IntoEquus

Hello all -

As you’ve probably noticed, our news equestrian site, IntoEquus, is live. We spent many long nights during the weeks of May getting the site ready to be shown to you, and we’re proud that it’s finally up and running.

We’re also very excited about it. IntoEquus is essentially version 2 of our platform, with many improvements designed to simplify the lives of equestrians. In particular, we’ve got a lot more work done on keeping our homepage fresh & interesting – news, trainer tips, events, blog aggregation. We’ve also added some new sections, including a news & events page, tagging & videos associated with individual horses, and a combination slider/picker that lets you quickly browse the classifieds & member horses on the site.

We’re still hard at work at the next round of improvements, so hit the site and leave us some feedback in the feedback form or the forums! We’d love to hear your thoughts.

The Equestrian Site Is Getting Ready to Run

We’re Almost Ready to Run

The horse site launches June 1!

The launch version of the site will allow users to upload videos, browse classifieds, chat, and so much more. We are largely focused on sport and thoroughbred rescue horses but there will be a section for pleasure horses, too. Our engineers, Jeff and Kevin (who’s from a two horse family), will be adding new features to the site on an ongoing basis so any comments and feedback you have are appreciated.

Remember, the horse site is green but we’re eager to learn.

Welcome to Our Terrific Partners

We’ve recruited top experts in nearly all the sport areas, training, and rescue horses. Your help and enthusiasm has been fantastic.

To date, we are only missing partners in dressage and eventing so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Who You Are

All of our partners have many, many years working in the horse world. I’ll be using the blog to talk about each of you in turn. However, this month I thought I’d begin with our partners involved in the non-profit world.

Our Wonderful Rescue Partners

Melodee C. Shelley-Bolmgren runs Chez Chevaux in Washington. She’s spent 30 years working with horses and grew up in the racing world. She’s rescued some gorgeous ex-racers and you can see them at http://www.chezchevaux.org/. Melodee and Katie Merwick are working on a blog which will focus on the retraining of ex-racers and feature pictures and stories about these wonderful people and their horses.

Katie Merwick founded Second Chance Ranch which specializes in sport horse rehabilitation. She is an author, behaviorist and recipient of the American Red Cross “2000, Hero of the Year” award. She recently received a Special Achievement Award from Emerald Downs for her work with off the track Thoroughbreds. Katie has devoted more than 23 years of her life to animal welfare. Please visit her site at http://www.secondchanceranch.org/

Bill Inman Rides to Washington

Bill Inman and his horse, Blackie, are riding cross country to Washington. He has been featured in newspapers throughout the country.

Bill says “My goal is to uplift the American spirit, raise hope, encourage pride, a sense of adventure and resurrect our sense of unity. Don’t be afraid to look for opportunity in your community and in other places throughout our great nation! With determination and courage we can overcome adversity.”

You can see a recent article about Bill on CNN: http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/11/15/cross.countrycowboy.ap/index.html.

To hear about his fascinating trek or join him on his ride, go to  http://www.uncoveringamerica.com.

Horse of the Week

Katie Merwick shared this video of a thoroughbred who ran a valiant race, hanging back at the beginning and then blasting forward at the end to emerge the winner. His strategy and speed are breathtaking. Unfortunately, he had unseated his jockey at the beginning of the race and so was disqualified! You can see him run at http://www.assiniboiadowns.com/videos-rotw-050908.html .

Into Flight iPod Launch Contest

Hi all

We just launched our iPod contest! Over the next month, we’ll be giving away 6 ipods, in a variety of categories – best plane, best review, funniest video, as well as runner ups in each. This is your chance to get hooked up with the latest iPod Touch, nano or Classic – just for showing off about planes! So swing on by the contest page to get all the details – you don’t even have to fill out a form to be eligible, just add your favorites to the site and you’ll be automatically entered. Good luck!

::Kiskis::

Into Productions Launch Party Pics

As promised, I’ve uploaded some pics from the Into Productions Launch Party last week.

With ad:tech going on just down the block in San Francisco, we decided to hold a get together at the Sports Club/LA on Market St. Our technology partner Adify provides some space in their booth for their partners, including a fun raffle game, so we were hanging out there Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday afternoon we hit the conference to pick up some thoughts on there the overall ad network model is going (synopsis – lots of demand for affluent enthusiasts. Often from unexpected corners), and then set up shop over at Sports Club for demos, food, drinks and good conversation. We had a lot of fun showing off our first site, Into Flight, as well as chatting about our upcoming equestrian & classical sites. Lots of enthusiasm, lots of fun – we’ll definitely have to hold more events soon. If you’re around the San Francisco Bay area, leave a comment here and I’ll be sure to add you to our list!

::Kiskis::

The Information Manual

Our resident expert CFI, Jason Miler, has been working on a new podcast for Into Flight. The first episode just went live – you can check it out on The Information Manual page. We’ll also be adding in quick listening to our own Into Flight page.

The Information Manual is primarily designed to help give pilots the rundown on the key facts about various aircraft (kinda like Into Flight!) Whether you’re going for a checkride or exploring the newest aircraft on the market, our goal is keep you informed of the real story behind planes.

Have a listen; let us know what you think!

::Kiskis::

P.S. Jason’s an experienced podcaster; you can check out some of his other productions at The Finer Points and On The Flight Line.

Welcome to the Into Productions blog!

Into Productions isn’t a new company. This is just our new blog. I know, what new web startup doesn’t start with the blog first and product second? Hard to say. But we did.

We’ve actually been around for a couple months now. We’ve been working away on building out our first site, http://www.intoflight.com, which you can check out now. In fact, we’ll have some pictures from our launch party going up soon.

We’ll also be bringing you up to speed with why we have all decided to join the crazy ride that is Into. There must be some reason, something so compelling, that seemingly ordinary citizens would leave their lives behind to join us. Maybe it has to do with every one of us being enthusiasts about SOMETHING – planes, horses, music, whatever. And Into’s goal is to dramatically enhance the online experience for enthusiasts. Along the way we get to learn about and play around with some of the most fun hobbies known to the world. Getting down to an airport to fly is now “market research.” Rough life.

In any case, welcome – come back again soon! We’d love to have your feedback & thoughts at Into Flight and our other sites – after all, Into’s entire principle is opening these worlds up to YOU, the community.

See you soon.

::Kiskis::