Things I wish I had known..
There are some things I wish I had known before entering the stage of equestrian journalism.
Some almost 20 years back in time when I took up writing and created my first horsey news site I was completely clueless.
Maybe not about the world of equestrianism itself, but about the world of working out on the field.
Some of my first free lance assignments, as a writing journalist and photographer for other outlets, included showjumping for ponies. A total joy.
It was peaceful and quiet, and for my very first assignment the sun was like pouring down from a bright blue sky!
Some events later must have been the time when I decided it was time to run my own site. Because I could.
Oh dear, the things I have lived through since then really does border line to insanity.
I admit to have run several projects in which the outcome of the projects have not always gone according to plan.
Sometimes it has been my own wrongdoing, sometimes it has been because of external powers.
The biggest lesson learnt though, is to trust no one. I know, it does sound cynical but in the world of equestrian sport it has proven to be true.
Over and over, and over again I might add.
Some of things I’ve come across and fallen for EVERYTIME are the marketeers. Maybe not the kind of marketeers you now invision.
Cause by marketeers I mean the kind of people that technically are clueless but could indeed sell sand in the Sahara and even ice to the Eskimos.
Those kind of marketeers. Some of them stick out more than others!
As if..
My first interaction with one of these was back in 2012 or so. This woman totally hauled me in like I was a hungry fish on a hook.
She told me stories about her own private success. Interactions with movie stars, royalty and more. Together we would rule the world!
Here writing and my photography would become the next big thing!
I fell for it, all the bullshit mentioned above, and more, I fell for it. I even fell for the bit where she told me to make my very own printed version of my photo portfolio.
So I did.
I even brought it to Paris for a, to say the least, high profile indoor event. She showed my booklet to everybody and anybody. When she went to Florida over the winter she asked if she could bring the book along with her.
That was the last time I ever saw the book.
At least in the printed version. I still have the original pdf somewhere, with the date and all.
Later on, in spring 2013, we went together to the World Cup finals in dressage and show jumping Gothenburg, Sweden.
None of the things she used as bait to get me to come with her to Sweden turned out to be true. I was supposed to have access to everything, and I had nothing.
She on the other hand was waltzing around like she was the Queen. At least till the moment she entered the stage at the yearly Equestrian Business Forum.
Watching her standing on that stage trying to find the words to sound like an authority in the business of equestrian innovations was a true wake up call for me.
That was the moment I realised she was a total scam and a fraud.
I never told my significant other I had seen through her right here and then. Cause I was so ashamed over myself that I had fallen for all her bull shit.
Even worse I had just followed her around like a puppy waiting for a treat.
He on the other already had his doubts about her long time before I did. I believe he was in serious doubts already when we went to Paris and I ended up paying for the fuel and péage getting there.
Doubts that became facts when my pre-paid hotel room on Gothenburg turned out to not be so pre-paid after all.
Leaving Gothenburg in the spring of 2013 was basically the last time I saw her. Except for a run in at CHIO Aachen around 2016 or so I have not seen her around anymore.
But I did see, actually I even got the press invitation for it, there was a photo exhibition about horses and equestrians in France around 2015.
The theme of this event was not only coinciding with the photos in my long lost little printed portfolio. It also used the exact same name..
You live you learn!
Or so you would think. Around 2019 I almost fell in to the same kind of trap again.
It was a pretty close call where I was getting sucked in to be part of the “next big thing” of equestrian events.
Luckily for me my antennas and BS-sensors were on high alert when attending a meeting with the organising committee. Nothing they said made sense.
Nothing they were planning for made any sense so I bailed out.
I am so glad I did!
Turns out the plans they were presenting was not much more than a money scam. A scam they also got away with. Cause in the year of 2020 one could blame the Covid pandemic on about just anything, so they did.
However, one of the people in the organising committee approached me with another business proposal while talking about how bad the others were acting.
At this time I was the editor in chief for a small online magazine.
A small online magazine that was struggling because of the pandemic.
Enter our savour? No, not really. Three lunch meetings later with big talk, lots of promises and sketched up plans for the future.
She did not deliver anything!
We saw no advertisers coming our way, nor did she deliver any of the articles she was planning for.
Eventually I just stopped trying to contact her and I heard nothing from her ever since.
I did notice she wrote for another magazine about five times and is now hanging out with the money scamming people again.
Myself, I do this. A little bit of writing, and a little bit of podcasting, and see where it goes.
One thing’s for sure. This time around I pledge to not fall for big talkers and or become co-dependant. This is me, my project, and my dream.
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Péage is the French road toll system ↩