Reviewed On: 10/10/2008

Price/Period: $19.95/30 days



EquestrianCupid Members Area

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Reviewed by Cupids Reviews Staff

People who have horses in their lives are well aware of their majestic beauty. They also know the challenges of owning and caring for them. However, horses come with unique rewards. Try riding your dog through a meadow or getting your cat to barrel race. You’ll soon know what I mean. Equestrian Cupid is for people who share a common passion for horses. Unfortunately, its seemingly unique niche has not lead to it receiving many visitors of late.

Fate has not been any kinder to its limited amount of traffic since our last visit. At least, the few have not dwindled to fewer. It has simply maintained a minimal number of visitors. I'm not sure why. Hobbies prove the mainstay of many a lasting relationship. EquestrianCupid continues to have many options to select within your profile regarding what equestrian activities you like to do. You can also make finding a riding partner one of your aims.

"EquestrianCupid continues to have many options to select within your profile regarding what equestrian activities you like to do."

What may be knocking the horse out from under it are its limited local search options. You can only search to within 200 miles with a free membership. Even after you sign up to a premium subscription, results only narrow down to 50 miles. Such a radius might seem local enough if you live on a ranch in Montana. However, horse lovers live in more densely populated regions, too.

If that didn't already put enough of a hitch in you seeing how many folks live nearby before paying, the last login info is blocked until you pay. You're riding blind until you upgrade. You can't use the other profile details in a basic search either. EquestrianCupid says that it's about making friends, not just romantic connections. It would be nice if you could search for others looking for one or the other without paying first.

There are ways around the above problems. Repeating the same searches each day seems to order the results by closest and most recently logged in. That seems a bit annoying. You're getting the runaround just to have you pay for the same info you could get for free. You're merely paying for a more efficient and convenient way of getting it. At least replying to messages is free. You can also participate in some active forums without paying.

The site has a great idea for getting people together, and its concept attracted some interest in the very beginning. However, it hasn't grown in popularity since. If it wants to overcome the hurdle of limited traffic, it needs to saddle up and improve its basic searches. Sure, the site fills a special niche. However, Equestrian Cupid needs to loosen the reins on free access if it wants to outride the competition.

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User Rating 85/100

Comments by: Lu
I think it s a great idea but it s hampered, as mentioned, by the limited free searches and by the nature of distance between members. The chances of finding a close match with someone who lives close to you are very low. I prefer to chat via e-mail more but I think most people want a quick fix and don t respond to discussion topics well so it is very difficult to gauge what they are really like.

Ratings
Overall	47/100
Popularity	0/20
Local Search	0/15
Last Login	0/15
Free Contact	15/15
Profiles	10/10
Cost	7/10
Trust Rank	5/5
Chat Board	5/5
Instant Mes.	5/5
Rating Criteria