I’m a journalist. I graduated with bachelors degree in agriculture journalism and a master of science in agriculture communication. I started working in an industry that prized print, but at the same time, I saw the advent of MySpace, Facebook, and Instagram. As the social world grew, print took a turn. Composing a profile or how-to article is still a vital form of storytelling, but social media deeply impacted several areas, namely event coverage and results.
Over the years, I looked at social media as a necessary evil, still in love and passionate about print. Social came fairly easily, and taking on assignments that included writing about an event winner, taking a photograph of them and providing a video was not a challenge to my skills. As a freelancer, social media was part of my offering, but only as an afterthought. That changed in 2024.
As we kick off 2025, social media, and visual media in general, is the highest run on the ladder to serving my clients. The skills I’ve grown as a storytelling and photographer will transfer more to video. It’s another curve in the winding road of equine media, but one I feel ready to tackle. After all, in 2024, I created 296 reels.
296. Yep. I made 296 reels, a few for myself, but mainly for clients. Not all were Oscar-worthy, but some were on trend and spot on to shine the light on that client. To kick off this blog and this year, I’m linking a few of my favorites. Here’s to another “reely” big year for all of equine media!
This reel wrapping the 2024 show year for Bud Lyon Performance Horses has more than 5,000 views.
This reel, featuring Coach Shannon Pigott’s RideLife Remuda event, reached more than 2,000 in her niche.
Annually, creating the Stock Horse of Texas World Champion reels is a blast and highlights the hard work each rider does to earn the title riding in eight classes (2 shows of 4 classes during the World Show).
Boss Mares, Inc. is a non-profit that holds one workshop annually and provides business and education grants to recipients.