Horse Riding for Beginners

by Marisse Gabrielle Panaligan, student-producer

Episode 75, aired on March 15, 2012.
Guest: Mr. Steven Virata, Secretary-General, Equestrian Association of the Philippines

Conceptualizing an episode was no easy task. My partner Trixia wanted to do something on farm animals, while I had my eye on horses ever since I read a short fiction work on rodeos. It was a while since we finally decided on doing horses, since we took into consideration what the listeners of program might want to hear about. After all, horses are not your common household pet, not to mention the fact that they are a lot more expensive compared to domesticated animals such as cats and dogs. However, the uniqueness of the topic held our interest. We later found out from our adviser, Ms. Khrysta Rara, that she has always wanted to do an episode on horses, but so far the topic has not yet been featured in the show.

Initially, we wanted to focus on the hazards of rodeos on the health of horses, but we weren't able to find rodeo groups available for guesting. We then changed our topic to horse riding instead and contacted concerned organizations to invite possible guests. We worked on the script while waiting for replies. We realized that writing the script was a lot easier than ensuring the attendance of guests. It was only the day before the airing of the episode that we finalized the presence of our guest.

On the day of the episode, all our doubts on whether we made the right choice regarding our topic went away. Despite being a hobby of the upper class, the topic proved to be a lot interesting to the listeners. Our guest, Mr. Steven Virata, was not able to answer some of the questions raised by the listeners because we had run out of time. Nevertheless, we learned a lot both about the horses and the sport from the very comprehensive discussion on air. The successful airing of the episode gave us a sense of fulfillment as first-time producers.

You can access the episode on the links below, and we hope you enjoy watching.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPlqOCgGvK8
Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=R6U9_HDp2bk
Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lCC7kWW9Sis
Part 4: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3gDwN503VdU