The first time I remember seeing the Chronicle was when I was 11 years old. I was at the barn, and one of the older girls brought it to me while I was getting a grape Nehi at the soda machine. She came out of the office, carrying the magazine with a page opened, and said, “Tricia, you made the Chronicle!”

I was speechless as she showed me the results from a recent horse show, where I’d placed third in equitation, 11 and under, at my first rated show. As she returned to the office, I remember watching her go and thinking that I needed to ask my parents for a subscription for my upcoming birthday so when my name was in the magazine, I could have one to keep.

Even though I’d seen that unusual-looking magazine for years–there were always stacks of old dusty issues in the riders’ lounge–and often flipped through it, I never really made a connection with the Chronicle until that spring day.

I did receive a subscription for my birthday that summer, and I’ve been reading it religiously ever since.

Gradually, I evolved to devouring every single issue from cover to cover. Even though I was immersed in riding and showing hunters, being a horse-crazy girl, I was interested in anything and everything that had to do with horses. So, consequently, through the pages of the Chronicle each week I learned about many other disciplines that I’d never seen in person.

Soon I knew the famous stars of the other sports, such as Bruce Davidson and Might Tango, Torrance Watkins with Poltroon and Hilda Gurney and the elegant Keen, just to name a few. Through the Chronicle I also learned about foxhunting, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to hunt while I was in high school.

Even when I left for college and no longer owned a horse, I kept my subscription to the Chronicle. Each week when it arrived, I’d drop my textbooks and eagerly flip through the magazine to check for my friends’ names in the results and to see who bought new horses, sold old ones or who was congratulated for a job well done. Then, when I had more time, I’d take a break from studying to read each and every article.

I never considered becoming a journalist until an accident during my sophomore year in college required me to drop out of school for a semester. During that off time, I reconsidered my goals and stumbled across information about the Chronicle’s internship. I joined the Chronicle in 1987 as a spring intern and found my calling.

While the magazine has undergone many changes in the years since I began working here–including the advent of the computer, fax machine and Internet–the editor, John Strassburger, always strived to retain and fine-tune the magazine’s original mission statement to offer subscribers timely news reporting, results and commentary.

Now that John has retired after 24 years here, I will take the reins and continue on directing that mission to both our loyal and future subscribers. You can rest assured that the Chronicle will continue to cover all of our traditional horse sports, with thorough and in-depth news coverage, informed commentary from the industry’s leaders and entertaining and educational features.

I hope to continue on in the footsteps of all of the capable editors who have carefully nurtured the Chronicle since its inception in 1937. As long as there are horse-crazy kids who grow up to be horsemen and horsewomen, the Chronicle will be there to inspire them to achieve their goals and dreams with horses.

Tricia Booker