Horseland was an online community and browser game where members took care of, bred, trained and showed horses and dogs.

Begun in 1994[1] in the United States, Horseland had grown to have more than 8 million[2] users who played from all over the world.

In September 2006, an animated cartoon series based on the website was launched in the United States.

The original website featured bulletin boards and forums where members discussed their love of horses and participated in horse-themed role playing games.

The Horseland game featured the ability to create, own and train virtual horses that players could care for and compete with in online shows.

As the popularity of the game grew, the interest in Horseland spawned a new Junior Version, and later, a series of cartoons and short novels.

In 2006, Horseland LLC partnered with DIC Entertainment to produce a cartoon based on the website.

[4] On October 28, 2008, Horseland released a revamped website that included an interactive 3D world with customizable horses and avatars.

A 3D interactive world was introduced that allowed players to ride their horses and chat with other people.

Horseland also offered a "Premium Membership" which unlocked exclusive features in the game, such as owning a boarding stable where other players could pay to keep their horses.

[5] The revamped game was met with criticism from longtime players and membership appeared to decline steadily.

Players could visit their horse in its stall, and care for it in a variety of ways (shown in the image on the right).

The horse needed to be fed daily, exercised regularly, seen by a veterinarian and farrier, and fitted with tack.

Junior accounts were COPPA compliant and could not send or receive private messages or chat freely.

If a player had the money to, they could customize their horses and avatar with a variety of clothing and tack, which could be purchased from the store.

The "Horseland Outfitters" shop sold tack and clothing to customize player and horse avatars.

Also, shops sold food for the animals at a cost of 95 coins per bag of feed, which contained 100 daily servings.

While there was no single point goal for their animals, the players were restricted by the trainable lifespan of their horses and dogs.

Most players did not retire their animals, as it created "broken lines" where the horses' or dogs' records were wiped off the Horseland database and could not be seen again.

Horses could pass a portion of their earned points to their offspring if they bred before reaching retirement age, and thus an evolving system of gameplay continued through the lineage of the animals that players foster d and maintained.

The player maneuvered the horse around a jumping course using the arrow keys and space bar.

One training ticket gave a horse or dog 30 points without it affecting the animal's health.

Layouts required knowledge of HTML and photo manipulation, often resulting in large sums of money being paid to the graphic maker.

The economic system in Horseland evolved into a free, open market by players, originally beginning with the buying and selling of horses and items included by the Horseland game system and eventually including services offered by the players themselves, such as homepage design and artwork.

Premium Players were given a weekly income of 3,500 Coins and access to exclusive features like forum avatars & signatures, featured listings in search results, dog training tickets, themed jumping shows, and the previously standard 100 classes/show.

[8] Though the game itself required players to purchase automated services, such as veterinary visits to maintain the health of their animals.

Elective services, such as the boarding of animals in privately owned stables and kennels, were handled by the players themselves.

"Professional" (aka “pro”) photographs and illustrations for horses and dogs were also exchanged between players.