Here I'm going to provide reviews of a few dating sites that I've actually joined and tried and will give my own personal opinions of what I thought of each site. Now these are just my opinions and yours may differ, so check them all out for yourself.
EquestrianCupid.com
The name pretty much tells you what and who the site is for ... horse people seeking love! The site appears to have a large number of members, however I found the vast majority don't have a "Gold Membership" which could partly be because of their rather steep prices.1 month for $29.95
3 months for $59.95
6 months for $95.95
12 months for $143.95
Most of their activity seems to be in their blogs because it's one of the few things free members can do.
I personally found the site's navigation clumsy and not very user friendly. It seems every time you click a link whether it's in search results or in a profile it opens up in a new window and before long you have a bunch of windows or tabs open, I found this real annoying and often gets you confused and lost.
They appear to have quite a few features, some good, others are a tad weak and clumsy to use. However, I didn't get to try many features as it's really restricted what you can do with a basic free membership. You can't even view a member's photo gallery, it keeps bouncing you to a page prompting you to upgrade to buy a gold membership. Now, I totally understand sites restricting free members from sending messages or even making posts on the site as this is a good means in keeping the spammers and scammers from pulling their crap, and is one of the advantages of joining a niche pay site, but they take it a bit too far and it almost makes you feel like they're being a bit too eager and pushy in trying to get you to whip out your wallet.
Like I said, they do appear to have a large database of members, however this is because they are a network of affiliate sites that share their databases. RiderCupid.com, RiderLove.com RiderMate.com, and HorseMatch.com are all affiliates of EquestrianCupid.com, which I personally find a bit deceptive. Some of the marketing tactics are bit questionable and almost offensive, there's a bunch of video ads for RiderMate.com on YouTube which seem more like ads for a porn site rather than a dating site for down to earth country people, here's just a few examples ...
RiderMate Video 1
RiderMater Video 2
RiderMate Video 3
RiderMate Video 4
FarmersOnly.com
Farmers Only is another major player in the country dating niche market, with a good number of active members. Upon first arriving at the site, the overall aesthetics and appearance of the site's design isn't very appealing and seems a tad amateurish, and it's not as feature rich compared to other sites in this class. The features are pretty basic and typical of what you find on most generic dating sites. Although everything is fairly straight forward and easy to use and navigation is user friendly enough. The registration process is a tad lengthy, mostly because you're not prepared for all the questions and fields you have to fill out just to sign up. Personally I would prefer they shortened the sign up process and let the user fill in the more complex fields later on at their own leisure as some of them require time to think over.
Membership prices are a bit hard to find before signing up, but their prices are actually fairly reasonable.
1 Month $15.95
3 Months $29.95
6 Months $45.95
12 Months $59.95
If you prefer simplicity over aesthetics or features, and you're only interested in nothing more than searching profiles to find romance with country people, then Farmers Only is certainly worth checking out. They also have a free 3 day trial premium membership when you join which gives you the opportunity to evaluate the site before deciding to pay. Site is very basic but it's run above board, I didn't experience any real annoyances or deceptive tactics or trickery.
EquestrianSingles.com
They are one of the first original dating sites for equestrian singles and have developed a solid following over the years.The site has a basic clean appearance and is fairly straight forward and easy to navigate and use. However, some of their technology and features appear to be a tad out dated. The member photo galleries is one feature that fell short for me, the large pop views are all pretty small and there's no thumbnail views to click to view the larger version, just text links that say photo 1, photo 2, etc.
Being a pay site I didn't really like all the advertising on the site, typically you only find ads being pushed at you on free sites.
Their prices are very reasonable, they advertise deals such as summer specials, although I've noticed they've been offering the exact same price deal continuously now for at least the last several years.
1 Month $19.95
3 Months (+ 3 Free Months) $29.95
6 Months(+ 6 Free Months) $39.95
Nothing real special as far as aesthetics or features go, but the site is fairly popular with an active member base, and overall the site has a decent layout making it easy to find your way around.
TheHitchingPost.net
This is a recent player to the scene. It's more of a hybrid dating and social networking site for cowboys, horse people, and country folks in general. In other words it's for anyone interested in horses or the country lifestyle regardless of marital status.I found the layout and cowboy western theme appealing, and it's also very user friendly. It's a fairly robust site compared to the others, but once you get oriented you'll find it quite easy to navigate your way around and figure out how to use most of the features. There are help buttons strategically placed throughout various sections of the site that provides explanations, tips or instructions.
Photos can be public or private, private photos are only viewable to those you've added to your friends list, with optional photo rating and commenting.
The ability to save "multiple" custom searches I found to be nice feature. Most sites only allows you to save one default search based on the criteria you choose. Once you have saved searches, your selections are added to a menu box so they are readily available on both your home page and search result pages.
There's a "Top Friends List" on your home page which is handy feature and something you normally only see on large Social Networking sites. You can sort your friends and the top 10 are added to the list on your home page which also includes links to send them a message or a howdy. Howdy messages are similar to pre-formatted flirts or ice-breakers, which includes text and images.
You can include a Playlist.com music player in your profile which also shows up in the entertainment section of your home page so you have easy access to it as well. Country music fans will enjoy this site, besides the music playlist there's streaming radio, tons of music videos, country news, as well as a decent selection of wallpapers of music stars.
If zodiac compatibility is your thing they also have this integrated into the profiles. The system auto pairs members as you browse profiles. This appears to be a unique feature as I've never seen anything quite like it on any other site. Each pairing has a meter rating as well as a detailed reading.
Besides Blogs, there's also sections where members submit and share their favorite recipes and horse tips. The site provides quite a variety of things to do besides just browsing profiles.
The only criticism and downside I found is it's lack of members, but hopefully this will change over time as I feel it has the potential of being one of the top sites in this niche market. Right now they're offering free one year premium memberships, and all you have to do is upload and include at least one photo in your profile. Even if you decide to join one of the other sites it would be worth signing up to this one as well since it's not going to cost you anything. I personally like this site and hope it succeeds in getting more members TheHitchingPost.net
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