To build a life around the horse is to choose, again and again, something that cannot quite be explained to those who haven't.
There's a version of equestrian life that gets covered constantly. The grand prix strings, the custom saddles, the perfectly curated tack rooms. It's beautiful to look at, and it has almost nothing to do with the way most of us actually live this.
Modern Amateur exists for the rest of the story.
After years of working in equestrian digital marketing, a pattern kept showing up: the riders keeping this industry alive, the ones budgeting carefully, showing up at the barn before dawn, and finding more meaning in this life every year, had almost nowhere to turn for media that actually reflected their experience. So we built the one that was missing.
Modern Amateur Magazine launched in June 2026 as a free quarterly digital publication for adult amateur equestrians across every discipline, every budget, and every barn situation. We cover the honest reality of this life, not the aspirational version of it. We believe the adult amateur deserves beautiful, thoughtful, genuinely useful editorial content, and we're building a publication that proves it.
Where we're headed is simple: more voices, more disciplines, more of the real stories that make this community what it is. We're just getting started.
magazine
about the
meet the team
Blair Bush
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
I've spent the better part of fifteen years working in design, photography, and digital marketing, most of it in and around the equestrian world through my agency, Centerline Creative. I know how to build brands, tell stories, and make things look good. But Modern Amateur came from something a little more personal than that.
I'm an amateur equestrian myself. I know what it feels like to do the math on a vet bill and a show entry in the same week. I know the particular joy of a good ride that nobody else will ever fully understand. And I got tired of reaching for a magazine that spoke to that experience and coming up empty.
So I made it.
I run Modern Amateur as a solo operation, which means I write it, design it, photograph it, and obsess over every detail of it. The agency funds it. The love of this sport drives it. And the readers, the ones who email to say they finally feel seen in something, are why it keeps going.
If you want to talk editorial, advertising, or just want to say hello, I'm at [email protected].
contributors
Photography Contributor
Cora williamson
Cora Williamson has had a camera in her hand since she was ten years old and a horse under her since she was four. That combination produces exactly the kind of photographer Modern Amateur needed: someone who understands this world from the inside, and knows how to capture it honestly.
Based in the Southeast, Cora covers local and rated shows across the region with her team while also shooting portraits, branding sessions, and the quieter moments that make equestrian life worth documenting. Her work finds the real thing in every frame: the bond, the effort, the joy, and the occasional chaos that anyone who has spent time around horses will recognize immediately.
We're proud to have her eye on these pages.
believe
what we
We are a publication that tells the truth about what this life costs and why it's worth it anyway. That covers every discipline with equal respect. That makes room for the rider who competes every weekend and the one who hasn't entered a show in years and isn't sure she wants to.
We are not a publication that assumes unlimited budgets, unlimited time, or a version of this sport that most of our readers will never recognize. We don't gatekeep by discipline, by level, or by how many horses you own.
Every piece of content we publish is held to one standard:
does this make our reader feel seen?
JOIN
THE TEAM
Modern Amateur is a volunteer-contributor publication in its early years. We're always looking for writers, photographers, and equestrian voices across all disciplines. If you're interested in being part of what we're building, reach out at [email protected].
Your Story Belongs Here
Modern Amateur is built on the voices of this community. If you have a story worth telling, an experience worth sharing, or a perspective this publication needs, we want to hear from you.
STAY IN
THE LOOP
Every issue, delivered free to your inbox. No gatekeeping, no subscription fees, just good editorial content four times a year.
