On the Line

This is interesting: who’s heard of the Women’s Horse Industry Association? Its website states that it is where women working in the horse industry connect. The WHIA is only four months old, and it already has 500 members. Founder Cathy Masters’ background is heavy in marketing and organizing women’s sports groups.

I wonder about the need for such an association. There’s not really a lack of connection between horsewomen in an already woman-dominated industry, at least not from where I’m standing.

The WHIA does seem to have a racing slant, which makes some sense. I’ve seen “Jockeys” so I know that women in the horse racing industry have it tougher than usual. Cathy also runs a racehorse syndicate business, so she must know that sport well.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how this group develops.

If you live in Wellington or spend winters in Palm Beach County, you probably know this guy:

Ki-Juan Minors is, well, awesome. He’s rides professionally for International Equestrian Connection (Wendy Arndt-Hodges), but in the last couple of years he’s gained a following for his voice. He was the Equestrian Idol in 2008 during the WEF circuit, and won “Take the Mic” in Aiken in June. This summer he’s been splitting his time between recording sessions in an Atlanta music studio and riding jumpers on the A-circuit. Next up is the City League Series in Knocksville, TN, and he’s back in Wellington in December. When it comes to horses vs. music Ki says “Whichever brings me fame first is the one I will use to help the other – they both go hand in hand.”

Can you say crossover star?

Last week at the Spruce Meadows Masters in Calgary, 223, 216 people trekked to an equestrian venue to watch show jumping over five days. They broke attendance records Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Wow. That kinda busts my previous post about the desperate need to draw more people to the sport. Even though Spruce isn’t an American venue, it’s a whole lot closer to the US than Europe.

Ashlee Bond was up there riding, and kicked butt –again- in a couple of big classes. Ashlee has that crazy Tiger Woods style streak of talent everyone wishes for. What she did over the summer in Europe was so admirable, and she sure earned the respect of the world. It’s almost too bad (almost because I don’t actually wish cancer or hardship on a person) that her story doesn’t include a Lance Armstrong style angle. She is young, gorgeous and super talented. America would love her! But since there’s no epic struggle tied to her story, I doubt that Sports Illustrated will ever put her on their cover and talk about how she rode 6 clear rounds over three Nations Cup competitions, even though that had never been done before, especially not by a 23 year old rookie! Instead SI chose this guy for their cover this week. If I squint real hard I can almost see Ashlee and her gray horse Chivas Z up there in his place. . . .almost.

Last week I was talking to Dianne Johnson, a show steward from Washington state who has been or is on every show committee known to man. Dianne has been in the business for over 50 years, and she shares the wish of every fan of horse sport – that show jumping, eventing, and even dressage would bring in the audience it draws in other parts of the world. Dianne had a thought about this that I haven’t heard often. She believes it’s up to our governing bodies to make more of an effort in engaging the general public. The WEG next year will be a good boost, hopefully it will make waves around the country that will encourage people to start riding, or at least watch our Olympic disciplines. Dianne didn’t say exactly what she thought USEF and other organizations should do, other than to stop being so involved in their own internal stuff and try harder to reach outside the lines of the horse world.

I’m afraid that if it’s up to USEF to make that happen, we’ll all be waiting for a while. One shortcut to big exposure in the “real” world would be a star rider who crosses that line for us. Someone with Tiger Woods talent and a story that people would latch onto. Lance did it with a sport where people watch bikes endlessly whizzing up and down mountains. His story was the hook, and once hooked, the entire sport of cycling gained thousands of new followers. So where’s our hook? What’s super interesting to the average horse person won’t necessarily catch the interest of the casual observer. For example, the rumor that Will Simpson might try to qualify for the WEG in show jumping and reining is SUPER interesting to me. But a non-horse person might say “…isn’t that just like winning the butterfly and the 100-meter relay in swimming?”

Not exactly. But how are they going to know otherwise?

It’s funny the way age can work for you. Being in my 20s made me the go-to person when Sidelines staff started discussing words like “blog” and “Facebook.” For a magazine that’s been around for more than 20 years, blogs and social networking are a brave new frontier. It’s natural that a publication that calls itself “the People magazine of the horse world” would get on board with the latest and greatest in internet addictions, but how? Our editor and publisher freely admit that their heydays occurred long before Google was a verb.

Cue music, here I am riding to the rescue. I’m a h/j trainer by day, a writer by night, and an office worker, also by day. What that really means? I’m a professional multitasker, happiest when I’ve got a half dozen projects simultaneously going on deadline within the same week. I’ve been known to check my email while riding, conduct interviews while commuting, and mine friends for article subjects.

It goes without saying that this will be a blog about horses, horse people, and all the craziness that comes with our very unique lifestyle. I’ll try to hopscotch around the USEF disciplines that Sidelines specializes in, without too much of a bias towards the wonderful world of hunter/jumpers. My past includes forays into polo, dressage, eventing and a one-time attempt at foxhunting. That combined with my talent in keeping an ear to the ground and an eye on the news means anything’s possible!