NickerNetwork.com - Official Race Television Network

The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride has joined efforts with NickerNetwork.com to televise the event in 2008. NickerNetwork.com has become a sponsor of our event. They are recognized as the "Official Television Network" of the 2008 Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride.

A special channel on NickerNetwork.com will be launched, dedicated to equine activities along the historic Santa Fe Trail. It will be titled "Santa Fe Trail Horses". The date the channel will become operational is August 15, 2008, or sooner. The content of the channel will be controlled by the Race Management staff.

Nicker is the first Internet based, on-demand, multi-channel television network targeted to the horse world and an international equestrian audience. 'Created by horse people for horse people, Nicker offers a wide selection of television channels each dedicated to a different equestrian theme or subject. Each channel provides a variety of programs and on-going series which will change and expand regularly. Viewers can 1) watch for free – with short embedded sponsor ads, 2) download individual programs to rent or buy, or 3) order customized DVDs for home delivery.'

A little bit about the founder;

Sally Lasater, founder and Managing Director, has been involved in the horse world her entire life - as a competitor in both English and western disciplines, show and event organizer, producer of syndicated television series about horses, equestrian industry consultant to companies such as The New York Times, ConAgra and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS), published author, and a horse owner (presently only two, down from a herd of 100 or so in 1979).

In the mid-80's, Sally founded the successful and well-known Video Schoolhouse, which became the largest domestic distributor of educational and informational videos.

Covering almost 50 different categories, the 6000+ titles were presented in a catalog book published by McGraw-Hill. She was also the founder of the country's largest supplier and distributor of equestrian videos to consumers, retailers, libraries, and schools. In 1994 she created HorseNet, one of the very first Internet portal websites for the equestrian industry. When it was sold to a public company five years later, it was one of the world's most heavily trafficked equestrian-related websites.

In the early 1970's, as co-producer of the nationally syndicated The American Horse and Horseman television series, starring Dale Robertson, Sally began the 32-year journey of making her dream of creating a television channel just for horse people a reality. As the creator of Horse TV in 2000, she succeeded in developing a successful television distribution system which for the first time enabled equestrian programming to be available in more than 25 million homes throughout the United States. She provided all of the initial horse programming to RFD- TV during its first eight months of operation, and for several years, provided up to 20 hours a week of horse programming to the America One Television Network, a national distributor of television content to independent television stations.

In 2005, Sally's company was acquired and funded by outside investors and restructured with a management team headed primarily with people from the television industry. In the spring of2007, Sally resigned from the company she had helped create, and started work on Nicker Communications.

Jim Manson, Business Director, has more than 25 years of senior level management experience in marketing, finance, education and government, including five and a half years as VP - Marketing, for Citicorp, NA (now part of Citigroup). As founder and CEO of Premier Horse Network in 1994, he is intimately familiar with the critical issues involved in creating and launching a television-channel targeted to equestrian enthusiasts. As president of an Internet company servicing the legal community (1998 - 2001) he has been able to identify and develop important insights for understanding the rapidly changing prerequisites of establishing an industry-leading website.

Jim has founded two successful service companies (one of his start-ups was sold to Banner Industries, a Fortune 500 company). He was initially the SVP of Marketing for HorseTV Media Group, Inc. until early in 2006, when he was named Executive Director of the HorseTV Industry Council. During the year and a half he headed the Council, he successfully assembled more than 50 leading associations and organizations to be active participants in a wide range of marketing and supporting activities for The HorseTV Channel.

Jim spent the early years of his career in education and government, and for 30 years has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations involved in education and child welfare issues. This experience will serve Nicker Communications well in its initial development of the Center for the Preservation of Equestrian Media, as later described.

Jim is the author of The Only Barter Book You'll Ever Need, published by Bantam Books in 1984. He received an M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and his B.A. from Columbia College.

This working together will allow the Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride to move rapidly toward world recognition. This would have a greater economic impact on sponsors and communities at a faster rate and a larger impact.


Official Television Network of The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride


Official Videographer of The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride