Electronic Equestrian Connections

What do horses and computers have in common? Many people would probably say "Not much!" But many people seem to be addicted to both. When I first learned about the Internet in 1988, way back when it was primarily used for email and file transfer between academic and research institutions, there were already thousands of horse lovers online, using the net to find and converse with others who shared their interests; and the Electronic Equestrian community has grown tremendously since then. This is a list of a few of my favorites of the many equestrian hangouts in the virtual world.

Equine-L

Equine-L is an email discussion list hosted at Penn State University. If you're unfamiliar with mailing lists like this, it's a way to exchange e-mail with a large group of people sharing some common interest (in this case, horses). E-mail sent to a single address (the list address) is forwarded by the list server computer to all the list subscribers.

To subscribe: send an e-mail message to the server at listserv@lists.psu.edu. The body of the message should contain a single line:
SUBSCRIBE EQUINE-L firstname lastname
(substitute your first name and last name in the message). The server will send you a confirmation message, to which you must respond to complete your subscription.

If that seems too complicated, try the new web interface. Fill in the blanks and click the buttons.

Equine-L is one of the first sources of equestrian info I found on the web umpteen years ago. It is a fairly high-volume mailing list, because it covers a wide range of equestrian topics and has over 1000 subscribers. Subscribers to this list can expect to receive up to 50 messages per day when people get really chatty. A digest subscription is available for those who would prefer to receive a few large messages instead of a lot of little ones.

For more information: check out the official list description in the LSoft Listserv directory, or the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), compiled by Equine-l Listmom Tara Scholtz and hosted on the web by Graham Jenkins.

Foxhunters OnLine

The Foxhunters OnLine discussion list (aka FOL) allows foxhunters around the 'net (and around the world) to keep in touch. If you're unfamiliar with Internet mailing lists, it's a way to exchange e-mail with a large group of people sharing some common interest (in this case, foxhunting, the kind with horses and hounds). E-mail sent to a single address (the list address) is forwarded by the list server computer to all the list subscribers. This is a moderate volume list, the amount of mail fluctuates, but averages about 30 messages per day.

To subscribe or unsubscribe: read and follow the instructions.

Eventers-L

Eventers-L (aka the International Equestrian Eventers' Forum Mailing List) is to be used for the discussion of 3-Day and 1-Day Eventing, and its phases of Dressage, Endurance and Show Jumping. List content should relate to training, riding, breeding and competition events for horses and riders within this discipline. If you would like to discuss more general horse subjects, please refer to Equine-L, or rec.equestrian.

To subscribe: send an email to listserv@listserv.indiana.edu containing the following single line in the body (not the subject) of your message:
Subscribe Eventers-L firstname lastname

Please replace firstname and lastname with your real name. You don't need to include your email address because it will automatically be taken from your message. You will receive an email confirmation that your subscription has been processed.

I don't know much about this one; I'm not subscribed to it.

Junior Riders

Jr Riders Mailing Digest is a place for real kids to discuss real horses and equestrian concerns with each other. Jr Riders is always open to new subscribers, is moderated by senior subscribers, and has several adult equestrian professionals who lurk and will offer advice if needed.

To subscribe: email: majordomo@nwnexus.com with a message that says:
subscribe jr-riders-digest (or jr-riders if you want individual messages) your name

To post: jr- riders@horse-country.com
Subject line: Name or nickname and topic
then your message

To unsubscribe: email majordomo@nwnexus.com with a message that says:
unsubscribe jr-riders-digest (or jr-riders if you get individual messages) your email address

Chronicle of the Horse Bulletin Board

The Chronicle of the Horse magazine provides a bulletin board website where internet horse junkies can post messages about horse-related topics and reply to others' messages. You can read the discussions as a guest; or you can register and participate. I can sometimes be found there under the alias SimpsoMatt.

rec.equestrian

rec.equestrian is a Usenet newsgroup for the discussion of horses and various horse-related topics. Reading Usenet newsgroups usually requires access to some sort of newsreader software, and a connection to a news server. This is dependent on the machine you're using, and your internet service provider.

If the web browser you are using to view this document has a news interface, click here to view articles on rec.equestrian.

As an alternative, you can use Google's Usenet web interface.

For more information about the rec.equestrian news group, check out the rec.eq page maintained by Jorene Downs.

Horsey Web Sites

A categorized list of equestrian-related web sites that I think are interesting. When I first started building a website in 1994, it was a lot harder to find equestrian sites. There weren't very many of them, and search engines hadn't been invented yet, so the few that existed were hard to find. Links were passed around via email, and the few people that were building horse sites (including me) usually had a page with links to every other horse site they could find. Things have changed a lot since then, and it no longer seems practical or necessary to link to every other site. So I'm just providing a list of sites that I think are neat or interesting.

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