An award-winning monthly publication with 38,000-70,000+ readers per issue, East Coast Equestrian focuses on the news horse owners in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, New York and beyond need to know. Our staff is dedicated to excellence in editorial content, advertising design, and print production.
We provide readers with special monthly features, such as the Barns and Arenas feature in February and September’s Real Estate Showcase. We partner as a sponsor with the major national events held in the region, providing previews and exposure before the event and coverage following. We print the official program for Pennsylvania Horse World Expo in the March issue and distribute an additional 10,000 copies at the event. Our Dressage at Devon Preview in September is mailed to the proprietary Dressage at Devon list of elite competitors and ticket buyers. Now in print 11 times a year, East Coast Equestrian offers active equestrians an extensive calendar of events for every season.
The print edition is mailed to 4,500 subscribers in the region and across the US and to about 525 tack shops and feed stores in five states. We also have bonus distribution at equestrian events throughout the region. Another 8,000 people read the issue online each month.
East Coast Equestrian has won 18 national honors at the American Horse Publications Annual Awards Program since 2002, including 1st place awards in 2002 and 2008, and strong 2nd places in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
In 2013, Pennsylvania Equestrian (as it was then called) placed 2nd in the General Excellence State or Regional Publications, earning comments such as “this newspaper sports a bold and inviting logo”, “some of the most tasteful full-page ads [the judge] had seen”, and that it is a “well-designed, very valid publication dedicated in every way to the Pennsylvania Equestrian”. Articles have also won a US Equestrian Federation Pegasus award and an AIM award.
In 1993, owner Stephanie Shertzer Lawson founded Pennsylvania Equestrian as well as Shertzer/Lawson Marketing and Publishing. Pennsylvania Equestrian started as a way to promote the Horse Farms Open House, which was first held in Lancaster County in March of 1993. Before the internet, a handout was needed to direct visitors to the farms, and the first Pennsylvania Equestrian was a crude four page publication with hand-drawn maps. It was so enjoyable that Ms. Lawson began printing quarterly, and within the year had left her full time job to pursue Pennsylvania Equestrian and other marketing projects.
As competing regional print publications closed, on its 25th anniversary in January 2018 Pennsylvania Equestrian expanded its focus, readership and distribution to become East Coast Equestrian. Since then we have been delighted to cover the news and partner with events throughout the mid-Atlantic region.
East Coast Equestrian relies on both fulltime and freelance staff to keep the newspaper running smoothly.
Founder, editor and publisher, Stephanie spent 16 years marketing tourism destinations, including six years as Vice President and Director of Marketing for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau, marketing Lancaster County, Pennsylvania worldwide as a vacation destination. She also spent eight years in theme park marketing and group sales, including several as Group Sales Manager for Hersheypark, Hershey, PA.
She is a lifelong horse owner who enjoyed showing American Saddlebreds on the A-circuit for nearly 20 years and played polo for about 10 years. A former board member and vice-president of the Pennsylvania Equine Council, she helped pass Pennsylvania’s equine liability legislation. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania National Horse Show for 25 years and managed marketing and public relations for numerous regional and national equestrian events.
Debbie Reid is the Advertising Manager at East Coast Equestrian. She has been with the company since the beginning after working with Stephanie Lawson at the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ms. Reid has lived in the area for 30+ years and takes a strong interest in the success of small businesses. She is a mother of three and grandmother of three and, despite the teases, she is the only one in the office who does not ride.
Advertising Sales Manager Phyllis Hurdleston joined the East Coast Equestrian staff in July 2014. Phyllis and her husband Chris are both originally from Moorestown, NJ and have lived in Lancaster for 28 years. They’ve raised two children in Manheim Township, Scott and Cece, 30 and 28, who both currently reside and work in the Lancaster area.
Phyllis graduated college with a degree in Communications/Advertising and has been in the advertising and marketing field since graduating. Starting her career at North American Publishing in Philadelphia, she sold advertising and marketing services for a variety of trade publications and attended many trade shows. For Stratton Publishing & Marketing she sold advertising in a magazine called Learning by Design, an Architectural Design showcase of elementary through college/university school projects distributed to the education market. She’s worked at Equestrian International tack shop in New Holland, and at the former Stateline Tack in Lancaster.
Phyllis was a former 4-H leader, has ridden and shown horses since she was 8 years old. She keeps her horse Baylee, a TB/Paint mare in New Holland and she enjoys riding her in paper chases across the state.
Mrs. Bush has been a regular freelance contributor for East Coast Equestrian for 18 years. After 30 years in the newspaper industry, earning titles such as Associate Publisher of the Courier-Post in Camden, NJ and then President and Publisher of the Reporter in Lansdale, PA, she decided to intertwine her passion for horses with her writing career. In addition to writing and raising honeybees, Mrs. Bush currently owns a former racehorse named Burt, two dogs named Alice and Lola and a cat, Bella.
Mrs. Peyre-Ferry is a regular contributor to East Coast Equestrian as well as a reporter for Lancaster Newspapers, and Chester County Press. A regular columnist for Saddle and Bridle Magazine, she is also a contributor to Driving Digest. After years of competing in a variety of disciplines, including dressage, sidesaddle, hunters, and western, Mrs. Peyre-Ferry now successfully shows model horses. In her free time, she and her husband do civil war era dance demonstrations and balls with the Victorian Dance Ensemble. They also travel to assist their younger son, David, with his work as a professional sword swallower.
Lois Szymanski has been writing for publication for over 30 years, often tapping into her love of horses. She worked several years at a Thoroughbred farm and was a US Pony Club mom. She has written articles for magazines like Horse Illustrated, Horse Power, Young Rider, Equine Images, and Animal Product News and was a correspondent for the Carroll County Times newspaper for 31 years. She is the author of 28 books for children and adults, most of them horse stories. Lois lives in Westminster, Maryland with her husband and her two miniature horses. Visit her on the web at www.loisszymanski.com
Amy Worden is an award-winning journalist who spent 15 years covering state and national politics for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her career in print and broadcast includes stints at the Associated Press, The Washington Post and Fox News. She was also the founder of Philly Dawg animal blog at the Inquirer. Currently she teaches journalism at Dickinson College and also freelances for The Washington Post.
Amy is a lifelong equestrian who competed regionally for almost two decades with her Morgan gelding Twilight in three-day eventing, equitation and hunter/jumper events, including at A-rated Morgan shows. Currently, she and her 11-year-old rescue Belgian, Chloe, compete in dressage and pleasure shows. Chloe is the two-time draft horse barrel racing champion of the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
