My first computer was earned by painting a nudist family. Well, I WANTED that computer and I’d painted nude models in art school, so I did it. My second computer was more comfortably gotten by painting the seller’s mule. I didn’t know then how computers would wrap themselves around my horse life like a beautiful vine.

I use email to keep in touch with my horse portrait clients and to send layouts for paintings etc. In fact I will soon have my art on the cover of the Morgan Horse Association’s Directory. That was the result of an email communication when they looked at my website www.Elizabethcameron.com (which was created by Morgan horse breeder and friend Julie Heise).

But it turns out my computer is an unexpected Godsend right here at home in my neighborhood. Something special has taken root here. Telephone? Telegraph? Tell it to a tree? An “Etree” to be exact. (Think information branching out like the leaves on a tree.) I started it in my horse community last year. It has grown from that mustard seed into a big shiny oak!

You too may want to plant this new type of tree in y our area. It could save you time and energy in tracking down a load of hay, searching for a buddy to ride with, and maybe even save your horse’s tail!

Originally I had the idea that we could have more local trail rides if we knew who, what, when and where to meet. But who wants to make all those phone calls? And then more calls if the weather forces a cancellation? So I began collecting my neighbors email addresses.

The result is sort of a casual electronic newsletter. I ask people to email me their items so I can just cut and paste and then it’s not a full time job! Now I easily send out one a day. In winter it may only be once a week to tell where our local horsy sewing circle will gather, but I am amazed by it’s many uses: birth announcements (both human and equine!), thank you’s, and you name it.

I’ve used it to alert others to trail hazards and to spread the word to new riders in the area about NOT riding on the kennel club land. (Along with telling them they should use the farm field path to the west of it.) This is truly helpful because you can briefly explain things like the kennel club hosts coursing events and hoofprints may mean a speed hound’s shattered leg. No rider is singled out for blame and everyone realizes the dog people aren’t just "fussy".

I even put in a plug for kennel club membership since playing on their agility field setup is like a country club membership for your dog. All of this makes for great neighbors. We ride on a network of trails up here connected by 65+ private properties so being a good neighbor is critical to keeping the trails open.

Need another barn cat? I list rabbits for sale, trucks, horses, and even the occasional farm for sale or a place "with horse potential". It’s an easy way of helping this neighborhood grow as a horse community. I list anything that may be of interest to animal loving horse folks.

I used to write the newsletter for our local Caledonia Conservancy. I retired from that volunteer work due to my portrait schedule. The E-tree is now something I can do more quickly and still contribute to local conservation too. When the Electric Company threatened to "upgrade" the nearby coal plant to become the 6th largest in the country, I began to nudge my neighbors on the E-tree. What did they think of it? Wasn’t anyone else worried? I listed who to contact about it and what time the informational meetings were.

The Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in about the plant and the newspapers are full of it now, but I still list the protests etc. I try to keep it short, funny and friendly, and it gets the word out. A mix of topics attracts people and keeps them interested.

Some people print out the E-Tree and post it on their barn bulletin boards. Then their boarders know what’s going on locally in case they don’t have email.

For about 50 years now we’ve had a local hard riding group called "The Crazies". They used to meet on Sundays at 10 a.m. at King and Toni Ehrlich’s farm. King would give a toot on his hunt horn and off they’d go for a breathtaking round of jumps on the local lands.

King passed on to that great foxhunt in the sky but who could carry the crop forward? Everyone was busy with careers, families, divorces and some of us younger riders were finally building our own farms here. No one could host it like the Ehrlichs did. Enter the E-tree idea, and now we just check for weekly details of where and when to meet.

How can an E-Tree save your horses tail? This month I had a note from a concerned local and found yet another use for the tree. Suspicious vehicles had been roaming the area "looking at horses".

The police wanted to speak to them but by the time horse owners realized something was odd about the dark pickup with people photographing and asking questions about their horses, the truck was always gone. Could I put it on the E-tree? Sure I put out a neighborhood alert.

It turns out others had seen these people. Barns with horses near the road were visited most often. Someone called and said they had similar visits from a young gal five years ago. Shortly thereafter his wife went out to feed one morning and found their horses tails were missing. Cut clean right below the docks. They called the police. The police were skeptical until they showed them an article about tail thieves and how a horses tail can be worth big money.

Perhaps these new trespassers are innocent "horse fans", but perhaps some defenseless horse’s welfare is at stake. We’ve put the E-tree to work on it.

The E-Tree roots are spreading to neighboring states! Several Illinois people have said they like eavesdropping on the neighborhood! (Good, we can always use more horsepeople up here!)

I highly recommend sending out your E-Tree as blind copies. That way everyone’s addresses aren’t passed around or used for other things. I’ll tell you how it works on my Mac with Netscape:

I have a list in my address book called "Caledonia E-tree Riders". First I create a new message. I always give the name E-tree and list some topics in the subject line so people don’t think it’s spam.

Example: "Subject: E-Tree: Truck4sale, Sunday Ride, Lost Cat". Next I select and drag the list name "Caledonia Etree Riders" over to the address part of the message. Then I click on the pull down tab where it says "TO", and change it to "BCC" which stands for blind carbon copy. (I admit I’m not foolproof and live in fear of forgetting to send it out this way!)

I also keep an electronic post it note on my computer desktop to collect items to send out. When I get an item emailed from someone I just cut and paste it in there. I gather 4 or 5 at a time so I don’t send too many emails since some people get them at work. I also don’t include photos as it’s time consuming to download. They can contact the sender of that item if they want to see a photo or get more information. I always put a "contact so and so" by each item so I don’t get phone calls.

Number the items and give short titles so they don’t run together. Example… Dear Caledonia E-ree Riders:

1.) Torn Limb from Limb and Glad of it!
We can all thank the Caledonia Conservancy trail committee for getting rid of the big fallen tree that was blocking the river trail last week. If you’d like to make a donation contact Sandy DeWalt at bntyhntr@execpc.com

2.) VERY "Vegas" Looking for a neat dog item source? My standard poodle Karma looks stunning on the farm in his new rhinestone collar from Morrco.com Yes it’s silly but I plan to find a matching brow band for my Morgan mare. I also have added a disclaimer to each E-tree to explain it and train any new E-tree recipients not to call me with their items…

Libby's Editorial Notes: The Caledonia Riders E-tree (think information branching out via Email), is something I started last year as a volunteer service for the local horse neighborhood. If you know someone who'd like to receive these emails (usually a few times a week), send me their names as well as their email address. It reaches over 100 so far, some friends in Illinois too who enjoy eavesdropping on the neighborhood and haven't moved up here yet!

I do take names off the tree list, if your mailbox is full or cancelled and too many return. If you stop getting the E-tree just send your new address and know it wasn't personal! If you have local news, something to sell, want trailering, farm sitting, boarding, have club events, know of trail hazards, or are hosting a group ride etc., just email a short description (use regular email body copy, no attachments or fliers please) and I'll be glad to post it! (I prefer emails about all this rather than phone calls!)

If you write it so I can just cut and paste it in, there's fewer mistakes and it doesn't turn into a full time job. You need to say who and how to contact about it right in with your item so I don't have the opportunity to mess that up! Please make it a short paragraph summarizing what you need/want to say so I am not sifting through forwarded stuff since that takes away from my 'real' job. I do edit some when needed. I try not to send photos since many people get this at work, but you can surely tell them to contact you to see any.

If you have a horse life/care question, are wondering when to mow your pastures etc. you can just send an item for the E-tree requesting E-pen pals to discuss it. I appreciate feedback when the E-tree has been a help. Otherwise I send it out into the void and wonder if it is useful. My intent is for the information distributed to entertain and/or be a help to our horse loving community. I make no guarantees as to the truth (or consequences!) of any of this stuff; I'm just the messenger.

Happy Trails, Libby www.Elizabethcameron.com

PHOTO CAPTION: ©Elizabeth Cameron 2003. “Libby’s Morgan mare Roy-el’s Faerietale with crab tree.”