Working in the equine industry in both the United States and Australia after graduating college in 2012, Melissa Bauer-Herzog founded Pyrois Media in 2018 upon her return from Australia.
This week’s blog lets you get to know the person behind the company, from her beginnings to her future goals – and the pets that also help Pyrois Media function every day.
1) Where did you grow up?
I grew up just outside of Portland, Oregon in a small area of Vancouver, Washington called Felida. I lived on a cattle farm that my great-grandfather had founded after emigrating from Switzerland. My earliest paid job was cutting and raking hay every summer on the farm – I drove a tractor much earlier than I drove a car!
My great-grandpa in his milk truck in the 1920s before the farm turned into beef operation in the 1970s.
2) What is one random fact about you?
I LOVE owls! They are my favorite animal and if I see something to do with owls in a store, I will likely buy it. Literally every room in my house other than the bathrooms has some sort of owl wall hanging or stuffed animal and the Number 1 thing on my bucket list is to be able to hold an owl one day.
3) How many pets do you have?
I own two Bettas, two cats, two whole horses and tail hairs of too many racehorses (if there is such a thing!).
I’ve owned Bettas pretty much consistently since I was a teenager working at Petco. One of those is a female Betta or decided she’d enjoy living alone rather than in a sorority (what tanks of female Betas are called) and the second is Edward III – he’s the third Betta I’ve owned with that name and has a lot to live up to, Edward I lived for nearly 10 years and moved with me to Idaho, Texas, and Kentucky after I bought him as a junior in high school.
If you watch my Instagram stories, you see my cats a lot. Bella is my older tortoise shell cat who I adopted in 2013. She’s anywhere between 9 and 11, depending on if you believe the shelter I got her from or the vet. If you visit the Pyrois Media office (ala my apartment), she will likely greet you at the door.
Bella is the opposite of my 3 year old orange cat Bentley. Where Bella is happy to sleep and take life easy, Bentley is full of energy and almost always into something. A former barn cat who retired after an injury when he was only about nine months old, he’s also a one-person cat and will hide whenever someone other than me is here. My friends feel accomplished if they even catch a glimpse of him when they’re over.
Bentley making sure all is packed before a photo shoot.
Thirty-one -year-old Crystal was a horse I got when I was 13 and taught me more than any human ever has. She was my barrel racing horse until she retired in her early 20s and now lives the good retired life in Vancouver at my dad’s. I also own her daughter Vegas, who I bought back last year after selling her when I lived in Australia. A semi-failed barrel racing horse (slow is her game), the 16-year-old is now enjoying life as a horse I’m bopping around on with no real competition goal at the moment.
While it always sounds fancy when I say I own racehorses, I honestly spend less on them than most people spend on their hobbies every month. I’ve found two syndicates that let us buy in for fairly inexpensive prices and lead to a lot of fun. For anyone who wants to get into racehorse ownership and doesn’t have a ton of money to spend, syndication/partnerships are definitely the way to go, in my opinion.
4) How did you get involved in the equine industry and what discipline(s) do you ride in?
My cousin had horses when I was growing up and I have Cerebral Palsy – which is helped by riding so it was the perfect storm. I started seriously riding at seven years old and was quickly bitten by the bug. I showed throughout my teens then went to a college in Texas based on its equine program. While I changed majors, I stayed dedicated to the equine industry and all my jobs post-college have had to do with horses.
On my cousin’s horse “BJ.”
While I’m now a re-rider who is just trying to get my riding feet back, I did a bit of everything in the western performance arena. My main focus was barrel racing but thanks to my mom’s insistence I ride in performance classes until I was in high school, I also showed in classes such as trail and western equitation in addition to showmanship. High School Equestrian Team was big in my area my last two years of high school so I also showed in that association where our drill team made it to state two years in a row and I made it to state with Vegas in in-hand trail as well. I’ve also taken dressage lessons (which I loved) and dabbled in learning how to jump in early 2020 but COVID-19 shut down that experiment for the time being.
5) Why did you move to Kentucky?
I love horses, I love sports, and I love the Olympics so before graduating in 2012 I sent an email inquiring about an internship at US Equestrian (then USEF) during the summer of the London Olympics. I was accepted for a six month internship in Lexington and moved here only a few weeks after graduation where I learned a ton.
The old USEF offices in 2012.
I had been to Kentucky twice before and had been to Lexington that winter and fallen in love with the area. I had been planning to move somewhere else after the internship but was offered a job in horse racing and never looked back. I’ve been in Lexington for the better part of 10 years now outside of a little over a year away when I moved away to travel to Australia.
6) Why did you decide to work in the equine industry?
I went through a few different majors during my time in college but I think everyone knew I’d end up in the equine world. When I finally settled down and focused on my communication degree in college, there were really only two possibilities of what I wanted to do in my mind – work in the equine industry or work in another sport like hockey or NASCAR (two sports I’m a major fan of).
I’ve done a little of everything since graduation in 2012, including Thoroughbred yearling prep, foaling out mares, working in the communications/marketing departments at farms, and as a journalist. I’ve never been able to settle on just one thing I want to do so that’s one reason Pyrois Media has so many different services on top of me also picking up a few foal watching shifts most years.
7) What advice would you give someone looking to work in the industry?
Don’t be so stuck on thinking you want to do a specific job in the industry that you’re not willing to try other things. Even if you get your dream position, the experience you gather in those other jobs will definitely help. They also lead to more networking opportunities and those are extremely important in the industry as well.
Shooting the Kentucky Derby in 2015.
8) What do you like to do outside of horses?
My hobbies are pretty laid back compared to other people’s. I watch a lot of sports (my TV is almost always on some game or race) and love to read. I’m currently working toward a goal of reading 25,000 pages this year and am only a little over 4,000 pages away. I usually read for over an hour a night so it makes hitting that goal easier.
A few of my racing books.
Something that I’ve also taken up this year as a small hobby is gardening. I was given an Aerogarden for Christmas and it led to me turning my apartment deck into a flower zone with a tomato plant to make it seem more useful than it is.
9) What is a future personal goal you have?
I haven’t seriously ridden in years and haven’t been in a show or barrel arena in near a decade. I bought Vegas back to help get my riding legs back so my major goal is to ride competitively again one day in the hopefully mid-term future. I’m not sure if my future is back in the barrel ring or somewhere else but I have plenty of time to figure that part out!
Crystal and Vegas in my teenage years.
10) What is a goal you have for Pyrois Media?
Honestly, I’m absolutely thrilled with how Pyrois Media has done in such short time (though I can’t believe we’ve been open for over three years now!). I love working in the racing industry and look forward to growing in that sphere but I’d also like to expand more into other disciplines.
I really enjoy working with the clients I work with in other disciplines and always believe that a horse (or company, in this case) should be well-rounded. Adding clients to the family from other disciplines is a goal we’ve already started working toward and one I’m really excited about.
