A few years ago a friend recommended a local a web site to me. “It’s great,” she said. “You should check it out.”

“Yeah?” I replied. “What’s on it?”

“Everything.”

She wasn’t kidding.

The web site, www.wellington-wef.com, is based in Wellington and run by stable owner and trainer Jill Townsend and Dominique Coffman. Although the main focus of the web site is all things equestrian, unrelated local topics often turn up, including questions about local matters such as changes to the Solid Waste Authority’s policies on trash pickup, alerts about dogs available in the pound, people seeking advice about bothersome tenants, house cleaners looking for clients, chickens looking for new homes, and notices of upcoming yard sales. It promotes the whole Wellington community.

Coffman moved to Wellington from California about six years ago. She’d had horses as a kid, but then life and a family came along and the horses sort of fell away. After she moved to Wellington, the itch to ride returned.

“I saw horses here every day,” Coffman said. “Every time I went out or drove anywhere, there were horses. I knew it was time to get back into them.”

Coffman’s two children don’t ride. Her daughter did take a few lessons, but then lost interest. Coffman, however, stuck with it. She now owns a horse she just rides for pleasure and is doing some lower-level dressage training — not for shows, she’s quick to say, but just for trail riding and fun.

“Brego is an eight-year-old Paint, and I call him my little pony, because he’s a small horse, just 15.2 hands,” Coffman said. “I’ve had him three years. He had a lot of issues when I got him, but he’s better now. He’s my pet.”

About two years ago she discovered the Wellington-WEF site and got in touch with Jill. She began helping out with the site, and eventually became the message board’s moderator.

“I really liked this site,” she said. “It was popular and doing well, a well-run site, and a great resource for the community.”

Coffman loves working on the site. She said it’s easy to do and is a great way to work from home while her two children are in school. The popularity of the site has grown tremendously, mainly through word of mouth, and it now gets over two million hits each month. She updates the site daily, typically spending a few hours each day reading each new post to make sure everything’s on the up and up.

The site allows members to join and post for free. The site’s revenue comes from the ads placed for businesses, real estate for sale, horses for sale, local farms, and trainers. Members can post an ad about anything, including horses, services and items for sale or wanted, but they can only post once about each topic.

“I like that the site is often used to help out good causes,” Coffman said. “Sometimes people need help, especially in this economy. There are frequent posts about free dogs and free horses, because people have fallen on hard times financially. It’s very informative about a wide range of topics that people need to be aware of.”

For example, during a recent recall of horse feed, members posted up-to-the minute information on which lot numbers were included in the recall. This was really important to know, and potentially life-saving information for many horse owners.

The horse-related topics on the board encompass a wide range of subjects. There are show results, upcoming show dates, prize lists, and comments and concerns for judges and competitors. You can find housing for people and/or horses near the show grounds, new and used riding clothes and boots for sale, saddles, bridles, and a variety of training equipment, horse services such as a laundry that will pick up and clean your horse blankets and saddle pads, grooms, stable help, riders, braiders, recommendations about farriers, vets and equine dentists, questions about the normal fees for trainers and horse agents, clipping services, and suggestions about where to find the best local deals on feed, hay and shavings. Some of the most helpful postings are from people shipping horses from one area of the country to another who have room for another horse heading in the same direction.

Even though it’s based in South Florida, people from all over log in regularly. On a recent “just for fun” location check thread querying where people were from, there were respondents from Massachusetts, South Carolina, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Wyoming, Alabama, Montreal and even Finland. Many Florida towns were represented, including much of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Hobe Sound and Ocala. Some are former residents, some are people thinking of moving here, some are show gypsies, and some are just interested in joining a very friendly and well-informed community.