He indicated how hard it was to photograph food correctly in color for print and TV advertising. He sat me down with a bunch of glossy magazines and asked me if I knew the difference between PR and advertising. I confess, I did not. Within an hour ( yes, he gave me an hour of his very valuable time), almost the entire football field conference table was strewn with magazine articles pulled page by page apart in a logical order of some sort. The conclusion of this most excellent meeting, was a barrage of down to earth advice. He benevolently stated that my writing portfolio ( though unpublished works) was good and showed talent. That to make my way without a college degree in the world I would need to have my work published in leading magazines or press, and that the only alternative way into his world was starting work as a secretary ( this was before the label 'personal assistant' became the vogue), and working my way slowly up the ladder, maybe.

The most important piece of advice he shared however, was not that I had better head off to college. Which I did. But that I should write about what I knew and to be persistent in my submissions.

Well careers take unexpected turns and I found myself with a degree but not using it writing per se. I entered the world of the international corporations. Milling my way through insurance, legal, and finally international shipping. I did collaborate on the writing of the corporate brochures occasionally, but the only writing I did as part of my day to day was sending business letters and writing personnel contracts. Oh, and a lot of copy typing on trusty I.B.M. machines.

And then one day I woke up. I realized that I still wanted to write, so I took the 'Directors' advice from those years before and thought hard about where to start.

As a passionate horse woman topic was decided instantly. Horses. But how and what and where and all that. I began with small articles. I purchased myself a Writer's Market and sent my articles to equine related publications worldwide.

And so it began. My first check was from Dressage and CT. The publisher Ivan, was a noted authority and he had accepted an article on dressage from little me. There was no letter of acceptance, just a check. Wow. I ran out to my husband who was riding at the time, waiving the check with joy, "I am officially published and a paid author." Wow.  College newspapers pieces and free articles I had submitted to local newsletters or magazines just didn't matter. This was the big time. Seventy dollars said so. Ivan very kindly suggested to me a few articles later, that my work would fit The Chronicle of The Horse. I was intimidated to submit my work. My husband encouraged me to try. "After all," he said, "What did I have to lose."

It was John Strassburger and his editorial assistant Cindy (I sadly cannot recall her last name, maybe Foley?), of The Chronicle of The Horse that then gave me what I call my big break. They accepted a 'how to' article I submitted on how to import horses. This was something I knew a lot about as I worked for the Equine Division in our freight forwarding office whenever I had a chance. I interviewed USET transport company executives, U.S.D.A. and airline personnel at Federal Express including Roger Smith, the then President of what was then a smallish concern that had made a recent take over of the beleaguered Flying Tigers. The payment for that article was a bit larger, and then John asked if I would like to cover events as a journalist for The Chronicle. I jumped at it.

It wasn't easy. Not just because I was shy ( yes, really, I was back then), or that I didn't know much about journalism. I had a three year old and had just delivered twins. In fact I was heavily pregnant for the first events that season and just four days after delivery for the next one. So I took the entire family along with me. After all, I had an entire season to cover. I commandeered my husband into helping both babysit and interview. The babies were fed in their car seats between rounds or dressage tests. The air conditioner would run continually in our Buick at nap time, ( sorry green folks, I had to keep them cool), and my long suffering husband would take the babies and our three year old off for walks in the stroller around the horses and competitors while I switched on my hand held tape recorder and interviewed the winners of the day.

I would listen avidly to folks like Lendon Gray, Robert Dover,  Denny Emerson, Tina Konyot, Michael Poulin and others as they addressed my silly questions which must have bored them to some degree. But everyone was very kind. Well almost everyone. The Chronicle after all was, and still is 75 years later in my opinion, THE authority on horse sports in the U.S.A. 

I recall once making an error. I don't recall if it was an owner's name or whatever. But the party involved made a huge fuss and demanded a correction be published. I was horrified. What kind of journalist was I, and what sort of payback to the folks at The Chronicle was this after all they had done for me. Not being accurate was extremely unprofessional. But The Chronicle of the Horse had my back. A phone call and a "not too worry about it" message from Cindy,  and I proceeded to work for them freelancing as a journalist and writer of the 'how to' genre.

During the mid to late '80's I had successfully expanded my writing to not only other horse publications such as The Horseman's Yankee Pedlar, Horses All of Canada, Spur, Horse and Hound but also to general magazine articles in rural life pieces.

And then inevitably I began earnest novel writing. The hour a day for a year for book one. The year for book two, an the year for book three. Now on book four. I have not given up the search for a publisher for those. I came so close with Harper Collins on my historical romance, but the editor left just before fruition. I was devastated. So disappointed I entered a 'no writing period.' A slight hiatus as I grew up the family and worked all hours. Now I am back novel writing. My current working title is The English Village. A humorous Tom Sharpe type work storytelling major mayhem in the tranquil English countryside. I love writing it. I laugh inanely as I write. Chuckling away in my own world. Thankfully the audience of the test reads I've given so far also find it highly amusing. Still, that's another story.

When my husband and I developed our Hanoverian breeding program in 1993, (still ongoing, though we have branched out to baroque and Dutch crossbreds now), it was to The Chronicle of The Horse and Roger Banner that I turned to advertise. Armed with the clear cut knowledge of the difference between PR/Marketing and advertising thanks to the 'Director' on Fleet Street, I enjoyed working with the professional staff at The Chronicle. Mary Ann Sudduth and Susan Lee put up with all my wrongful phrasing, display advertising, frequency dilemmas, questions on how to submit the artwork. This was back before software was available and The Chronicle of The Horse was published in black and white.

Giving business to this publication was not only my own way of giving back, but was also done with my full knowledge that this one publication above all others was the most revered. No editorial backhanders or bias from this magazine. While editorial help was available for our advertising budget from others, it was one page ads in The Chronicle of The Horse that brought us the business. Of that I am certain. We monitored where buyers had sourced us. It was always the same. Serious buyers came from The Chronicle of The Horse. Here's one of our advertisements published by The Chronicle, our copy and my photograph.



Not to say that other publications didn't offer help for us too. Jane Savoie ( with some oversight from Robert Dover on horse choice apparently, naughty Robert nixed it), called interested in purchasing one of our home produced Hanoverian vhw three year olds ( Majik, Maronjo x Gimli), and Dressage Today ( back then a publication in kindergarden class), expressed an interest in publishing a ' follow his progress' article with Jane in the saddle. We have met lots of world class names during our horse breeding days and many publications have helped us along the way. And thanks to the confidence of working for The Chronicle, I am never intimidated by who is standing in front of me.

Since those days I have continued not only writing fiction and non fiction, but also write and design websites, and do PR/Marketing. I continue with fine art, photography, videography and writing amongst other enterprises. I would love to get back into the non-fiction writing too. After all, have to feed not just my writing habit but also the family.



But without question I express my heartfelt gratitude to the publisher, editors and staff of The Chronicle of The Horse, for their guidance, encouragement and for staying true to the ethic of good journalism. I'm not sure without their acceptance of my articles or without the opportunity to get out there and interview and write I would be where I am today. Which is happy and still writing.

Here's to the next seventy five. Cheers guys.










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