- Breeding
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Submit Your Grant Proposal To USA Equestrian Trust
- Horse Breeding, Part 1: The Estrous Cycle
- Buying a Horse
- What to Look For When Buying a Horse
- So You Bought A Friesian, Now what!
- Top 3 Ways Using Horse Classifieds Can Save You Money
- General Horse Articles
- Help Your Stiff Horse Bend
- Nearly $7 Million Generated Annually for the District of Columbia
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- Horse Feeding
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- Calcium - More than Just Bone
- Ingredients in Feed that Affect Behavior
- Horse Grooming
- eZall Shine & Detangler Transforms Ratty Manes and Tails Into Flowing Tresses
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Horse Health Issues
- Vital Signs Tell Horse's Condition
- Equine Health 101: How to Keep Your Horse Healthy
- Let Sleeping Horses Lie: A Look at Horse Sleep Patterns
- Horse Training
- Training Mythunderstandings: Groundwork: From Basics to Games
- Training Mythunderstandings: More Early Lessons for the Green Horse
- Starting Early: Training the Foal
- Horses & History
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Horses in Art: An Abridged History
- Horses & Sports
- Ask Chelsie Natural Horsemanship - What Does It Mean To Disengage My Horse?
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- ELITE DINING AND HOSPITALITY CLUB TO DEBUT AT 53rd WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW
The Horse Links: How Digital Television has Revolutionized the Equestrian Community
03/23/2009
By posting horse videos online, riders and equine lovers have literally linked together to create a thriving online community.
The equine community has always been a tight-knit group. A common love of all things horse links us together, whether we congregate closely around a shared instructor or widely around a race. That’s why for most of us, it isn’t surprising the way the horse community has taken to Web 2.0. By posting horse videos online, riders and equine lovers have literally linked together to create a thriving online community.
The most obvious change in the horse community since the rise of Web 2.0 is the availability of horse race videos. In previous years, users had to buy tapes of horse races from catalogues or wait around all year for the Belmont or the Kentucky Derby. Today, Youtube has thousands of horse links available, connecting users to the latest races, both regional and national. When a rider uploads a personal horse video to Youtube, Youtube (and other video-sharing websites) displays a small thumbnail image which can link curious spectators to the real video when they click on them. These “video horse links” differ from broadcast TV horse videos because the spectator controls whether or not he or she wishes to watch the video horse links. With non-Tivo television, the action is live, and more difficult to control what evens you are watching. Video horse links can only be watched if the spectator clicks on the thumbnail, meaning that unlike traditional television, equestrian lovers don’t have to sit through horse events they don’t enjoy while waiting for one they do. Youtube also lists channels, where users can upload videos, then add tags to their video horse links. Whenever the channel administrator posts new video horse links to his or her channel, the subscribers are notified immediately. This allows the equestrian community instant access to personal and professional video horse links. These links can then be shared with horse fans on facebook, or by posting video horse links to equestrian social networking sites.
In addition to Youtube, community-specific websites are also popping up as a way of providing video horse links to the public. Horse and Country TV is one such example. Years ago you would have had to a) live in Britain and b) have Sky Satellite to enjoy the Horse and Country channel, which broadcasts national and international cups. Now by logging onto the show’s website, viewers can download video horse links like the FEI races, dressage competition, and equestrian-interest shows. European MPBtv offers the same solution to its FEI broadcasts: users can stream events live, or click on FEI horse links to download archival footage. The trend of television channels providing broadcasting content online isn’t of course limited to the equestrian world. What makes video horse links so revolutionary for horse lovers is that, compared to sitcoms, baseball, or doctor dramas, equestrian sport had comparatively sparse analog broadcasting. Digital horse links fill in the gaps left by broadcast TV.
Interestingly enough, the majority of online horse links don’t come from websites that act as the online arm of an analog network. Most websites which offer digital horse links are independent, with varying degrees of sophistication. If you check GoEquine.com’s list of equestrian blogs, for example, you’ll see the low-fi end of the spectrum when it comes to posting video horse links. These sites upload video horse links that they shoot themselves, often of their own horse, just to have bragging rights. At the same time the business of video horse links can be quite cutting edge. Last year marked the launch of Horse TV, an online-only website devoted to all things equine. Just like a regular TV station, Horse TV provides a variety of different shows and channels for viewers to choose from. Some horse links take you to a rodeo channel, other horse links let you download dressage competitions. Now for the first time, the equestrian community doesn’t have a problem getting a hold of equestrian footage—it has a problem deciding what to watch next!
