Wow how horse & hound magazine used to be

[Supertrooper]

Found some old copies of H&at mag today from 2015

Such a better, more interesting read than it is now and so much more content!

118 pages compared to the ridiculous 70 there is now

Why has it reduced so much?

 

[teapot]

Cost, quality of journalism dropping off a cliff, being owned and run by a multi publication company etc etc

 

[teapot]

I forgot clickbait social media too

 

[SilverLinings]

I know what you mean OP, I think the magazine industry (and printed media industry in general) is really struggling at the moment and making staff/journalism cuts to save money. A lot of people seem to have ditched books and magazines in favour of online content. In the last 12 months the 3 branches of Tesco's and one of Sainsbury's that I frequent have all halved the length of their magazine aisles, and stopped selling titles I thought would have been popular.

I have a few issues of H&H from the late 1800s, and although the articles were often very good the newspaper mostly consisted of adverts In fact, the amount of comment/articles was probably about the same as today, it's just that today there are photographs in the spaces that in the 1800s would have taken up by ads.

I think the worst magazines are the ones aimed at children, back when I was a child (1980s) Horse and Pony magazine and Pony magazine were fun but educational, but when I looked through a copy of Pony in Tesco a few years ago I couldn't really work out what the point of it was, or what horsey mad child would read it.

 

[Merry neddy man]

Many many years ago, if my memory serves me right the spring "Show Schedule Edition" was many pages thick covering dates in order, different counties, different disciplines, a really usefull purchase not like the current show schedule edition.. One thing that annoys me now is when it's a special edition ( Hoys , Badminton, etc. ) they put the price up, yet it has more adverts in so they have already covered the extra costs .

 

[humblepie]

Many many years ago, if my memory serves me right the spring "Show Schedule Edition" was many pages thick covering dates in order, different counties, different disciplines, a really usefull purchase not like the current show schedule edition.. One thing that annoys me now is when it's a special edition ( Hoys , Badminton, etc. ) they put the price up, yet it has more adverts in so they have already covered the extra costs .

I bought the show edition this year and so different. Of course it used to be the main way of finding shows pre internet. I think it got up to being three show editions to cover it all.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Many many years ago, if my memory serves me right the spring "Show Schedule Edition" was many pages thick covering dates in order, different counties, different disciplines, a really usefull purchase not like the current show schedule edition.. One thing that annoys me now is when it's a special edition ( Hoys , Badminton, etc. ) they put the price up, yet it has more adverts in so they have already covered the extra costs .

It used to be split over 2 weeks by mid 80s as there was so much content! I well remember cycling to the newsagents in the 70s, then nipping in 1st thing through the 80s and 90s to grab our copy.

 

[Merry neddy man]

Yes you are both correct, I'd forgot that bit.

 

[asmp]

I’ve just read the last edition online (if you have the Libby app from a library you can read it for free) and was surprised how quickly I read it. The articles were interesting but there didn’t seem to be that many of them.

 

[Bobthecob15]

I recently subscribed and signed up for the digital and print editions...I was feeling nostalgic for the old days of H&H! However I cancelled after about 2 months as the magazine is pointless...H&H basically leak their own stories on the FB page ahead of it being printed so the actual print edition is old news by the time you get it! Yes you have to pay to get the digital version too and access to the website but the news isn't exactly exclusive so it's just not worth it. Especially since classifieds etc are now better elsewhere. Such a shame

 

[Chappie]

Yes the magazine and newspaper industry has been under threat for a few years and is being devastated now - over 300 at risk of redundancy where I work, including myself... costs of paper have risen hugely, along with the energy crisis affecting printing anything and cost of living impacting sales - there are much fewer staff so the quality of journalism has gone down as generic articles and paid-for content have to be used; less staff to check work and plan content too.
Audiences aren't switching to reading magazines online.
My dream job would be working for Pony but sadly looks like that door will close... difficult situation when all your training and 30-odd years of experience and also your talent is, well, no longer needed!

 

[reynold]

I have subscribed to magazine for years (since early 70s) but am finally at the end of my tether with it. I have accepted for years that the xmas/newyear copies would be thin due to the holidays and journalists rightly having time off.

However every edition is now as thin or thinner than the old Xmas editions used to be.

My greatest bugbear is that stories are leaked before the print edition is due to arrive on thursdays. This is an insult to those of us who pay for the print edition. (I personally hate reading publications online as the mixed in adverts drive me mad with the jumping around it takes before it's all loaded - I haven't got fast broadband- not everyone does).

I think that there is plenty of stuff that could be included such as show results as it used to be - people felt they had achieved something by having their name - even if it was only 1 sentence - in the magazine. I still have copies where horses I bred achieved a mention in the dressage section. You can't keep an online edition in the same way for say 20 years as technology will stop the thing loading or it won't be compatible with the latest phone/laptop/tablet/whatever.

The show results sections are much curtailed, particularly the dressage section which used to cover all regions until a few years ago. I have also noticed the increased coverage of racing (which I follow and love). However I think the publication should use the space allocated to racing for dressage/sj/eventing instead. After all, racing has it's own daily paper and plenty of TV coverage available every day which isn't the case for other equestrian sport, for which H&H used to be the premier publication.

It will be a wrench for me to give up the print edition (I don't want online at all) but I think I will give up my addiction when it comes up for renewal as it's just not worth the cost anymore.

 

[Orangehorse]

I bought the show edition this year and so different. Of course it used to be the main way of finding shows pre internet. I think it got up to being three show editions to cover it all.

It did run to three issues, there were so many to cover.

I think lack of content is due to lack of advertising. But I used to love the racing articles by John Oaksey (that dates me). He used to do a full analysis of the big race the previous week, and in earlier days could well have been riding in it too. Of course there were long hunting reports too in season.

 

[Rowreach]

I subscribed for decades, but gave it up about 15 years ago because it infuriated me that as a long term subscriber I was paying full whack when every week there were new subscription offers at vastly reduced rates.

Also, my copy frequently turned up a day late, even though there were plenty of copies available on the Thursday in the local shop, so it made more sense to buy it there when I felt like reading it.

I haven't bought a paper copy in years though because it has turned into more of a My Little Pony magazine than a serious horse one.

 

[Orangehorse]

I took out an on-line subscription but cancelled it as I hated it! So now I just buy occasionally.

 

[humblepie]

Used to buy every week then they stopped putting show results in - that was part of the excitement as to whether you’d be in H&H. We subscribed to the hard copy at work but cancelled that at the start of the pandemic as had to cut costs right down and can’t really justify re-starting

 

[Baywonder]

I stopped buying horsey and non horsey magazines quite a while ago due to a) the rip-off cost, and b) the amount of adverts in the dratted things!

Children's comics are another - the average cost is £5 - but thankfully mine are too old for these now!

 

[Bobthecob15]

I have subscribed to magazine for years (since early 70s) but am finally at the end of my tether with it. I have accepted for years that the xmas/newyear copies would be thin due to the holidays and journalists rightly having time off.

However every edition is now as thin or thinner than the old Xmas editions used to be.

My greatest bugbear is that stories are leaked before the print edition is due to arrive on thursdays. This is an insult to those of us who pay for the print edition. (I personally hate reading publications online as the mixed in adverts drive me mad with the jumping around it takes before it's all loaded - I haven't got fast broadband- not everyone does).

I think that there is plenty of stuff that could be included such as show results as it used to be - people felt they had achieved something by having their name - even if it was only 1 sentence - in the magazine. I still have copies where horses I bred achieved a mention in the dressage section. You can't keep an online edition in the same way for say 20 years as technology will stop the thing loading or it won't be compatible with the latest phone/laptop/tablet/whatever.

The show results sections are much curtailed, particularly the dressage section which used to cover all regions until a few years ago. I have also noticed the increased coverage of racing (which I follow and love). However I think the publication should use the space allocated to racing for dressage/sj/eventing instead. After all, racing has it's own daily paper and plenty of TV coverage available every day which isn't the case for other equestrian sport, for which H&H used to be the premier publication.

It will be a wrench for me to give up the print edition (I don't want online at all) but I think I will give up my addiction when it comes up for renewal as it's just not worth the cost anymore.

completely agree about the stories being leaked, its ridiculous! Its the main reason I've cancelled mine.

 

[SilverLinings]

As H&H has such a long history (well over 100 years) it would be nice if each week they reprinted an interesting article from the same week at some point in the magazine's past. So many thing have changed drastically over that time, such as veterinary knowledge, working horses, the use of horses in wars, the development of competitive horse sports, etc. Even seeing old adverts could be interesting. Not leaking it online first (other than maybe mentioning the subject and date of the article) would make buying the paper issue more worth while.

One of the national daily newspapers has been doing this on a daily basis for a few years and it always makes an interesting read.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Used to buy every week then they stopped putting show results in - that was part of the excitement as to whether you’d be in H&H. We subscribed to the hard copy at work but cancelled that at the start of the pandemic as had to cut costs right down and can’t really justify re-starting

I have an envelope with cuttings from the last century, results, write ups and even the odd photos too. You're so right, through the show season we used to scan quickly in case we got a mention etc.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

As H&H has such a long history (well over 100 years) it would be nice if each week they reprinted an interesting article from the same week at some point in the magazine's past. So many thing have changed drastically over that time, such as veterinary knowledge, working horses, the use of horses in wars, the development of competitive horse sports, etc. Even seeing old adverts could be interesting. Not leaking it online first (other than maybe mentioning the subject and date of the article) would make buying the paper issue more worth while.

I agree that this would be very interesting but then again, they almost can't do good for doing bad. If they published some things of old, with the advice from back then, I can imagine there would be a huge backlash from many which is a crying shame.

 

[ester]

I

I’ve just read the last edition online (if you have the Libby app from a library you can read it for free) and was surprised how quickly I read it. The articles were interesting but there didn’t seem to be that many of them.

I didn’t know I could do this, thanks!

 

[Smitty]

It did run to three issues, there were so many to cover.

I think lack of content is due to lack of advertising. But I used to love the racing articles by John Oaksey (that dates me). He used to do a full analysis of the big race the previous week, and in earlier days could well have been riding in it too. Of course there were long hunting reports too in season.

I have (or had!!) a paperback book of his racing articles for H and H. I lent it to a friend for 4 weeks 4/5 years ago. It was brilliant. Must get it back.

Can't remember the title but it covered just about the lot, flat, NH, jockeys, horses and was so entertaining and written by the man who loved and understood racing.

Just googled it, it was called Oaksey on Racing and there is a copy for sale on Amazon.

 

[SilverLinings]

I agree that this would be very interesting but then again, they almost can't do good for doing bad. If they published some things of old, with the advice from back then, I can imagine there would be a huge backlash from many which is a crying shame.

I'm really not being argumentative, but what could people object to about it? I would hope that if they were reprinting stuff from 1884 to say 1930 no one could claim they read it the first time round! Although I suppose some people would feel that it was lazy journalism just re-printing articles; it would be interesting if they wrote a comparison with modern practices though.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I'm really not being argumentative, but what could people object to about it? I would hope that if they were reprinting stuff from 1884 to say 1930 no one could claim they read it the first time round! Although I suppose some people would feel that it was lazy journalism just re-printing articles; it would be interesting if they wrote a comparison with modern practices though.

'How could you possibly think it's acceptable to post an article about feeding straight oats when we know that they are detrimental to ulcer prone horses, this could be hugely misleading for people who think this is advice printed by a well known magazine' - 'how do you think it's ok in the current day to publish a photo of a horse with such ill fitting tack, the times have moved on and we shouldn't be making publicity out of this'

Don't underestimate people!

 

[photo_jo]

As H&H has such a long history (well over 100 years) it would be nice if each week they reprinted an interesting article from the same week at some point in the magazine's past. So many thing have changed drastically over that time, such as veterinary knowledge, working horses, the use of horses in wars, the development of competitive horse sports, etc. Even seeing old adverts could be interesting. Not leaking it online first (other than maybe mentioning the subject and date of the article) would make buying the paper issue more worth while.

One of the national daily newspapers has been doing this on a daily basis for a few years and it always makes an interesting read.

The problem is there is not enough advertising to cover the extra pages. When I first started writing for them I was 17/18 (first pic in as a 13-year-old), and reporting on the dressage initially. They would take as much as I could write because they had so much advertising so I would report on every dressage show that happened. The advanced horse trials would have 3 to 4 pages etc etc. As for the advertising they'd have had 50 pages of horses advertised alone. It is interesting-when I look back at some of the features I did (most 4 pages), I just think they wouldn't commission them now because everything needs one of the big names to head up an article (Carl, Charlotte, Ben etc etc), otherwise people don't buy it

 

[humblepie]

Not H&H but clearing out the other day I found copies of a monthly magazine called Stable Management - poss late 60s/early 70s. It’s main article would be a several page feature on a riding school or stud.

 

[Caol Ila]

I have written for them, and their business model is very much focused on making their advertisers happy and Google analytics. In my experience, these two things do not make for the highest quality journalism.

It's still possible for a magazine to survive in this harsh, online environment and have good writing. I read plenty of them - both horsey and not. I'm working on a piece for the Horse Network because they sometimes have really decent features. COTH is another one that comes to mind. Then there are much smaller outfits like Eclectic Horseman.

 

[maggiestar]

H&H used to be my bible back in the 1990's. As someone who grew up in an urban area with not a horse in sight it opened up a whole new world! I used to buy it and read all the show reports and hunt reports, barely understanding a word of it but finding it fascinating none-the-less! Later it was my job hunting page. It's definitely a thinner, less interesting mag now but I think it's the same with publications like Time Out which is also a shadow of its former self.

 

[gallopingby]

It used to be split over 2 weeks by mid 80s as there was so much content! I well remember cycling to the newsagents in the 70s, then nipping in 1st thing through the 80s and 90s to grab our copy.

I used to order the show edition if I didn't have a sub running, it sold out very quickly and the show edition was about "proper" showing shows not any equestrian related event. I occasionally have a look if I'm in Tescos but so much thinner and no longer many interesting articles.