A Horse of Course Exchange

Welcome to the second edition of A Horse of Course Exchange! I've joined forces with dotytakethisdown this year to bring you this as a full exchange!

This is a multifandom exchange centered around horses. Actual horses and horsemanship, sentient horses, characters transformed into horses, horse-adjacent magical critters (kelpies, centaurs, pegasus, unicorns, etc.) and pony play are all welcome! Seahorses are not horses but hippocampi count.

2025 Schedule:
All times are in US Eastern Daylight time (UTC−04:00) at 11:59PM unless otherwise specified.

Nominations open: April 26th
Nominations close: May 3rd
Tagset cleanup: May 4th and 5th
Sign-ups open: May 6th 12:00 AM (Night of the 5th)
Sign-ups close: May 13th
Assignments out: Within 48 hours of sign-ups closing
Assignments due: June 10th
Works revealed: June 17th (work reveals may be delayed by a few days to accommodate emergency pinch hits)
Creators revealed: June 24th 12:00 AM (Night of the 23rd)

Mod Email: doty.mods.ex@gmail.com

Collection | Tag Set | Automagic Link (Soon!)

Nominations

1. Relationships should be nominated in alphabetical order and disambiguated. i.e. Castiel/Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
2. Solo characters should be nominated as Solo: Character (Fandom). i.e. Solo: James Kirk (Star Trek)
3. Character and relationships nominations should not include modifier tags. i.e. No Centaur!Sherlock/Centaur Sherlock - just "Sherlock Holmes."
4. Freeforms must be horse, horsemanship, equestrianism, fantasy horse-or-adjacent, pony play, or horse hobby related.
5. Fandom-specific freeforms are allowed, but must disambiguate the fandom at the beginning. i.e. Supernatural - Dean Winchester is a centaur.
6. Creator's Choice of Fandom, Original Works, and Crossover Fandom are all allowed. Crossovers should be nominated under Crossover Fandom and characters must be disambiguated. i.e. Castiel (Supernatural)/Spock (Star Trek)
7. AMT fandoms are permissible and can be nominated as-is or as individual fandoms.

As an example, the following nominations will be rejected or edited to fit formatting requirements:

Centaur!Castiel/Dean Winchester (Supernatural) - Will be rejected due to modifier tag "Centaur!"
Dean Winchester/Castiel - Will be edited to "Castiel/Dean Winchester (Supernatural)"
Spock/Kirk - Will be edited to "James Kirk/Spock (Star Trek)" or to whatever specific fandom it is nominated under.
Sherlock is a centaur captured by Watson - Will be rejected due to lack of fandom disambiguation.

Mods may edit other nominations as needed to prevent tags wandering or otherwise breaking in the tagset.

Sign-Ups

1. You must request at least 3 unique fandoms with at least 1 relationship (or solo character tag) and 1 freeform each.
2. You must offer at least two unique fandoms with at least 1 relationship (or solo character tag) and 1 freeform each.
3. Only DNWs included in the AO3 sign up will be enforced. Mods will not pre-check gifts for DNWs.
4. Letters or additional details such as likes are optional, but encouraged!
5. Well behaved sock accounts are allowed.
6. Opt-IN is encouraged for sexual/kinky content such as pony play or beastiality.
7. Your email must be reachable and you must be comfortable sharing it with the mods so that we can contact you about the exchange!

Matching

1. Matching is done on 1 fandom, 1 character or relationship, and 1 freeform.
2. If you are not matchable, you will be contacted via email to add offers/requests as needed. If you do not add these within 48 hours, your sign up will be deleted.

Assignments

1. Minimums are 1,000 words for fic or clean lineart on unlined paper for art (or digital equivalent.)
2. Fic must be standalone (not part of an existing series), unique (not an existing WIP), and complete (not a new WIP or part of a new series.)
3. Fills must contain at least one relationship or character and at least one freeform in the recipient's request and respect their DNWs.
4. AI generated or assisted works are not permitted.
5. Pinch hits will be posted here and on the EAD discord.
6. All participants are guaranteed a gift. Work reveals can be delayed to a later date to accommodate PDPHs.
7. Authors must not reveal any social media or chat platform handles during the anonymous period.

Treats

1. There are no minimums for treats and you do not have to be signed up to submit one.
2. Treats must respect their recipient's DNWs.
3. Treats are considered opt-out so be sure to include that in your sign-up if you do not want treats. Newer AO3 accounts disallow treats by default, so be sure to check your settings if you don't opt-out!
4. Treats to the collection are allowed, and should be noted as such in the authors note! Alternatively, you can gift collection treats to the account "SockForPinchHits."