SHHHHH - don’t tell anyone, I stopped paying for my PH subscription 3 yrs ago - but kept getting it in the mail every month & still do! They occasionally send me requests to resubscribe - um, no I think I’ll just keep getting it for free, thanks anyway! Billing dept glitch in the other direction. Anyway as a freebie it is entertaining enough 
Another old timer here. Haven’t subscribed to PH in at least a decade, but used to for a very long time. Gave it up for the same reasons as others have mentioned. Commercialism and cutting corners have not done PH any favors.
To understand the current iteration of PH…here is some history. The publication started in the 1970s as a black and white publication (with a blue cover) called the Pennsylvania Horse. It was published by Pam Goold in Chester County, PA. She was associated with CT Fuller’s Winterwood Farm in Unionville which bred, raced, and showed top TBs. CT Fuller also had top reining horses at his Willow Brook Farm in Catasaqua, PA.
Pennsylvania Horse was an amazing magazine; the Stallion issue was filled with gorgeous TBs marketed as sport horse sires. (Quid Pro Quo, Maui Meadow’s Roman Steps, Castle Rock Farm’s Jolie Jo). The magazine included pictoral articles on barn/farm designs and layouts. (My vet’s barn was featured back when it was a “hunting box”. ) There were articles by and about real horsemen and women from the show world. Practical stuff, not fancy training methods. And yes, the infamous spider wrap was one of the How-To articles.
There were ads for the Potomac Horse Center, Imperatore horse vans, Hartman trailers. If anyone ever finds back issues, buy them, and keep them. Each issue is a gem.
Pennsylvania Horse morphed into Practical Horseman, the issues went color, and warmbloods started appearing in the ads, with Mary Alice Malone being one of the first to offer non-TB breeding options.
In the late 1980s Practical Horseman was purchased by Cowles Magazines. And THAT was the beginning of the end. I don’t know who owns Practical Horseman now, but your dissatisfaction with the current content of the magazine is a direct reflection of the management.
I think it was owned at one time by the same publisher as Hobby Farms.
Thank you for the great history. I had no idea CT Fuller had anything but QH. He was the first AQHA president from east of the Mississippi if my memory serves me right.
[QUOTE=Windsor1;8005454]
You just never know, do you? :uhoh:
PH WAY back in the day:
And I still have my copy of that issue, lol! I loved PH, and had it for years. I dropped it about 15 years ago, for all the reasons stated.
[QUOTE=HappyTalk;8006151]
I gave up on PH back in the middle 90’s and DT in about '05.
I like finding copies of vintage magazines from 70’s. I had several Horsplay issues that had coverage of the 1978 eventing world championships in KY as well as articles about Ralph Hill and Sergeant Gilbert and Torrance Watkins and Red’s Door. I have since passed them on to another COTHER. It was interesting to see the ads. Warmbloods were pretty much non-existent. Most sport horse stallions back then were TBs and QHs with a smattering of Arabians.[/QUOTE]
Same here! I loved Horse Play.
Regarding PH billing practices-my grandmother used to give me a subscription to PH every year for my birthday. However, she used to renew it for 2 years at a time, every year. Then, she started renewing it (always for 2 years) when ever they sent her a notice. I think I got the magazine for a good 5 years after we figured out what was happening, and stopped her!
I’ve seen the COTH booth at Rolex, but never got the magazine. Do they have sign-up specials at Rolex? What have some of the past ones been?
Might have to check it out this April. Thanks!
I’ve seen the COTH booth at Rolex, but never got the magazine. Do they have sign-up specials at Rolex? What have some of the past ones been?
Might have to check it out this April. Thanks!
If you get a subscription at Rolex they usually then give you a copy of the just released “Rolex issue.” Which is not to be missed. Esp JW’s horse/rider picks.
One yr we were walking around Rolex and in passing someone we knew they yelled out ‘hey you’re in the Chronicle.’ Went to go check it out at the booth and there we were the whole family, small children and canines included, in a photo from the previous yr walking through the trade fair. 
I had to buy a subscription to get a copy.
I get/got my PH and Dressage Today through Zinio (e-copy). A lot cheaper and quicker than in print.
Thanks to this very timely thread, I read through 4 copies of each and have just stopped my subscription (it was on auto-repeat). I think I found a couple of interesting articles in each - and I totally disagree with the conformation assessment.
