Horses and Writing and Blogs, Oh My! An Interview with Terise Cole

                                                                  Blogger Terise Cole

       I am a college student who loves horses and writing and is just starting a blog. Terise Cole is a college student who loves horses and has written a blog called Breeches and Boat Shoes for almost two years and has more than 480 followers. Cole seemed like a great person to learn from about how to start, write and maintain a blog about college life and horses. Cole goes to college at Becker College in Massachusetts. She has two horses, rides on her college’s riding team and enjoys equestrian fashion. Though there are marked differences between her life and mine, our passion for horses and writing seemed a good place to start.

            Cole said she has always loved writing and started riding at age seven.

            “The majority of my life revolves around my horses and riding, so it seemed natural to write about them,” Cole said. 

            Cole started her blog, after she bought a new horse named Southern Axcent. She had been contemplating a blog but the new horse helped push her into the blogosphere. Her blog was originally a way for her to share progress reports on her new horse with her family and friends. However, the blog soon grew to include equestrian fashion and product reviews, training stories, interviews and “all things equestrian.” Cole said that one thing she wished she had known to establish her social media presence early and have a clear idea of where the blog was headed before starting her blog. She said that how follower’s first view a blog is hard to reestablish once you start a certain niche of posts. Cole said that, since there are so many aspects of the equestrian world, a blogger should understand the audience that they are specifically writing for.

             Social media is the main venue that Cole uses to promote her blog. Having a strong presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram along with encouraging reader communication through comments and email helps to point potential followers to her blog. Another way Cole promotes her content is through product reviews or including a company name in a post.

             “If (the company) likes the post, they will probably share it with their followers,” Cole said.

             Cole tries to post “every other day or at least twice a week.” She said that posting much more than that can take away from the novelty of a blogger’s posts and that posting less can leave the readers hungry for new content. However, another factor of how often she posts is her school, horses and other parts of her busy life.

            “Sometimes it is hard managing a blog and classes, so my blog can be a bit neglected at times if my workload increases from school,” Cole said.

            Inspiration often eludes writers that want to post content regularly. However, Cole has found topics in her experience, opinions and creative blog hops from other bloggers.
          These “hops” consist of topics and questions sent from one blogger to others to explore different opinions, stories and experiences along the same subject lines.

            Cole is excited about how blogging has affected the horse community.

“It was surprising to see how many horse people actually read blogs. A lot of equestrians look to others' opinions or want their views on certain topics or products before trying them out themselves,” Cole said.

            I learned a lot from Cole and hope to use this knowledge well in my blog. One of the biggest things I gleaned was that I needed to make sure I know what the purpose of my blog is. That way I will create content that both my target audience and I will enjoy.

Check out Terise Cole’s blog here! Here are some other horse related blogs that I enjoy.

If Wishes Were Horses

Regarding Horses
The Savvy Equestrian
What blogs do you like to read? What types of posts are your favorite? Tell me below in the comments!