I am writing this today for all you folks who, like me, are in an office most of the time during the day. I am lucky because I’m on the sixth floor of the building so I have a nice view out the lovely big windows. And I’m in a small office, not a cubicle set-up. From my window I see lots of trees and if I crane my neck, I can see the pretty sunsets. And it’s a nice break to take a moment to watch the trees. Right now, the early spring has turned the dogwood trees white and pink. I brought daffodils from my yard into the office and put them where everyone can enjoy them.

Of course, I don’t want you to think that I spend too much time looking out the window. I keep my nose to the grindstone most of the time, as I’m sure you do. This week we are finishing the May issue. We have particularly nice photos of Shawna Harding to share with you. What a lovely rider she is. Every photo of her on her Grand Prix horse, Come On III, is stunning. She will be on the cover. Speaking of covers, sometimes our choices are slim, sometimes we have half a dozen that would do. I’d sure like to know what images you like on the cover and what you don’t (plasko@aimmedia.com).

The May issue has our 3rd installment of our Dressage at the Olympics series. I sure hope you are enjoying it. We thought it would be fun to hear from past U.S. and Canadian Olympians about what they remember most. California writer Kelly Sanchez says she has been having fun writing these.

Speaking of the Olympics and the magazine, our baroque issue?featuring Iberian, Friesian and other gorgeous horses?is going to be in September this year instead of August. The August issue will have a patriotic theme in support of our dressage team. For instance, it will give you info on the top 10 riders hoping to make the team. It’s always exciting. We don’t have the budget to send anyone to cover the event (and because we work three months ahead, we can’t be timely in event coverage), but we do like to do analysis articles afterward. We are hoping to include the experiences there of readers who do attend. We also try to get input from some of the judges but after a big event I’ve learned that they often don’t want to say anything about it. The judging is always controversial. That you can count on.

So much of our work here in the office is planning ahead. I love getting submissions and feedback from readers as this often drives our content. Going forward, we are working to have more content specifically from amateur riders as we have had requests for this. I think we need more fitness articles. Do you? It’s hard to get everything into every issue that I want to include. Let me know your thoughts on content (plasko@aimmedia.com). Sometimes it seems like I could spend all day just writing and answering e-mails. There is a lot to do, but I am very lucky in that I get to think about horses all day long. How fun is that.