Kasey in his winter fuzzies.

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Letters from Readers
Letter from the Editor

Letters from Readers

We would like to thank you for mentioning our site as the 'Pony's Pick of the Month'.
You have a lovely website. Thanks again,
Johanna Wiggenraad,
Rocking Horse & Art Design, Holland

We welcome your thoughts! Please send letters to: editor@sportponycanada.com

My Love/Hate Relationship With Advertising

I'd like to make a confession: I hate advertising. Well, ok, who doesn't? With the holidays just past, I'm sure we've all given in to the impulse to snap the radio off when that annoying Christmas jingle for the furniture store comes on yet again. But for a magazine editor, this is somewhat akin to a pony trainer admitting that they hate ponies. Advertising in the magazine business is what pays for publishing. Advertisers give us products to review, sponsor our riders, and fund international competitions. They are the very foundation of sponsorship support.

Now, for a horse person, there are two kinds of advertising: horsey advertising, and everything else. And to tell you the truth, I love getting horsey 'junk mail.' I'll read every catalogue I get from cover to cover, ditto with any magazines that cross my path, just to keep up with what's going on in the horse world. I read pages of color classifieds for horses I'll never buy -- sort of like reading the personals just for fun, even when you're in a commited relationship.

I've come to realize that it's not necessarily the advertising that I dislike. It's what most of it symbolizes. It's the 'buy and toss' culture we seem to have created that bothers me, and perhaps our horses are our best counter-balance to this problem. There are differences between advertising as communication and advertising as mass profit persuasion. As any breeder will tell you, if they wanted to be making money, they wouldn't be breeding horses! Our pony advertising helps create a sense of community that would be less if we couldn't share our horses with each other. But breeders need value from advertising, too. The web stats we've been seeing have shown that these ads have a proven ability to bring viewers to the site, to show them quality ponies, and re-direct them to individual sites for more information. We'd like to thank everyone who's been so supportive to us in our start-up year and especially the breeders with stallion ads for 2005.

On a 'home' note, there's nothing like the thrill of getting on a four-year-old for the first time, is there? Kasey, my cob-thoroughbred cross with the somewhat-ominous show name of "Mi Kamikaze," was none too impressed when it happened but then I don't think any of them are when you climb up there the first time. ("You're going to do what?") He did handle it in good grace, though.

We have been having a bit of trouble finding a saddle to fit his cobby back, however. If anyone has any suggestions, they are more than welcome! We're looking for a nice, wide, used jumping saddle (preferably cheap). Maybe I'll have to advertise...

Christy

We welcome your thoughts! Please send letters to: editor@sportponycanada.com