TheHorse.com Freelance Information

The Horse prefers “how-tos,” technical topics, and topical interviews intended to inform horse owners. It accepts no first-person experiences except from veterinary professionals or unless assigned as such.

Ideally, clips (writing samples) should show an ability to organize technical information to maximize the understanding and education of the reader, as well as a smooth, correct writing style.

If you have a specific article topic in mind for a query, save yourself some trouble by first searching the site to make sure we have not done an article on the topic recently.

Articles range from short news items at 250 words to 1,800 word cover stories; payments vary depending on article length.

If you are submitting photos with a manuscript, please do not send original prints. The Horse is not responsible for unsolicited, lost, or damaged images. Please see the complete Photography Guidelines in the next tab.

Professional Relationship

• Please hit your assigned word counts as closely as possible. Plus or minus 50 words is no big deal, but 800-1,000 words over or under either presents us with some major challenges in fitting articles, photos, and ads together cleanly. If you need more or less room, please let us know ahead of time and we’ll see if we can accommodate the space request.
• Please get your articles in on time.
• If you are having trouble with a technical study source or some other piece of technical information, ask for help! Don’t wing it. If the author of the study can’t help you, contact us and we will try to suggest a good person to clarify the information. If you aren’t clear on the implications of a piece of research, chances are good that the reader won’t be either.
• Make sure that the sources you use see the article before you send it to us. This is a very important step to make sure that all of your information is correct before sending it to us for publication.

Content Suggestions

• We tend to drop a reasonable amount of subheads into most articles that don’t have them, in order to break the material into cohesive sections and give the reader a road map of the article’s content. You are the best judge of when and where to put them in your story, but please keep them in mind as they really do help the reader.
• Make sure your article flows and is a clean read that is targeted to an owner that cares for his/her own horses.
• When working with research information, please don’t extrapolate the results of a study on a few horses to the entire horse population. Also, allow researchers to give you their take-home for horse owners in their own words.
• The lead is what draws the reader into the story, so make sure your lead tells every reader why they should be interested in this article. For example, explain to the reader who has never seen a rabies case why he/she should read this article on rabies. Perhaps rabies cases are increasing. Perhaps it can lie dormant in an area for a long time and then break out again. Use whatever works and is accurate.
• Along those lines, please conclude your articles with the take-home message.
• We try very hard to educate the readers and give them references for further information if they’re interested. If you used any written or online sources that were particularly helpful in understanding your topic, let us know so that we can list them as further reading. Previously published articles in The Horse are often useful in this capacity as well.

Number Styles

• Write out numbers one through nine and use numerals for 10 and up unless it’s a measured quantity, percentage, or decimal. These are always numerals.
• Write out any number at the beginning of a sentence. If it’s a really long one like five thousand three hundred eighty-seven and sixteen one-hundredths, rearrange the sentence. Fractions as measurements are always numerals. Fractions in text that aren’t precise measurements (ex. “xyz compound makes up about one-third of the blood volume”) should be written out.
• In a range of numbers, use a dash in between and the units only after the last one (ex. 5-7%, 10-12 inches).
• Units of measurement: write them out unless they’re less commonly used ones (such as microliters), when we write it out the first time with the abbreviation following parenthetically. After the first reference, use the abbreviation.
• Write out cubic and square measurements.
• Numbers as measurements are always numerals.
• Numbers in series (ex. one to 12 horses) should follow the style rules above; don’t change the written out one above just because it’s in series.
• Use comma separator for numbers 4 digits and larger (1,000).
• Phone numbers: 111/222-3333.
• Temperatures: use numerals for the amount, the degree sign (option-shift-8 on a Mac) and use a one-letter scale reference with no space in between (ex. 58°F).
• Ages: use numerals (2-year-old)

Other Style Notes

• Horses are “thats” or “whiches” unless they’re named, at which point they become “whos.” When referred to with pronouns, they should be “hes” unless female gender has been specified. They should not be “its.”
• Don’t use “may”; use might, could, or can.
• Italicize publications, Latin critter names, in vitro and in vivo.
• Decks–Make sure you have one that’s fairly short.
• Tenses: In news items, quote sources in the past tense. “John Doe, DVM, said,…” In articles, quote them in the present tense. “John Doe, DVM, says,…” This conveys a timelessness to the information.
• Time of day: 8:30 a.m. (with periods).
• When citing a reference in text, follow this style:
  • “…For more information on EPM, see “EPM Update” in the December 2010 issue of The Horse, TheHorse.com/xxxx.”
  • Or: “…bla bla bla has been proven about EPM (see “EPM Update” in the December 2010 issue of The Horse, TheHorse.com/xxxx).
• Websites should start with www, not http://, unless there is no www. TheHorse.com does not need “www.”
• Degrees: Do not refer to sources as Dr. So-and-so; follow names with correct degrees and current title (John Doe, DVM, PhD, a professor of xxxx at xxxx University).

References

References: don’t use any “p”s to refer to page numbers, just leave the numbers standing alone. Use body copy style. To cite The Horse articles:

Hall, T. Fitting For Public Auction. The Horse, May 1998, 37-42. TheHorse.com/2953.

A magazine article example:

Adebowale, A.; Cox, D.; Liang, Z.; Eddington, N.D. Analysis of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate content in marketed products and the Caco-2 permeability of chondroitin sulfate raw materials. Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association, Vol. 3, No. 1, 37-44, 2000.

Book example:

Toby, Milton C. The Complete Equine Legal & Business Handbook. Lexington: Blood-Horse Publications, Inc.

Edited books:

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square-Pocket, 1992.

Tannen, Deborah, ed. Gender and Conversational Interaction. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.

Alphabetical Style Guide

A Few Veterinary Degrees (Alphavet Soup)

List courtesy Roberta Dwyer, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVPM

• BVSc or MVB–Bachelor of Veterinary Science
• DVM–Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
• FRCVS–Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
• MRCVS–Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
• MS or MSc–Masters of Science
• PhD–Doctor of Philosophy
• VMD–Veterinary Medical Doctor (University of Pennsylvania)

SPECIALTY BOARDS RECOGNIZED BY THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE: (STYLE: DIPL. ACVA)

• ACVA–American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists
• ACVB–American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
• ACVCP–American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology
• AVDC–American Veterinary Dental College
• ACVD–American College of Veterinary Dermatology
• ACVECC–American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care
• ACVIM–American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
• ACLAM–American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine
• ACVM–American College of Veterinary Microbiologists
• ACVN–American College of Veterinary Nutrition
• ACVO–American College of Veterinary Opthalmologists
• ACVP–American College of Veterinary Pathologists
• ACPV–American College of Poultry Veterinarians
• ABVP–American Board of Veterinary Practitioners
• ACVPM–American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine
• ACVR–American College of Veterinary Radiology
• ACVS–American College of Veterinary Surgeons
• ACT–American College of Theriogenologists (reproduction)
• ABVT–American Board of Veterinary Toxicology
• ACZM–American College of Zoological Medicine