Hi I’m Julie, Purveyor of Fine Horse Journalism

I’ve become legit, friends. I’m working in the Spruce Meadows Media Centre which is this ring-side amazing work space with huge windows overlooking the arena.

I’m here as a freelance journalist to interview riders and write articles about Spruce Meadows for newspapers and magazines. As a rider and writer, it’s a natural career path for me, and since I live in Calgary, it’s easy for me to work here. I will travel to Aachen for the World Equestrian Festival in July but otherwise this will be a “Spruce Meadows tournaments” only kind of gig.

The Media Centre is cool and fun. There are people working here who travel from horse show to horse show with the riders, taking photos and creating content for publications. It’s a very specialized group of people. I can imagine myself in a 1970s style newsroom, smoking cigarettes and shouting into telephones: “Merv, Ian Millar won the grand prix!”

My media accreditation involved a few loose contacts, a passion for the sport, and a midnight phone call from France (I, having just consumed a shot of Pastis after losing a card game) to a woman in the Media Centre, who took a chance on me.

I’m endlessly inspired by the world of international show jumping. This weekend turned out as well as I could have dreamt: the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun picked up my article.