Community Guidelines

1. Our Community

Pattern Pony exists to help riders, trainers, judges, and show organizers create and share quality patterns. We want the Platform to be useful, respectful, safe, and trustworthy — a place where knowledge is shared generously and members treat each other well. These Community Guidelines describe what we expect from everyone who uses Pattern Pony.

These Guidelines are incorporated into and enforceable under our Terms of Service. We may update them as the community grows.

2. Prohibited Conduct

Do not use the Platform to engage in, post, or promote:

• Harassment and abuse — harassment, threats, intimidation, bullying, or targeting of any person or group;
• Hate and discrimination — hateful conduct or content attacking people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or similar characteristics;
• Exploitation and violence — sexual exploitation of any kind (with zero tolerance for content sexualizing minors), or gratuitous graphic violence;
• Unlawful activity — any content or conduct that violates law, including fraud, scams, and deceptive practices;
• Spam and manipulation — spam, bulk unsolicited content, engagement manipulation, or deceptive behavior;
• Impersonation — impersonating any person, organization, or Pattern Pony personnel, or misrepresenting your identity or affiliation;
• Privacy violations — doxxing, publishing others' private information, or violating any person's privacy or publicity rights;
• Malicious content — malicious links, malware, phishing, or content designed to harm users or systems;
• Dangerous encouragement — encouraging or pressuring others to engage in dangerous, reckless, or unlawful conduct;
• Animal cruelty — content depicting, promoting, or glorifying cruelty to, abuse of, or intentional mistreatment of horses or other animals, or glorifying reckless handling of horses;
• Sexual content — sexually explicit content of any kind;
• False credentials — fraudulent claims of certifications, credentials, competition achievements, or organizational approval;
• Doping and cheating — content encouraging illegal drugging of horses, use of prohibited substances, or cheating in competition;
• Minors' information — using images or personal information of minors without appropriate permission; and
• Commercial spam — unsolicited commercial promotion, and repeated low-quality or duplicative Marketplace submissions.

3. Respect Intellectual Property

Only publish content you created or have the right to share. Do not post content that infringes anyone's copyright, trademark, publicity, privacy, or other rights. Copyright complaints are handled under our Copyright & DMCA Policy.

4. No Misleading Affiliation

Do not claim or imply affiliation with, sponsorship by, or endorsement from Pattern Pony, AQHA, APHA, Color Breed Congress, or any other organization, brand, event, facility, or public figure unless it is true and you are authorized to say so. You may reference organizations by name to accurately describe a pattern (for example, identifying the discipline or class type a pattern is designed for), but do not suggest the organization approved or endorsed your content.

5. Equestrian Safety

Patterns and instructions affect real horses and real riders. When you publish content:

• Do not present knowingly dangerous instructions as safe or appropriate;
• Do not encourage others to ignore professional guidance, facility rules, event rules, or governing-body requirements;
• Do not misrepresent that a pattern is certified, approved, or sanctioned when it is not; and
• Remember that every rider must evaluate arena conditions, equipment, horse, and rider ability before using any pattern — write your content accordingly.

6. Enforcement

We review reports individually and may also review content proactively. If content or conduct violates these Guidelines, the Terms of Service, or any other Policy — or otherwise harms the community, even if it does not fit a listed category — we may take any action we consider appropriate, in our discretion and subject to applicable law. Actions may include:

• warnings;
• editing, labeling, or reducing the visibility of content;
• unpublishing or removing content;
• restricting features;
• suspending or terminating Accounts;
• reporting to law enforcement or other authorities; and
• preserving evidence related to violations.

Enforcement depends on context, severity, history, available information, and risk, so similar reports may result in different actions. When we remove content, we generally notify the affected Member and may allow the Member to request review of the decision. We consider review requests case by case. We may withhold advance notice, details, or a review opportunity where reasonably necessary for legal compliance, privacy, security, fraud prevention, safety, or protection of the reporting person or others. Our decision after any review is final.

7. Reporting

If you see content or conduct that violates these Guidelines, use the in-product reporting tools or contact us at support@patternpony.com. We appreciate reports and review them, but we cannot respond individually to every report.

8. Questions

Questions about these Guidelines: support@patternpony.com.