Horsefeathers’ Guidelines
About Horsefeathers — Write For Us!
Submission guidelines & how to apply as a writer
Horsefeathers
Horsefeathers was founded around the desire to build a home for writers to share horse specific stories — that and making it easy for Medium readers readers to find said stories.
It aims to bring horse people, horse curious and horse doubtful alike together as we enjoy, debate, discuss and appreciate equines and the very unique horse world that has been built around them.
I’m Elle and I’m the pub’s founder. I’ve worked in the horse industry as a groom, exercise rider, barn manager and now, as the owner of my own farm where I raise, learn from and train horses. I have my fair share of horse stories to write but I’m very excited to read the horse stories of others, too.
So, why the name, “Horsefeathers”?
Horsefeathers, as a word, can either describe the ‘feathers’ certain breeds have cloaking their hooves or it can be used to describe something foolish or untrue.
I liked its double meaning.
Literal horse feathers are features related to horses that exist by fact.
Horsefeathers as a word to describe foolish or untrue things ties in an element of opinion as well as a need to source experiences and fact to support said opinion.
And “horse” being in the word describes the all-encompassing topic of the pub — horses!
I’m hoping this publication will have many stories based around each characteristic of the word — facts, well-supported opinions and fun horse stories.
Write For Us!
So you’ve read about Horsefeathers and want to be added as a writer?
Great!
Here are a few guidelines to consider as well as how to get added:
- Submissions should be about horses in some way, shape or form. I’m looking for any stories about personal experiences with horses, creative pieces like poetry or short stories, as well as tips and tricks from those currently immersed in the horse world as owners, riders or professionals.
Basically, any type of writing flies as long as it relates back to horses and is quality, original writing. All writers are welcome here — from die hard horse people to those who had a fleeting equine experience they’d like to chronicle.
2. If your aim is to write “How To” articles or give training, care or any type of advice impactful to the welfare of horses, you need to show that you have the knowledge and know-how to be doing so. The horse world is vast in its methods, techniques and beliefs; make sure you can back up your “How To’s” with first hand examples and experiences of your successes with said advice.
Long story short — if you talk the talk make sure you can walk the walk.
3. Editing is light here. I’ll read your submission and check for basic spelling, grammar and punctuation. That’s it — please be sure you‘re happy with your submission when you click submit.
I’m looking to create a pleasant experience for readers, so if your writing isn’t coherent or is riddled with errors, the submission won’t be accepted and I’ll leave a private note on your draft explaining why.
4. Please include at least one image. Make sure you have the rights to each photo you use. AI generated photos are alright as long as you cite them. I will expect images to be cited in the caption. Bonus points if you add ALT text to your images.
5. No AI writing whatsoever.
6. Writing submitted strictly to sell a product with no other added value, or words written strictly to market affiliate links won’t be accepted. I’m looking for high quality, personal writing and don’t want to hit readers with horse world marketing jargon.
A self promo link or two at the end is acceptable.
7. Cite your sources (via links to articles within your writing or at the end in a works cited list) if you’ve used knowledge that comes from outside of your personal equine knowledgebase. Horse science and behavior is an evolving branch of study. As with all other sciences, it’s so important to know where facts come from and which studies support them.
8. If you’d like your work to be featured in categories on the publication’s home page please be sure to tag your writing with one of, or multiple, of the following topics: horses, poetry, fiction, news, industry insights.
These are the topics I have set to list as categories. Feel free to mix and match other topics that fit your story as well.
A NOTE ON “INDUSTRY INSIGHTS” TOPIC TAGS:
If you are tagging your post with “Industry Insights” as a topic, this means you are (or have been) immersed in the horse industry as a competitor, owner, trainer, instructor etc — a professional, or being served by industry professionals and would like to give insightful looks into the horse industry.
Again, if you talk the talk, make sure you can walk the walk with personal experiences here.
That’s it!
Submission review will take a max of 72 hours. Bear with me — I do work at my barn during daytime hours (and often into the night), so correspondence may not be immediate :-)
Horsefeathers is new but if submissions are so many that I can’t keep up, I’ll open up a call for editors.
Get Added as a Writer
To write for Horsefeathers, please follow the publication and comment on this post that you’d like to be added. Include your Medium ID in the comment.
[This can be found on your profile. Mine is @ellemathens, for example]
I so look forward to reading your horse stories.
— Elle
If you have any questions please leave a comment here or if you’d prefer, e-mail me at ellemathens@yahoo.com
