Departments > Letter from the Editor

Meeting Your Heroes

My highlight at the January’s Alberta Horse Owners & Breeders Conference wasn’t seeing Sport Pony form an official organization... it wasn’t Judy Wardrope’s amazing conformation clinic (though that came pretty close)... it wasn’t even a semi-wild night at Billy Bob’s with Equine Canada execs.

I got to meet Juli S. Thorson.

Somewhere in my parents’ basement is a solid ten years’ worth of Horse& Rider magazines. When I was a kid growing up in the middle of nowhere (aka Saskatchewan – and I can make fun of it because I came back to live here), it sometimes felt like the only connection I had to the horseworld “out there” was through the magazines that I subscribed to. Juli was editor of Horse & Rider during the ‘90’s, and the magazine had a very hip, glossy, full-color show-oriented attitude. She also wrote editorials that could really reach out and touch readers – everyday values told in everyday stories that somehow ended up being greater than the sum of their parts.

I quit buying Horse & Rider shortly after she signed off as editor, but Ms. Thorson herself had called that one some time ago in an editorial she wrote on changing demographics. Changing demographics called for a more amateur-oriented magazine that the average horse owner, trail rider, adult beginner, and yes, occasional show participant would find appealing, but that’s not where I was going and we sadly parted ways.

Nevertheless, Ms. Thorson has remained one of my heroes and I did get to shake her hand and say thank-you that Saturday. I think the neatest thing about meeting your heroes is that you find out that they, too, are real people, and that you can aspire to be real people like them someday – that one day you might be somebody’s hero too.

Take care,

Christy

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