On behalf of the Sonoma County Horse Council, we hope you and your animals are safe, or at least in a safe haven for now. We offer our condolences, sympathy, and support to all of you who may have lost your home, personal belongings, and/or animals during these deadly and ravenous fires. We will have a long road ahead, but we are so very encouraged by the incredible outpouring of love and kindness that was shown and continues each day.

With that, it is appropriate that the contents of the winter issue of the Horse Journal be stories from our equine community. Stories of survival, rescue and recovery. Stories of coming together at a time when it was needed most. Stories of future plans to rebuild and come back better than before.

The submission guidelines for this issue only are:

- DUE DATE: Final stories must be submitted to me no later than Friday, November 10, 2017.
- # OF WORDS: Stories should be 100 words or less. 
- FORMAT: Stories should be submitted in Microsoft Word.
- PHOTOS: 1 photo only. 300dpi or close to 1 megabyte. JPG or PDF preferred.
- PERMISSIONS: Given the possible sensitive nature of the stories, please be sure that any mention of a person, organization, group, or horse/animal, be first approved by that person, organization, group and/and horse/animal owner.

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who may be interested in sharing a story. If we are unable to include all stories in the winter Journal, we will post them on our website and/or Facebook page.

The cover will be a collage of the many photos I expect to receive.

I can be reached by email and/or cell with any questions/comments you may have.

Many thanks and be well.

Patrice Doyle
Editor-in-Chief and SCHC Board member
(707) 695-9295 cell
patricedo@msn.com