Some day my book will come...some day my book will come!

So, this is a bit late, as Amazon slipped on their prime shipping promise, and my book has finally hit my door- it only took a week, instead of the promised 2 day turn around that I pay "prime bucks" for! :)

So, this may be TOO late, but I shall complete anyway!  

This is my article- entitled Equestrian Deaths Spread Unease in the Sport.

This was in the New York Times, and I chose it for many reasons, primary that these are people I know, in a sport I love, and it's a fairly clear, unbiased look at the issues that are causing problems for the associations that govern the sport.  There was a lot of press around this time, and even more followed shortly after, as we had 2 horses die at our largest Eventing competition in the US just 3 weeks after this article appeared. This has generated a lot of press, but towards a somewhat limited audience. God Forbid PETA ever gets involved! :-)

So, this is a feature piece, that is both a profile as well as an overview story. The Overview part is towards the end, and sums up the profile fairly clearly.   

It is somewhat newsy, but since they are talking about a phenomenon that is happening and has been happening over the past several months, with an organization looking at the possible causes, I feel it falls more into the Overview category. 

The profile of Darren is important, but interesting, as when this was written, Darren was still in the hospital and unable to fully communicate. (He has since made a complete and amazing recovery.) So, while a profile, Darren himself could not speak for himself. There are some nice follow-up stories where Darren does indeed speak for himself, and since Darren is very colorful, it's always interesting to hear what he has to say! 

I think this article could have had more numbers added to it- if the focus was indeed to be about the sport. If it was to be about Darren, then the numbers are unnecessary. If this had focused just on Darren, then talking about all that he has accomplished and the horses and riders he has helped would have added a bit to his creditability.  The irony of Darren being head of the safety committee is not addressed as it might be, too.

What I do like is that she presents things as clearly as possible to an audience that is unfamiliar with the sport.  She has a nice picture of Darren as a lead in, and does not (thankfully) use the picture of the fall in the article. The online version had links to other articles that were more aggressive in their style.

Overall, I think this is a good article, fairly presented, clearly written and deals with a tough subject well.