Ten years ago this past July, I left a staff position at the American Paint Horse Association’s publications and set out as a freelance writer and photographer. Ten years sounds like a long time, and it is.
I have put off writing this blog post since July because reflecting on and recapping 10 years of work feels overwhelming. But here we are, wrapping up the end of this year, and I just didn’t want to let this milestone pass without sharing a few words.
I just sat down and counted, and not including my first 6 months because I didn’t keep track of assignments the same way, I have had 1,130 assignments over the last 10 years. That is an average of 113 stories A YEAR (and some assignments of editing, photo shoots, etc). Additionally, I did 413 separate photo shoots. There’s no way I can count how many photos that is, but it’s a lot!
If you’ve followed my career for any length of time, let me first say thank you so much for reading my articles and looking at my photos. I wouldn’t be able to do this work without an audience! If you’re an editor or business who has given me assignments—I owe everything to you. Thank you for believing in my ability to produce content that lives up to the standards of your publication. Thank you for helping me carve a career path that is meaningful and brings me joy. If you’re a horse person and I’ve had the honor of interviewing you or taking your photo, thank you for your time and expertise. I’m so thankful to have been able to learn from horsemen and veterinarians at the top of their field, to be in the presence of great horses, and most of all, to share the stories of connection between horses and riders.
I’ve decided to mark 10 highlights that come to mind as I think over my time with Abigail Boatwright Communications. I’ll try to make this brief!
Most of the magazines I write for or have written for in the last few years.
Goal Publications
I grew up reading horse magazines cover-to-cover. My parents gave me subscriptions to a bunch and I’m so thankful! Each time I was able to write for one of these magazines that I revered as a child gave me such a thrill: The American Quarter Horse Journal, Horse Illustrated (my first subscription at 8 years old) Horse & Rider, Western Horseman—contributing to each of these and many others were huge milestones in my career. Seeing my work in Fort Worth magazine, a mainstream publication, was also really neat.
Got It Covered, LIterally
My first cover photo was for the American Quarter Horse Journal, when I was an intern. I was able to contribute 12 covers to APHA media while I was on staff, and each one felt like such an achievement. Since then, as a freelancer, I’ve had 14+ more covers for other publications like the American Quarter Horse Journal, Horse & Rider, America’s Horse, The Horse and NRHA’s The Reiner. It feels like such a visible contribution to a magazine. Seeing your photo on a NEWSTAND at Barnes & Noble (Like with a Horse & Rider cover photo of Carol Metcalf) was extra cool.
Covering Events
I learned how to cover World Show events as an intern for the American Quarter Horse Association and on staff at APHA, and my earliest freelance work was covering major National Reining Horse Association shows. Since then I’ve also been able to interview winners at the premier events for the aforementioned associations, plus National Cutting Horse Association, National Reined Cow Horse Association, National Barrel Horse Association, Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos… and others that I am probably forgetting. 😊 It’s so cool to be able to talk to the very best riders about their performances and their horses, and the first-timers just thrilled to be riding in these famous arenas.
Winning Awards
Accolades are not why I do my work. But especially as a freelancer, it’s sometimes hard to gauge my performance. I don’t get a lot of feedback from readers and I don’t receive promotions within a company. So that’s partly why winning awards through associations like the American Horse Publications and Livestock Publications Council mean so much. Being judged by media pros against quality work submitted by my peers is a great way to improve my craft. Having said that, I count the seven American Horse Publications first-place awards I’ve been given as very special parts of this career journey.
Bucket List Travel
One of my early freelance articles was taking care of a couple of horses with a shipping company on an airplane from Houston to AMSTERDAM! This still ranks as one of the coolest experiences. My husband and I went to Australia in 2012, and I was able to pick up several stories there for work – at a campdraft, for one. It was so cool to see an event brand new to me that hadn’t happened in the U.S. before that point. I’ve visited the wilderness of New Mexico for stories with a guest ranch, met Przewalksi’s Horses at Kit Moncrief’s house and seen beautiful scenery at several ranches around the country, just to name a few.
Interviewing Temple Grandin was one of the highlights of my journalism career! i only wish our conversation could have been longer!
Top Work Memories
I truly cannot pick favorites here—it’s like choosing a favorite child! It’s too overwhelming to contemplate. When I think about some special pieces I have written, people I’ve gotten to meet and interview, a couple come to mind.
· Profile on singer Aaron Watson and his Quarter Horses
· Profile on NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw and his daughter Erin
· Training stories with Craig Johnson, Nancy Cahill, Casey Deary, and so many other talented trainers
· Profile on Casey Deary and his family
· Profile on NFR champion Tuf Cooper
· Q&A with the one and only Temple Grandin
· Equine ER series with 12 of the MOST interesting and crazy injuries as case studies
· A profile about a horse that helped heal the grief for three different women who all lost their sons
· A feature on how the community of Refugio banded together after Hurricane Harvey
· A profile on the Compton Cowboys of Compton, California
· A profile on Fort Worth royalty and Cowgirl Hall of Fame President Kit Moncrief
· A profile on the interesting life of all-around hand Amanda Mayfield
· Profile on trainer Carol Metcalf
· Photo shoots with Smart And Shiney, Rugged Painted Lark and Gunner.
Building Stock
Thanks to the already-mentioned 413 photo shoots, I have just a few extra photos on my hard drive that weren’t used for their original purpose. Since I almost always supply my own photos for stories I write, I usually pull from my stock for these stories, if I don’t take new ones. But in 2018, I decided to make the best of these photos available for editorial and commercial purposes, and after many hours of culling/sorting/tagging, I launched Abigail Boatwright Stock Photos. I am continuing to add to this library, and I have 1400 images there so far. I’m about 3 years behind on photos, so check back to see what’s new! Seeing my photos as commercial images for banners, signs, ad campaigns and feed bags is SO fun.
Freelance Remuda: Podcast, Mentorship, Community
In January 2017, my friend Kate Byars and I launched “The Freelance Remuda,” a podcast for equine media professionals. We talk about how we navigate different parts of being a freelancer for the horse world, and we also interview editors and creatives in our field. Along the way, we created a private Facebook Group, which has grown to encompass a wonderful community of equine media pros where we have great discussions and support each other. We have been able to gather every year at the American Horse Publications conference and it’s been SO fun to build friendships that started on the internet into real connections.
One of our Freelance Remuda Gatherings—so much fun!
We have fun on our mentorship session video calls!
In 2018, Kate and I launched a mentorship program, which assists aspiring equine media professionals toward launching their own freelance careers. I believe The Freelance Remuda Mentorship Program is by far my greatest achievement in my career. Several of the clients we have worked with have taken their talents and creativity, as well as tips we’ve given them, and they’ve set out to become excellent reliable, award-winning equine media pros. It gives me SUCH joy and pride to have contributed to their successes in a small way by sharing my own experiences, and offering support along their journeys.
One of our talks at Texas A&M
Speaking Engagements
It feels surreal to be asked to speak to classes that I once attended as a student. But I’ve been invited to talk to quite a few Texas A&M University ag communications classes, and a couple of equine science classes. Often Kate and I will go together, and we talk about things like our career paths, how to break into freelancing, writing and photography techniques and much more. Hearing from people in the equine media field when I was a student was incredibly impactful to me, and I hope to have contributed in even a little bit the same way through my own talks at Texas A&M.
By myself and with Kate, we’ve also led panels and sessions at the American Horse Publications Equine Media Conference on various freelance and equine media topics.
Branching Out
One of the latest developments in my career has been an increase in proofreading and editing assignments. I have done proofreading for several publications for going on 5 years? Maybe longer. I love getting to see the magazine and suggest changes to make it the most accurate as possible. I continue to proofread every month.
But 2021 saw a higher level of additional editing work. I did some contract managing editing work for APHA magazines the first few months of the year while the editor was on maternity leave.
In the summer, I had the chance to bring the inaugural Western Life by Horse Illustrated special edition magazine from concept to publication as the contract managing editor. Working with the staff at Horse Illustrated, I got to choose what content to include, freelancers I wanted to work with, stories to publish, photos to accompany the stories, cover looks, editing at multiple stages and more, as well as write my own stories for the magazine. It was a huge project with many, many articles, but in the end it was supremely rewarding to see the work of so many people result in a beautiful and fun-to-read magazine that was on newsstands around the country! This was my first project of this scope and size, and I really enjoyed it all.
This fall, I joined APHA as a regular contract managing editor. It feels full-circle to be so integrated 10 years later to a company that really gave me a start in this industry. I love getting to work closely with the APHA staff and help shape these iconic publications each month.
What’s Ahead?
After all of that, it’s hard to say what’s next! I have a couple of goals I’d like to work toward. Probably not just for 2022, but the next few years. I have no idea what the future holds, but I’m thankful for the work I have and the companies I get to partner with. We’ll see what happens!
ABC goals:
· Greater balance between personal and work life
· Increasing leadership roles
· Expanding stock photo library
· Following through on a book idea
