Jen Paulson Creative

02/08/2024

This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to break into Western performance media. I'll be there during the open finals, so we'd get to work together for part of it! It's a lot of work, but you'll learn so much in a condensed timeframe.

Applications for 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 & 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 are now open. We are looking for a special person to join our team for the 2024 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® presented by Metallic Cat! Apply through Of The West by 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟯.

Apply today 📲 https://nrcha.co/sbf-internship

03/06/2024

During my short trip to the American Horse Publications seminar last month, I picked up the brochure I copy-wrote for Brooke USA late last year. I'm so grateful to Emily Dulin for the opportunity to step out of my Western performance arena and jump headfirst into advocacy for working equines.
I think we all know that horses, donkeys, and mules play vital roles in third-world countries and the service they provide to the people who partner with them. But I didn't know the depth of that connection and what it means to not just their economies but their survival.
I'm excited to embark on my next project for Brooke USA, covering the Ejiao Act. Thank you, Emily and Brooke USA, for trusting me with your writing needs.

10/04/2024

This was so fun to write! Being a mare owner, I love seeing these phenomenal mares reach milestones that shape the future of our sport. It certainly helped that we're a family of Colorado Rockies fans, so interviewing former Rockies' pitcher Aaron Cook made it extra fun!

The National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) proudly announced its first-ever NRCHA Million Dollar Dam, Scooters Daisy Dukes.

10/04/2024

The Spring 2024 NRHA - National Reining Horse Association Pro Trainer is live, and it has me feeling a bit nostalgic. In it, NRHA Professional Josiane Gauthier Performance Horses speaks about her Professional Horsewoman of the Year award and says this about the hardest lesson she's had to learn:

"When things end, you have to learn to let it go. People come and go in our business, and so do their horses. We put so much heart into each horse and have goals and dreams for them."

For me, that's true of my own business, too. This is the final installment of the Pro Trainer as a magazine. During the last eight years, it's evolved from a print publication we produced three times a year to a quarterly print magazine to a digital magazine. Each of these moves were strategic and involved many considerations. The same holds true with this latest evolution of the brand to serve NRHA's strategic plan as well as NRHA Professionals' needs.

This summer, there'll be a whole new NRHA Pro Trainer website, featuring legacy content that's updated and broken into easy-to-read, short-form articles with lots of links and resources for more information.

I admit, this stings a little for my magazine-loving self, the same way it stings a horse trainer to have a horse they started move on. I was part of the team that created this project and have seen it through many changes in our world. That said, this next step makes sense for the audience. In everything I do, create, and share, the audience remains the most important factor—not my own vanity. Every project must fulfill a void, serve a need, and be appropriate for the intended target if we want to achieve success.

Please enjoy our final installment. As always, thank you to my superstar partner in Pro Trainer crime, art director Sandy Cochran; the incredible freelancers who've lent their writing and photography skills to this endeavor; NRHA for supporting this for so long; and the professionals who've supported us, shared content, and given your ideas and best practices. It takes a village!

On to the next phase!

Read Spring 2024 Pro Trainer by NRHA on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

19/03/2024

Phew! This one came down to the wire to fit in all the great coverage of the Celebration of Champions and the World's Greatest Horseman and Youth Horseman! Having excellent contributors and teammates definitely helps. 🤩 Thanks to all of our writers for nailing your deadlines and our home team of Jennifer Denison, Callie McCarthy-Boevers, and Susan Sampson for getting it all finished up!

The latest issue of the 𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒘 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔 is now available online and be on the look for the issue coming in the mail in the next week or so!

Not only are there articles from the 2024 Kalpowar Quarter Horses Celebration of Champions, Ray Shell Ranch LLC and Western Bloodstock LTD. World's Greatest Horseman™ along with the World's Greates Youth Horseman™ presented by Mars Equestrian but there are great articles to learn about the Box Drive Class plus interviewing tips!

Read now ➡️ https://nrcha.co/RCHN

18/03/2024

Most of my work focuses on the Western performance horse world, but a big part of my life is and always has centered around wrestling, thanks to the influence of my dad, Ray Barron. I'm so proud of the work we're doing through the Ray Barron Strength & Honor Fund to honor his legacy and perpetuate his values. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jake and two other finalists for this year's $10,000 scholarship. His future is bright, and he'll even have a little help from our supporters to pursue his dreams.

🥁DRUM ROLL PLEASE🥁
Announcing the 2024 RBS&HF $10,000 Scholarship Recipient, Jake Glade of Mead High School!
Jake is a four-time state-placer, including back-to-back championships last year and this year, and his Mead High School wrestling team took home the 4A team title from state this year. He puts his team, family, and community ahead of himself and works hard to see them succeed.
The RBS&HF Board was very impressed with this year's class of applicants and enjoyed getting to know the top three contenders via video interviews. Learn more about Jake, his background, and his future plans here: https://www.raybarronstrengthandhonorfund.com/news/rbsamphf-names-2024-scholarship-recipient

08/03/2024

I really enjoyed writing about Scooter Kat for Horse & Rider Magazine late last year. Today this big guy and Justin Wright take on The American Performance Horseman challenge! A little bird told me this pair topped this morning’s reined work. 😉 Can’t wait to hear how they do down the fence tonight!

He’s the highest-earning reined cow horse of all time, and cow horses from his first foal crop had all eyes on them at the 2023 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity.

17/01/2024

I love a chance to write about a special mare!🦄

This palomino mare is anything but lonely as her progeny join her in the ranks of being top reining performers.

09/01/2024

This is such an important topic for those who work in media, marketing, advertising, and more. Shelley Paulson Photography does an excellent job pointing out how to recognize AI images, why they're problematic, and what ramifications brands can face when using them. Plus, you simply can't replace our talented, authentic photographers, writers, and other creatives and expect to maintain integrity, authenticity, and reality.

Side note: Anyone watch the Golden Globes and see the presentation speech that was written by AI? Good laugh...and totally cringey!

In the past month, I've been disappointed to see several posts and ads by reputable equine brands using AI-generated images.

Very believable AI-generated images.

As AI advances, it will get more difficult to tell synthetic and organic images apart, so, I wrote this article to share 6 Ways to Discern AI Horse Images from Real Equine Photos.

https://shelleypaulsonstock.com/2024/01/09/6-ways-to-discern-ai-horse-images-from-real-equine-photos/

Do you have any to add? I would love to hear in the comments.

03/01/2024

I sat in my car in traffic today and suddenly realized: In a couple weeks, I'll reach my five-year mark as being in business for myself.

I started my career after graduating from the University of Wyoming in 1998, and I spent 21 of the years that followed learning from the best in the business; being mentored by movers and shakers; observing trends come and go; and allowing influence to come from any corner that represented my values of serving an audience, presenting valuable content in many different formats, and helping to push the Western performance horse industry forward for its own betterment and the benefit of our horses.

In the five years I've been on my own, I continue to learn from peers in all phases of their careers, to push myself, to grow, and to figure out accounting and my own budgets (haha).

Thank you to all my teachers and mentors—there are too many to list, but the variety of skills, insights, and backgrounds are what keep me fresh and thinking outside the box.

Thank you to everyone who took a chance on me when I was young and hard-headed. (I’m still one of those things...) Because of your faith in me, I developed faith in myself.

Thank you to all of my clients through Jen Paulson Creative—short-term, project-based, repeat, long-term, and newcomers. I'm pretty choosy about my partners, and I know you are, too.

Thank you to my husband, kids, parents, in-laws, family, and friends for your ongoing support. The wheels would fall off this bus without your help and encouragement.

Here's to 2024 and more exciting projects and partnerships! Let's do big things together!

23/10/2023

Just home from the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity, and many memories will stick with me from this incredible event, including how the crowd showed up for professional Kelby Phillips as he showed up for fellow pro Cayley Wilson. I'm not sure I've ever heard a stadium get that loud!

This is truly an incredible event that every horse person should see at least once in a lifetime. I hadn't been back to it in quite a few years, and now I can't wait for the next NRCHA show I get to attend as editor of Reined Cow Horse News.🐴🐮🏆

12/09/2023

Hey! Haven’t had one of these in a while. A real, printed magazine with my name as editor! Looking forward to creating many more and only getting better, along with my longtime partner in crime, Jennifer Denison.

11/09/2023

Sometimes content just needs a little facelift, and it's good as gold. Nothing has changed about these great waterers, so the product information didn't need to change. But by shining up the reader service a bit, we made a new-and-improved version for the coming winter months.
Work smarter, not harder!

Your performance horse’s water intake this winter can make or break his health. Plan now to ensure that he has access to clean water.

31/08/2023

I’ll be there for part of the show, so you can hang out with me, too!😄

We are looking for a Media & Communications Intern to join us at the 2023 Snaffle Bit Futurity®, presented by Metallic Cat! Join the NRCHA media team in Fort Worth this upcoming October and help capture all the excitement as we watch the next generation of reined cow horses enter the show pen. Applications are due 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡.

Apply today through Of The West, https://nrcha.co/23SBF-Internship

10/08/2023

The Summer NRHA Pro Trainer recently went out to the NRHA Professionals. We address numerous hot issues for pros, from finding qualified assistants to providing gold-star customer service for those clients who keep your business moving. Thanks to Megan Arszman-Weisbrodt, Kaycie Timm, and Kristin Pitzer for being outstanding contributors who really get what we're trying to do with this project.

Read Summer 2023 Pro Trainer by NRHA on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

12/07/2023

More custom content coming at you! Thanks to Horse & Rider Magazine and Barkemeyer Performance Horses for trusting me with this series for Great American Family!

The Barkemeyer family’s ties that bind all come back to horses.

09/07/2023

Lots of talk about this in our creative circles…👀

The comic's suit questions if AI models can function without training themselves on protected works.

28/06/2023

If you watched the NRHA - National Reining Horse Association Derby in OKC or online, you might've seen a fun new promotional video for the Pro Trainer, a project I helped create for NRHA Professionals and continue to publish.

I wrote the script for this piece, and I'm so excited that NRHA finds the project valuable enough to promote it at their major events! Steve Ross did a great job with the voiceover, and Jonathan Gauthier's camera work is outstanding!

I believe in this project so strongly. It's truly something every association should offer for their professionals. When we elevate their business practices, it raises the entire industry to new levels and allows continued growth, not to mention profitability for our professionals who work so hard.

09/05/2023

This was a seriously fun and educational project to work on. I was contracted to remotely listen to the first-ever ALONG For The RIDE symposium and pull nuggets of wisdom from the pros who presented over the course of three days. There are quite a few benefits from this kind of content:
📌They have a plentiful supply of content for social media.
📌Any of these short tips can be developed into a longer written article, a short blog post, or a video.
📌They provide great service to the audience.
📌In this case, they help market a video library encompassing the entire event.
It's a solid investment, and I learned a lot along the way!

"Instead of fighting to get what you want and having a long argument with your horse, do something you know you can do to get where you want to go. Be smart enough to work your way out of it. –Andrea Fappani
ALONG FOR THE RIDE™
18 Hour OnLine Chaptered Video with Unlimited Access, $159.
www.alongfortheride.pro
Fappani, Flarida & Dowers learn from each other and share what they know!

24/04/2023

I don't always know where my work will turn up, but it's nice to catch it organically when I can!

These native-type pieces for all the Equibrand lines have been so fun to put together. They pack a lot of service to the audience into a promotional piece, which really is a sweet spot for both the buyer and the seller/manufacturer. It's hard to find employees at your local tack or feed shop to help you make choices for your horses. These types of articles help bridge that gap.

Classic Equine© has all your needs covered with their best-selling line Legacy Support System boots.

12/04/2023

I'm proud to add NRCHA's Reined Cow Horse News to my roster of projects. Since the first time I experienced the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, I've been enamored with the people and horses in this sport. I can't wait to be part of the team that chronicles the sport's history and tells the stories of its members, both horse and human.

28/03/2023

As I'm wrapping up the Spring 2023 NRHA Pro Trainer, I realized I'd never shared the Winter 2023 issue. We tackled some tough topics in this issue, but they're necessary ones to address and be prepared for when you own a business. Check it out here:

Read Winter 2023 Pro Trainer by NRHA on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

07/11/2022

It's hard to believe this vision came to life six years ago, while I was with Equine Network. With the development of this project, I've built incredible relationships with horse professionals from around the world and learned to see things in a completely different manner. I feel strongly that if we can elevate our horse professionals to be better business people, it elevates the entire industry to a higher level, which means most to our horses.

This Fall 2022 issue of the NRHA Pro Trainer was dual-pathed for its usual digital format that we adopted in 2020 to also become a print magazine to have on hand at the NRHA Futurity later this month and into December. I can't wait to get to OKC to connect with my friends who are professionals, meet pros who will be great assets to our effort, and come up with story ideas for 2023 that can best help these people thrive.

Find the digital version of the Fall 22 NRHA Pro Trainer here:https://issuu.com/nrha/docs/fall_2022_pro_trainer

Thanks to fellow American Horse Publications media professional Abigail Boatwright Communications for the cover image!

02/09/2022

Some fun for Friday! I’m so honored to have played a small part in the production of this cutting-edge video for Mr Electric Spark and Kari Klingenberg Performance Horses! Impulse Photography killed it!