A diverse range of interests that slot together to create a versatile freelance journalism and PR service – Iron Horse Media – is a reflection of new Guild member Jane Carley’s experience in all things mechanical and equestrian and her equal enthusiasm for both.
“After working in sales and marketing at the Royal Agricultural Society of England, I wanted to use my love of the written word to develop a career in journalism,” she explains. “I was lucky enough to receive on-the-job training – and a baptism of fire – at Farm Contractor magazine.”
Working with fellow Guild member Anthony Collier, then publisher and editor, Jane helped to launch Amenity Machinery & Equipment in 1998, a specialist journal for the groundcare industry that came to be respected and enjoyed by the country’s top groundsmen.
“In 2000 I took the chance of a lifetime to work at Horse & Hound as news editor, and soon found myself thrown in at the deep end as foot and mouth crippled the equestrian industry,” says Jane. “Covering the protests and events leading up to the Hunting Act was another highlight, especially seeing how the passion to preserve their way of life drove members of the rural community to take on Westminster.”
In 2003, she returned to Oxfordshire as editor of Farm Contractor and of Amenity Machinery & Equipment, but after four enjoyable years, decided to strike out as a freelance to combine her continuing interest in horses with her journalism career.
Through Iron Horse Media, Jane is now a regular contributor to leading equestrian, groundcare and agricultural publications, as well as offering specialist editorial services to the three industries.
“Sometimes these seemingly diverse interests collide – in 2010, I produced editorial for John Deere to publicise its sponsorship of the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky,” says Jane. “And recently I visited the Olympic Equestrian Test Event in Greenwich Park for Pitchcare magazine to discover how turfcare consultants STRI have turned acid grasslands into a world class riding surface.”
