It’s with a mixture of sadness and anticipation I share that The Trail Rider is coming to the end of one trail, but blazing a new one. With the May ’17 issue, The Trail Rider will cease publication. However, The Trail Rider will merge with its sister publication, Horse&Rider—the nation’s leading Western training, how-to, reader-service, and lifestyle magazine–beginning with the June ’17 issue.
This June, The Trail Rider subscribers will start receiving Horse&Rider, with expanded trail-riding content. This merger is the first step in Horse&Rider’s redesign and relaunch scheduled for the July ’17 issue.
With the merger, much of The Trail Rider content you know and love will become a part of Horse&Rider’s print publication and website. You’ll continue to find a lively mix of trail-riding destination, equestrian travel, horse camping, trail training, how-to, safety, and tack and gear content. Plus, you’ll enjoy Horse&Rider’s enhanced training, horsemanship, how-to, horse health, personality, lifestyle, and horse-industry content.
The Trail Rider’s exclusive Where-to-Ride Guide, Organized Trail Ride calendar, and Guest-Ranch Guide will be just a click away, on Horse&Rider’s information-packed website (HorseandRider.com).
The Path to Here
The Trail Rider has a long and compelling publication history. In 1986, Michael and Mary Mason started trail riding in Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, forming a community of trail riders. In 1996, they started The Trail Rider on their kitchen table, with the help of their daughter, Kimberly Douglas, The Trail Rider’s former associate publisher.
In the early years, The Trail Rider was printed quarterly as a tabloid newsprint publication. In 1999, The Trail Rider expanded to a bimonthly publication, printing six times per year.
In 2004, the Masons sold The Trail Rider to Tom Winsor of Winsor Publishing in Louisville, Colorado, and I became the editor. The same year, Winsor Publishing partnered with Belvoir Media Group to form Horse Media Group.
In 2010, Horse Media Group was acquired by Active Interest Media, based in Boulder, Colorado. At the same time, Active Interest Media acquired Horse&Rider, Practical Horseman, EQUUS, Dressage Today, and other respected titles, and the AIM Equine Network was formed.
A New Journey
I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to you, the loyal readers of The Trail Rider. It has been a privilege to be a part of such a wonderful trail-riding community for the last 13 years, a community that will endure on the pages of Horse&Rider.
I’ll be staying aboard as the Trail-Content Editor for Horse&Rider. You may still reach me at rriley@aimmedia.com.
I look forward to continuing our journey together in the warm and welcoming Horse&Rider stable.
Rene E. Riley
Editor, The Trail Rider
