Welcome to the second edition of 'The Joy of Horses'. We are very pleased to announce that we are able to offer you the opportunity to browse the magazine at your leisure offline - a fact which should please our UK based readers who do not have the benefit of free local calls... you can of course also print out parts of the magazine which particularly interest you. Please do so and show your friends!

We welcome your input about the style and content of the magazine and since I believe that everyone has a worthwhile story to tell, we would really like to hear about your experiences with horses... any article published will automatically be entered in our Writer of the Year competition, so it could be worthwhile spending an hour or so drafting something out.

I would especially like to draw your attention to the wonderful exhibition opening at the National Horse Racing Museum on 24 July '98 (see the Diary Section for full information) since this is a rare opportunity to see a collection of Sir Alfred Munning's paintings belonging to the Turf Club at Santa Anita and should not be missed by those with an interest in horses and art. Stubb's painting of Whistle jacket is also on view and if you have never seen this picture do make a special effort to visit the exhibition. It is life-size and simply stunning - one of Stubb's really great masterpieces.

Finally, there are many facets and areas of equine interest which we have yet to develop in this magazine. The scope is huge, the potential virtually limitless, so if you can help us 'bridge a gap' in any way, we would be delighted to hear from you - wherever you are...

Sue Wingate