Event Coverage: Finding the Beauty in the Beast, with Kristin Pitzer
Bigger equestrian events often offer opportunities for more than just typical event coverage, like “celebrity” sightings. At the 2015 NRHA Futurity, Kristin got to meet This Whiz Shines, or “Smokey,” American Pharoah’s pony horse!
Thank you Kristin Pitzer for your guest post this month. Your event coverage writing appears a wide variety of equine publications, and we hope our readers learn from your experiences!
By Kristin Pitzer
In the nearly 10 years I’ve spent covering top cutting, reining and reined cow horse events for Quarter Horse News and on my own as a freelancer, I’ve seen two types of people when it comes to event coverage: those that crave it, and those that get intimidated by it. As an introvert, I’ve fallen firmly in the latter category more often than not. The idea of walking up to a person I don’t know well and striking up a conversation, then trying to write what they say into a story that does them justice, can be overwhelming, to say the least.
When you first start covering events, it can kind of feel like a baptism by fire. There are people to find, details to remember and short deadlines that come up quick. But while stressful, it’s likely some of the most meaningful stories in your career will come from shows — the newer trainer that hit a big time win; the amateur who scrimped and saved and finally made it to their first premier event; or the horse you’ve written about the last couple years that just won the Triple Crown.
Below are some tips I follow for myself when tackling the coverage of an event, no matter how big or small.
Covering events in person can send you all over the U.S. In 2016, Kristin got to soak up the California sun at the Reining By The Bay, an outdoor event in Woodside.
1. Take notes!
Even after eight years in this business, I still find my mind sometimes blanking out during interviews, which can be a tad embarrassing if you’re interviewing, say, someone who has won the NRHA Futurity multiple times. While I keep a running list of general interview questions in my head for events, I also write down notes where I can refer to them during my interview to help myself remember more specific questions.
The notes might be about the person’s run — did they only cut two cows, for example, or did they get multiple new cows in the fence work — things I’ll absolutely forget during the next 20 horses if I don’t write them down. Or, the notes might be things I’ve researched beforehand, like other titles the team has won or challenges they’ve had to overcome — small details that will contribute to a completer and more compelling story.
Writing about the same events year after year can start to feel mundane, but sometimes, new opportunities arise. While working for Quarter Horse News, Kristin got sent, along with her co-worker, Kelsey Hruska, to the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina, to cover the reining.
2. Strategize
At larger events, things can get overwhelming very quickly. One show I worked recently by myself had 18 different classes, and of course, some of those ended up with co-champions.
You need to go into covering an event with some sort of strategy. For events with multiple finals in a day, for instance, I try to take them one at a time but knock them out as quickly as possible, before I’m inundated with interviews. I’ll often collect my first interview, then sit up in the stands where I can see the action for the next class and start writing my first story. That way, I can pause and take note if a run starts going really well. Doing it this way can feel a little hectic, but often by the time the day is over, I’ll only have the final story left to write.
For shows that award multiple champions at the same time, it can be a little harder to find all of your people and get four, five or even six-plus quality interviews. In these cases, I focus on getting an interview with my highest-level champion, then try to at least get phone numbers — and maybe a quick, in-the-moment quote — from the rest so I can call them later.
No matter how long you work in this industry, you’ll never lack new challenges. In 2021, Kristin was hired to write press releases, rider profiles and social media posts for The Run For A Million, one of reining’s biggest events.
3. Strive for quality
It goes without saying that when you’re covering an event for an online news source, the goal is to get that story written and posted as soon as possible. If you are able to get things turned around within 24 hours — and often sooner, depending on who you’re covering the event for — you’ll find yourself being given more and more opportunities to cover other events. Never sacrifice the quality of your writing for speed, though.
We all make mistakes, but it’s the dumbest ones – aka the ones that were easy to avoid – that haunt me the most. Things like putting the wrong breeder or sire for a horse, misspelling a person’s name or, heaven forbid, missing a reviewed score and then writing about the wrong winner. I think most equine journalists have a story about interviewing the wrong person, but as long as you catch it before you submit the story, no one else has to know!
Learn how to edit and fact check yourself before you turn anything in, and you’ll save yourself embarrassment and angry comments, not to mention the wrath of your editor.
Event coverage can be a beast to handle, but it’s also an exciting opportunity to leave your mark on the horse industry and make lots of new connections. Embrace it, and you never know what kind of experiences it will lead you to!