Page 168 - January 2019

by Walt Wiggins – March 1977
Eight years and 9000 pages ago, about this time of the year, Quarter Racing World (now The Speedhorse) was conceived and began to emerge as an industry voice.
Our precepts were stated on this very page, and they have changed not the least in essence or execution since the day we first laid ink on the pages.
The word magazine is from Arabic, makhagin, meaning storehouse. Thus, a magazine for readers should be a storehouse of information. We feel this magazine has indeed been just that.
In our aforementioned precepts, we declared “QRW will chronicle many chapters in the life of the Quarter racing sport, and in a sense, aspire to be a historian of this American Quarter Running Horse, a chronicler of the people, places and events of our times from the breeding farm to the race track, a lobbyist for the improvement of our sport, an information service and clearing house for news events of our racing industry and a mirror in which the industry can glance at itself with some degree of honesty.”
We must point out at this time that we never intended to be just another magazine that publishes monthly race results. We felt this would do nothing to better serve our industry, so we set our goals toward the need of a publication with more in-depth jour- nalistic and statistical value than just record-keeping. In response to industry needs, however, we did several years later fill another void by publishing a bi-weekly newstabloid for greater immediacy in reporting race results as well as current events. The reception of this newspaper has more than verified its need among horsemen.
We have felt the horseman’s pulse through thousands of friends and acquaintances. Our three decades of involvement with Quarter Horses, promotion and journalism have enabled us to perceive many needs of the Quarter racing colony, and when pos- sible, voice those needs promptly as they arise.
It would be a liberal understatement to simply say that the years have been exciting. Not only have they been exciting, but they have truly been inspiring and supremely fulfilling in being able to produce something of value for such a grand industry.
More than anything, our years of publishing this magazine have been a labor of love in the purest sense. To be sure, it has not been an economic bonanza, as it would appear to some, but this perhaps is our own fault for not altering our design and objective one iota. By our own choice we have established the highest level of quality in all areas, which has set a standard for our industry at large. We have never failed to employ the finest equine writing talents available, such as authorities Nelson C. Nye, Robert Denhardt, Jane Pattie, Duane MacKendrich, Vivian Kirk, to name a few.
This is more than just a trade publication, like many, which draws a very special group of people together by the commonal- ity of interest, generated by editorial climate, reading environment and reader interest. Our list of reading environment created by innovations is long and significant. We have originated issues such as the annual Stallion Register, which surely is the most definitive stallion research volume available to Quarter Horsemen today. Our Quarter Racing Heritage series have become col- lector’s items, and our most recent Champion series and Sires of Champions series are even more in demand. Our All American Commemorative Edition each summer is a bible on the industry’s number one showcase, and our first annual Statistical Review promises to be our most important contribution to the industry thus far. Reader requests for additional copies have more than exceeded our subscription ratio by five to one.
We are justifiably proud of the quality we have added and continue to add to the Quarter racing industry. To this end, we are second to none.
We are aware that it takes a special kind of dedication to perform as we have done. We are committed to this dedication. We would be naive to presume that inexpert writers or editorship could properly feed its readership, regardless of how sincerely they try. Invariably, unversed trade publications ultimately turn their medium into money-machines which become utterly without value to the industry they attempt to serve.
Marcel Proust once wrote, “The fault I find with journalism is that it forces us to take an interest in some fresh triviality or other every day, whereas only three or four books in a lifetime gives us anything that is of real importance.”
We trust that when our epilogue is finally written, The Speedhorse will be found to have been the important Quarter Horse publication of its time.
164 SPEEDHORSE, January 2019
Walt Wiggins, the founder of Speedhorse, had a vision and his vision lives on years after his passing, maybe even in a greater degree than when he penned the column below.
Speedhorse Magazine, the Stallion Register and the Barrel Stallion Register all speak for themselves. There is no need to waste paper or words from me when the product says it all.
Our goal is to continue to build on Walt’s vision, always striving to be the best we can be. John Bachelor – January 2019