In the sea of cell phone rings, I wanted one that 1) stood out from the others and 2) in some regard reflected my interests. I was tired of reaching for my own phone when a similar ring sounded and I’m just not someone who wants to hear a few bars of the latest rap tune every time someone calls me.

I decided to find one with an equine theme. The trouble was, most of the horsey tones sound like the tone that emerges from a squeezy horse toy. Not what I had in mind. Not to mention, some of the ringtones are described as horse “whining”, which I assume is a cross between a whinny and a whine!

First, a bit about ringtones:

A polyphonic ringtone plays multiple instruments from a MIDI file at the same time, making the ringtone sound like music.

A monophonic ringtone plays composed of simple tones being played one at a time.

A note of caution before you begin to download: Ringtones, while fun and cool, are also used by scammers to either get you to sign up for a subscription (for which you’ll end up paying a monthly fee) or to embed a virus in your phone which will gather your personal information. Therefore, it’s a good idea to avoid any service that asks you to “sign up” and make sure you read the fine print for any offer. Don’t download a free ringtone unless you are sure the source is a good one, and avoid peer-to-peer sharing sites. Most ringtones cost only a couple of dollars, so it’s worth paying for them.

Horse and Hound, the U.K. magazine also offers a selection of ringtones, including a “true hunting horn.” That sounds appealing, but I’m not sure I want to pay the international connection charges.

HorseChannel.com offers several free ringtones of the snorting and nickering variety.

There are a lot of whinnying horse ringtones, although many of the listings I saw, said Whining. I guess that’s a cross between a whinny and a whine, which is what your horse may say when you are late serving a meal!

AudioSparx offers a nice selection of galloping, trotting and horses on cobblestones, all for a reasonable cost.

Del Mar Racetrack offers two free ringtones: “Call to Post” and “Where the Surf meets the Turf”. I suspect these would be pretty safe, but I haven’t tried them.

Personally, I chose to use the “Call to Post” bugle ringtone from PhoneZoo. I bought it quite a while ago and have had no problems with it. The ringtone definitely stands out in a crowd. And I generally get a few people who shout out “Suffolk Downs” when they hear it go off.