Start Here

Who am I and what are we doing here? 😳

Welcome.

Hi there.

Hello.

My name’s Jemima and this is my publication, Horse Gurl.

It’s a little bit bookish….a bit magaziney - really, it’s just a quiet corner of the internet where you can come to read awkward and often hilarious horse stories.

I moved here because over the last decade I’ve worked mostly in social media… where the more I honed my equestrian storytelling skills, the more I wanted to scratch my own skin off.

The algorithm, the arseholes, the criticism and the cortisol…

And for what?

To donate my fabulous material to an organisation who’s very mission is to feed people’s insecurities and raise enormous amounts of advertising dollars in the process?

….Yeah, no thanks.

So now I’m making my contribution here, on Substack.

I haven’t been here long but it feels quieter and a lot more comfortable.

Who am I?

You might know me from Sweet Iron Co or you might not know me at all 🤷‍♀️

Sweet Iron Co is/was an equestrian clothing brand that I steered right off the rails when I had enough of people.

These days, customers can (very) occasionally buy things but mostly it became my social soapbox for stories & observations about the weird world of equestrianism.

And while I loved sharing stories and giving people a laugh, the business and the platform made me want to punch myself in the throat.

Then…when it became apparent that writing was my jam - I just couldn’t figure out how I could make it work.

No ‘normal’ publication would employ me because I say fuck and shit (a LOT) and I’d rather write about hilariously huge helmets than pedigrees or the same 6 people winning all the things 🙄

And when I thought perhaps a book was the way forward -I did the research and realised I’d be gifting 90% of the proceeds to Amazon or editors or marketing.

And that sounded like a pretty shit deal to me 🤷‍♀️

Warning: Content includes high fashion and fat ponies.

So here we are…

The truth of the matter is, I’d rather be paid directly for the stories I write, rather than donating them to Facebook for free.

But don’t panic… you can choose to pay or not - it will be fun either way.

Free subscribers will receive a weekly trickle of stories to keep them ticking over, while the paid folk, the fancy ones, the people that are prepared to part with $3 a week - well, you’ll receive the entire arsenal of stories and access to The Book 🤷‍♀️

In a nutshell, you’ll get:

1. Access to Tales of A Terrible Equestrian - The Book, which covers the curious period when I made the transition from buying a horse I was too scared to ride, to the weird and wonderful life I’m living now.

2. The entire catalog of stories. These short stories are perfect for times you want to drift off to happy land, instead of doom scrolling on social media.

3. Discounts and access to ‘subscriber only’ sales for Sweet Iron Co.

4. Entry to the private Horse Gurl community - where we’ll unpack high level things, like the best way to fall off and where to find the least egg shaped helmets

   Do it.. you know you want to 😜👇

Read next:

• The Awkward Equestrian - Observations and mostly disastrous adventures as we make the eye-wateringly slow rise to mediocrity.

• The Rescue Pony - The adventures of little Timmy Trumpster, the cheekiest, most resilient little dude on the planet.

• The Recycled Racehorse(s) - What happens when you’re waaaay too ambitious with your training projects.

• Zero Fucks Business Strategy - A mish mash of musings as I take the gentle sleigh ride into small business insanity.