FEATURE STORY THE NORTHWEST HORSE SOURCE CELEBRATES Karen Pickering Builds a Community and a Magazine BY KIM ROE , SHARON ALLER AND KAREN PICKERING T wenty-five years ago, a young woman with a passion for horses had a vision. Karen Pickering, publisher and owner of The Northwest Horse Source, started something special — a horse magazine that offers an educational resource to horse people specifically in the Pacific Northwest region. Karen’s vision for The Northwest Horse Source was to connect horse people to events, resources, and products in the northwest corner of Wash-ington State. Over time, the magazine has grown to serve the horse community that ranges from British Columbia to Northern California and east to Idaho and Montana. Karen’s dream while still in high school was to work with horses in some capacity. Necessity and forethought found her working in the corporate world where she discovered her affinity for working on computers while creating company newsletters. So in December 1995, along with her friends and family, Karen published the very first Northwest Horse Source as a local newsletter out of her home — originally working weekends and evenings while still maintaining her “real” job. Volume 1, Number 1 Within three years the publication evolved from a newsletter format into a magazine. Karen was fulfilling her vision. 22 December 2020 The Northwest Horse Source But it takes more than vision to keep some-thing like The Northwest Horse Source going for two and a half decades. It takes grit, hard work, belief in yourself and others, determination, and a gregarious open heart that can pull in advertis-ers, writers, and readers alike. It takes someone with the generosity to give people a chance. Northwest trainers and writers like Mark Bolender and Robert (TrailMeister) Eversole got a big boost having their articles published in this magazine. Writer/editor Catherine Madera and I (someone who’d always been “just a horse train-er”) learned the editing ropes and the publishing business while being led by Karen. I will always be grateful to Karen for the opportunity she’s given me — for her patience for my many mistakes, and for all I’ve learned along the way. In the end, Karen Pickering showed us she has as much a passion for people as she does for horses. Thank you, Karen! You’ve shown us that dreams can come true and something beautiful can be created when you have a vision and are willing to work for it. – Kim Roe, Editor www.nwhorsesource.com
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