HorsesDaily Who's Who

Charlene Strickland: Content that Communicates

Longtime HorsesDaily "On the Scene" contributor, Charlene Strickland is the ultimate professional. Her depth of knowledge of equestrian sport goes to the core, in her understanding of the bloodlines and pedigree which contribute to the world class equine athlete. Check out Charlene's most recent coverage where she is on the scene at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games. Mary Phelps

“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—articles, Web pages, show reports, and books—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 sold close to 800 articles and published 8 books. She’s earned awards for her magazine work, from the American Horse Shows Association, The Chronicle of the Horse, the All Industry Media awards, and the Society for Technical Communication.

She has reported on events in Europe and the Americas, including Peru (National Paso Horse Tournament) and the Dominican Republic (Pan-American Games), three World Equestrian Games: 1990 Stockholm, 1998 Rome, and 2002 Jerez de la Frontera; and in 2005, the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Verden, Germany. Closer to home, this native Californian has covered the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and three World Cups in Las Vegas: 2000, 2003, and 2005.

What’s her favorite World Equestrian Games? “Stockholm (so far), because it was the first. The cross-country day was amazing, with 150,000 spectators!”

Rome was the venue where she nabbed her most 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 who launched his equestrian career. Not only was the celebrity 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.”

And her specialty 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. In 2005, I met Catherine Haddad in Germany, the American dressage rider who’s unknown in the States—and this year was named to the Short List for the 2006 World Equestrian Games team.” She’s also profiled celebrity horses, such as Natalie Rooney’s eventing star, Aladdin, and the Hannoverian state stallion, Waterford.