This message is from: Steve McIlree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> March 29, 1998, the very first message was posted to the brand new FjordHorse mailing list. The message was from a teenage girl from Kansas, who had just met Tank at the Kansas Horse Expo. Although she is no longer on the list, there are quite a few familiar names who posted messages the second day. When I review the names of the people who subscribed the first and second days, I'm amazed to see how many folks have been around and active since the beginning.
In the first 24 hours, we had 16 subscribers in 5 countries. In the past year, the list has grown to nearly 250 people from 14 countries. There have been 4935 messages exchanged on the list since that first one. The most messages in a single month came in the doldrums of Winter with 617 messages last December. This past year has seen the exchange of some very good information between Fjord fanciers with many degrees of experience. Hopefully, the list has become a tool for communication amongst the scattered lovers of the breed. And hopefully, having an open channel of communication will help solidify the efforts of all of us to improve the future of the Fjord horse in North America. There have also been some moments of contention among members. Some members have expressed dismay at the contention and some have even left the list because of it. I have tried to let things work out without intervention, because when I view the disagreements on this list against those I see on other breed-oriented lists to which I belong, we're extremely civil. The other most common objection I hear from people who unsubscribe from the list is that many of the messages are best left to private email. Although I think that this has improved in the past several weeks, I will throw this out as a reminder that the "I agree" or "Me too" message is best sent privately. I'll close this message by quoting from the "Welcome message": > View the list as an opportunity to sit around the kitchen table with > friends and discuss Fjord horses over a pot of good coffee. Good luck to all and their horses in the coming year!! -- Steve McIlree & Cynthia Madden -- Pferd, Keyah, Skipper, Tank -- Omaha, Nebraska, USA No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle. --Winston Churchill
