“Equestrian Culture discovers the best style, art and small businesses representing the equestrian lifestyle.”

Equestrian Culture’s creative director Leah Anderson and I built this tagline during a series of conversations and brainstorming sessions for our . If we had to tell someone about Equestrian Culture in the length of one tweet, what would we say? How would we sum up something that so deeply reflects our interests and our identities in 140 characters or less?

While we are both very happy with the tagline we created, it doesn’t tell Equestrian Culture’s readers who we are. What qualifies us to write and curate an equestrian magazine? Why should equestrians and horse lovers subscribe to Equestrian Culture? What makes Equestrian Culture and it’s team unique?

Our Mission:

Many equestrian lifestyle publications exclusively showcase a dream lifestyle. Equestrian Culture celebrates the craftsmanship that goes into couture and luxury pieces, but we also dig deeper to discover start up businesses with beautiful, unique product offerings. Equestrian Culture’s “Small Business Spotlight” elevates the everyday. We find what is just starting to bloom—something incredible that is beginning to rise out of hard work, talent and intense dedication—and we give it a platform. We bring spreads upon spreads of amazingly gorgeous equine artwork and photography to the masses. The horse’s innate beauty and power is, after all, what has always drawn us to them.

We share equestrian influenced style that is not only fashionable but is also something that we would wear and ride in. Alongside photographs of the season’s latest collections that illuminate the pages of Equestrian Culture are the stories behind those brands–directly from the founders.

The DIY project included in each issue of Equestrian Culture further adds to our distinctiveness. I haven’t seen many other equestrian lifestyle magazines that include these beautiful craft ideas. Not only do we believe in helping the businesses featured in Equestrian Culture, but we also think that it is so important to give back to our readers. Creating and sharing these unique equine themed gift ideas with our readers is one more way that we strive to give back.

What Equestrian Culture means to me:

My Roots:

Every school has “the horse girl”. If you are reading this, you were most likely one of them. I certainly was. My bike was a horse. The swings on my swing set were horses. When driving in the car with my parents, I would pretend that the shadows we drove over on the road were jumps. The living room was the perfect place to practice my “dressage moves” and I believe that I cantered more than I ran. I grew up playing with and collecting Breyers and attending 4-H meetings.

I was very lucky. My parents purchased my first horse when I was only five years old. Gemini was an 11 year old 15.3hh Quarter Horse/Arabian cross gelding. He was my childhood. Together, we learned and grew a lot over the course of the 17 long years that he was a part of my life. He was my 4-H project horse, we took dressage and jumping lessons, went on countless trail rides, travelled to overnight horse camps together and even competed in our first two-phase when Gemini was 20 years old!

Our horses lived at home. I spent a lot of time just watching Gemini and my parents’ Quarter Horse Jessie as they dozed in the pasture. All of those careful observations lead to MANY horse drawings. I drew horses constantly. I still do actually.

My Interests and Passions Transformed into Articles:

All of those horse drawings eventually turned me into an accomplished artist. The year I graduated from high school I founded my first business, Designs by Dannie, where I sold my equine artwork and apparel. In college I double majored in Studio Art and Art Education and minored in Art History. My art background and education is the reason why Equestrian Culture features artwork and photography so much more heavily than other equestrian publications.

I love to discover, collect and write about art. While in college, I really enjoyed writing art history research papers. One of those research papers won a travel grant that paid for my first trip to London and Paris.

Missing the opportunity to study and write about art and culture after graduating from college, I created Cavalcade. Editing and curating the content here on the blog has resulted in so many wonderful relationships with small business owners from all over the world. These entrepreneurs have inspired me. Behind each of their businesses are rich stories about how they built their own path in life.

These relationships guided my decision to include two business centric articles in each issue of Equestrian Culture. “The Horse Behind the Brand” digs deep into the childhood connection many of these founders of equestrian businesses—both big and small—have with horses. There is always a special horse that influenced the formation of their independent and entrepreneurial identity. The “Small Business Spotlight” interview—another regular feature—particularly resonates with me as a fellow small business owner. I understand how hard it can be to get your business’s name out there. I love that Equestrian Culture has the ability to help these start-ups!

Horses are interwoven into many facets of my life. They are my hobby, my muse and the reason for my occupation. The content that fills the pages of each issue of Equestrian Culture is a direct reflection of my identity. Equestrian Culture is a project that I feel very passionately about.

What Equestrian Culture means to Leah Anderson, our Creative Director:

Who I am:

I was born with horses in my blood and a pencil in my hand! As a child I was constantly drawing horses and going through the Dover catalog highlighting every product that I would need for the barn I was going to have when I grew up. During recess, my horse friends and I would ‘gallop’ around the playground, leaping over anything and everything that could be ‘jumped’. I spent my summers riding bareback on a bay Arabian named Gazadi, and my school days drawing horses in the margins of my notebooks.

Things didn’t change much as I got older. My mom saved up money and when I was 13 I got my first horse. I still have the ad that I ripped out of the Little Nickel Classifieds. That mare became my best friend, my everything—carrying me to pony club ratings and on countless adventures. I went to college & received a BFA in Graphic Design. For my senior project I wrote, photographed & designed a book about rescue horses titled “Forgotten”. From that point forward, I knew that combining my love of horses & my passion for design was my ultimate career path.

In 2011 I followed my heart after the love of my life, and packed up everything (including my horse) and moved across the country to a rural part of Georgia. With no design studio that could possibly hire me within 100 miles, I decided to found my own design business: Dapplebay, Inc. Shortly after that, I launched Dapplebay Clothing Co. in an effort to meet potential clients and expand my network. I can happily say I have achieved my goal to combine my two passions into a successful, fulfilling career.

How I got involved with Equestrian Culture:

I have known Danielle through her blog, where she has featured my Dapplebay t-shirts. When she approached me for some help finalizing the Equestrian Culture logo, I was floored. A beautiful magazine, about horses, art and small business, curated with incredible taste? Equestrian Culture had my name written all over it—I had to be a part of this magazine. While I love designing logos, websites and t-shirts, my true calling has always been publication design. Something about choosing typefaces, the careful balance of making & breaking the grid, and painstakingly adjusting & readjusting the rag of a paragraph…I could design a magazine for the rest of my life! I hope that the successful funding of this Kickstarter campaign allows me that opportunity.

What Equestrian Culture means to me:

Equestrian Culture means the life lived loving horses. To love a horse is no small passion, and those of us that have shared this notion are inextricably linked. Equestrian Culture Magazine was created to share and celebrate this bond through art, storytelling & community. There is a horse that inspired all of us…that horse is the reason Equestrian Culture Magazine was founded.

What I will bring to Equestrian Culture:

Visually, EC is not just a publication filled with beautiful photographs, art, and wonderful stories- it is carefully designed in a way that sets it apart from other equine publications. My experience & passion for excellent design is evident on every page: the thoughtful layout, use of white space, and careful typography are unique to Equestrian Culture Magazine. In regard to the content of the magazine, EC is curated with an educated eye. Design is a big part of who I am, and design thinking goes into every decision & purchase that I make. I have been greatly influenced by great brands throughout my life with horses, and those memories have shaped my preferences and horse keeping practices over time. Equestrian Culture Magazine tells the stories of these brands we love & discovers the highest quality, best valued, most beautiful products for YOUR life with horses.

Thank you all so much for supporting our new endeavor!

You can visit Equestrian Culture’s Kickstarter campaign here:
If you haven’t read our Fall Issue yet, you can find it here: