Dear Roper,
The practice pen is most roper’s comfort zone. Steers you know, not-so-hot horses, whatever start you want. For decades, that’s how Spin To Win Rodeo was for our staff. Four years ago this month, I remember walking out of a board room sobbing because our bosses told me my comfort zone was going away, and they tasked me with creating something brand new—what would become The Team Roping Journal—in just three weeks.
Well—as much as Kendra Santos and I deeply loved Spin To Win—I know we’re both grateful now for the magazine we’ve gotten to create outside of our comfort zone. Something that honored the traditions Kendra, Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper set forth in Spin To Win, but what’s now an expansive, multi-platform product in The Team Roping Journal that honors the roping industry as a whole.]
There must be something about this time of year, then, that pushes our whole staff way out of our comfort zones annually. This time last year, we launched The Breakaway Roping Journal (breakawayropingjournal.com) that revolutionized coverage of the growing sport. And this year, come Sept. 1, we’ll roll out a whole new video platform to complement it in BreakawayRoping.com. It’s a subscription service, similar to what we relaunched earlier this summer in Roping.com.
I used to shoot video once or twice a year, and it was never my sweet spot. But after this summer, I’ve had a complete crash course in video production—pushing me so far out of my comfort zone I don’t have the words for it. But week after week, some mind-blowing video rolls out on Roping.com and now BreakawayRoping.com, with the help of our team of experts like Jake and Clay, Trevor Brazile, Patrick Smith, Miles Baker, Lari Dee Guy, Linsay Sumpter and so many more. It’s been an eye-opening experience, and I can’t wait for you all to subscribe to see it.
Speaking of video: Oct. 3–9, we’re kicking off our first Horse Week. It’s an equine-centric digital festival jam-packed with inspiring documentaries and educational content about the horse. Our staff has been traveling the country producing content for it, so you won’t want to miss a minute of it: horseweek.tv.
See you down the road.
