2026 Rules and Schedule

[dotytakethisdown]

It's the year of the Fire Horse and A Horse of Course exchange is back! 

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! 

2026 Schedule:
All times are 11:59AM EST, also known as noon my time. 

Nominations open: May 2
Nominations close: May 10
Sign-ups open: May 11
Sign-ups close: May 18
Assignments out: Within 48 hours of sign-ups closing
Assignments due: June 8
Works revealed: June 15
Creators revealed: June 22

Please be aware that reveal dates are subject to delays if necessary for post-deadline pinch hits. 

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

Collection | Tag Set | Automagic Link [TBD]

Nominations

**Nominations that do not comply with the below rules will be rejected without query. Rejected noms are NOT cleared from your submissions. Those slots will be gone.** Mods may edit nominations as needed to prevent tags wandering or otherwise breaking in the tagset. Nominations with diacritics will not be rejected outright, but it is deeply preferable that nominations be submitted without them. 

Relationships must have: 
- Character names in alphabetical order
- Disambiguation
- No modifier tags 
- Gender preference if applicable and desired  

Solo characters are acceptable if nominated as Solo: Character (Fandom). 

Creator's Choice of Fandom, Original Work, and Crossover Fandom are all allowed. Crossovers must be nominated under Crossover Fandom and each character must have disambiguation. AMT fandoms are permissible and can be nominated as-is or as individual fandoms. 

WILL BE ACCEPTED: 

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (Stranger Things)
Fenris/Male Hawke (Dragon Age)
Solo: Aziraphale (Good Omens)
Aziraphale (Good Omens) & Castiel (Supernatural)

WILL BE REJECTED: 

Xenk Yendar/Edgin Darvis (DDHAT)
Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer
Roy Mustang (FMA)
Steve Rogers/Centaur!Tony Stark (MCU)
Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne

Freeforms must be: 
- Horse, horsemanship, equestrianism, fantasy horse, pony play, or horse hobby related
- Nominations that do not clearly fit the theme will be rejected without query
- Fandom-specific freeforms are permitted, but must have the fandom at the beginning of the tag 
- No quotation marks and no full sentences 
- Capitalize the first letter in the tag 
- For the sake of tag set organization and also my sanity, general tags must have a category prefix. Acceptable categories for this year are as follows: 

Equestrian: Anything to do with professional riding, horse sports, and relevant AUs
    - Character A is a professional horse trainer
    - Characters A and B are rivals at Road to the Horse 
    - Show Jumping AU
    - Jockey AU
Horsemanship: Anything to do with casual horse ownership and care
    - Brushing a horse 
    - Sitting in a pasture with a horse
    - Going for a trail ride
Horse Character: A requested character is a horse or transforms into a horse (willingly or not)
    - Character A is polymorphed into a horse
    - Character is a horse shapeshifter 
    - All characters are sentient horses 
Kink: Anything with pony play or other relevant kinks
    - Tail butt plug 
    - Character A makes Characters B and C race
    - Horse mask during sex 
Fantasy: Anything with mythological or fantastical horses 
    - Character A is a unicorn 
    - Pegasus breeding ranch AU
    - All characters are centaurs 
    - Interaction with a unicorn reveals Character A is a virgin 
Art: Any freeform that would be specific to fanart 
    - Character A drawn as a horse
    - Lisa Frank art style 
Other: A catch-all for anything that doesn't fall under previous categories 
    - Character A collects model horses 

WILL BE ACCEPTED: 

Fantasy - Character is a unicorn 
Horsemanship - Relaxing simplicity of cleaning stalls 
Horse Character - Character is cursed to turn into a horse at night
MCU - Tony Stark is a centaur 
Heartland - Amy's mother lives AU

WILL BE REJECTED: 
"You're hung like a horse" 
Han Solo as a cowboy 
everyone is a horse 
Breeding Kink

Sign-Ups

• You must request at least 3 unique fandoms with at least 1 relationship (or solo character tag) and 1 freeform each.
• You must offer at least two unique fandoms with at least 1 relationship (or solo character tag) and 1 freeform each.
• Only DNWs included in the AO3 sign up will be enforced. Mods will not pre-check gifts for DNWs.
• Optional Details will be a REQUIRED field and you must provide DNWs. If there is genuinely nothing you wouldn't want to receive in a gift, it is perfectly fine to put "No DNWs."
• Letters or additional details such as likes are optional, but encouraged!
• Well behaved sock accounts are allowed.
• Opt-IN is encouraged for sexual/kinky content such as pony play or beastiality.
• 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

• Matching is done on 1 fandom, 1 character or relationship, and 1 freeform.
• 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

• Minimums are 1,000 words for fic or clean lineart on unlined paper for art (or digital equivalent.)
• 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.)
• Fills must contain at least one relationship or character and at least one freeform in the recipient's request and respect their DNWs.
• AI generated or assisted works are not permitted.
• Pinch hits will be posted here and on the EAD discord.
• All participants requesting at least three fandoms are guaranteed a gift. Work reveals can be delayed to a later date to accommodate PDPHs.
• Authors must not reveal any social media or chat platform handles during the anonymous period.

Treats

• There are no minimums for treats and you do not have to be signed up to submit one.
• Treats must respect their recipient's DNWs.
• 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!
• Treats to the collection are allowed, and should be noted as such in the authors note so it's clear a recipient wasn't left off by mistake.