In this truly comprehensive handbook, Strickland begins with an overview of Western riding, a review of breeds, and an explanation of basic handling techniques. She then moves on to cover choosing a first horse, preparing to ride, fitting tack correctly, rider positions, riding trails, show grooming and showday tips. Photos, checklists & tables.
"Write for the reader" is her guideline. When Charlene Strickland launches any writing project, she plans to deliver what readers expect.
She started her writing career producing how-to articles on horse care that she wanted to read. She's continued that reader-centric approach in everything she writes--books, articles, Web pages, and horse show report--always asking, "What would the reader want to know?"
Beginning with her first article, "Horse Blankets: Choosing and Using" (Horse of Course, October 1978), Strickland has published 8 books and over 800 articles. She's earned awards for her magazine work, from the US Equestrian Federation (formerly American Horse Shows Association), The Chronicle of the Horse magazine, the All Industry Media awards, and the Society for Technical Communication.
Strickland continues to write about horse care and training, equine health, saddlery, and sport horse breeding. She first rode Western, and four of her books are on Western riding, all from Storey Publishing.
She has reported on events in Europe and the Americas, including Peru (National Paso Horse Tournament) and the Dominican Republic (Pan-American Games), four World Equestrian Games: 1990 Stockholm, 1998 Rome, 2002 Jerez de la Frontera, 2006, Aachen, Germany; and in 2005, the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, Germany. Closer to home, this native Californian covered the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and all World Cups in Las Vegas: 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009.
What was her favorite World Equestrian Games? "Stockholm, because it was the first. The cross-country day was amazing, with 150,000 spectators!"
Rome was the venue where she nabbed a notable scoop. "I was only U.S. writer on site at the vaulting venue, at the riding club Santa Barbara north of the city. During the Games in 1998, vaulting was the only discipline where the U.S. earned any medals: one each in Gold, Silver, and Bronze."
Her toughest article subject? "Interviewing a TV star at the LA Equestrian Center about his equestrian career. Not only was he flippant during the interview, but my tape recorder's batteries were dead and yet two more celebrities popped in to interrupt our so-called exclusive tackroom meeting."
One of her specialties is introducing talented personalities to readers, meeting them through her network of equestrian contacts. "In the 1990s, I wrote the first U.S. profiles on Rudolf Zeilinger, Steffen Peters, and Michelle Gibson, and in 2005, Catherine Haddad." She's also profiled celebrity horses, such as Natalie Rooney's eventing star, Aladdin; Amy Tryon's eventer Poggio II; the Hannoverian state stallion, Waterford; dressage breeding stallion, Contango; and Contiano, the champion of the 2010 North American Stallion Testing.
For print magazines, she writes for Warmbloods Today, Paint Horse Journal, and Stable Management. She was a Contributing Editor with Tack 'n Togs and submitted monthly columns to The Horse and Horse Illustrated.
Strickland wrote her early articles on an electric typewriter, and in 1984 switched to a computer--just in time to write her first book. She's now using her ninth PC, along with an iPad. In 1995, she developed her first Web pages using software on UNIX and Macintosh computers.
As a photographer, Strickland started as a video producer, before switching to still photography. She shoots images for her articles and books, using Nikon cameras and now shooting completely digital.
An amateur rider from Bosque Farms, New Mexico, Strickland has shown Quarter Horses in Western, hunt seat, and dressage. She is a member of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists.
