Have the forums played a big role in your life? The Chronicle would like to know what the forums mean to you. Have you made any special connections, created decade-long friendships or met anyone in real life?
Share below, or you can email Kimberly at kloushin@coth.com.
They are a place where I can throw science and engineering grenades and be sarcastic.”Get off my lawn you jumped up little shits!”
Actually, I have made some very good friends here and met several in real life! And I have gained a lot of farm wisdom over in the Around the Farm forum. This is a great resource that allows some really good people to interact with people like me.
I met @JER at the 2015 Pan Am Games with both our horses being used in the Modern Pentathlon and both of them ridden by the winning Gold medalists 
It’s certainly useful to check in and see what folks are saying about current topics - some information is very useful; Reed is one of the best for current safety information and to get us on track after the ever-coming next catastrophe for Eventing. But many the topics are also the bellwether of how much mis-information is out there about the current state of Eventing in this country - and how completely precarious our position is on the world stage. We are so insulated in our own little country, miles away from medals now. Maybe the strength of our position will become clear as venues continue to disappear - as a leader in the grass roots community for lower level riders.
The wealth of institutional knowledge on this forum is incredible. There is something to learn in every corner. My horses are better off because of this forum. I am better off too, since I’ve had so many good role models and strong women to look up to all these years. I was only a teenager when I joined COTH, following my mother who joined in 2001.
It is through COTH that I had not one but three horses of a lifetime. My second OTTB came to us through word of mouth from a fellow COTHer (Judybigredpony) about a small TB needing a home from Watral’s estate. When I lost him ten years later, I went to Finger Lakes and looked at a few horses but came home with an empty trailer. Another COTHer (Foundationmare) urged me to go back and look at one she thought I would like. I came home with him the next day. 
Dating myself, but Wendy was one of the first people to show me how little I knew about dog training. She sent me links and a few DMs about clicker training. She let me know in true COTH fashion how little I knew, but she suggested training books and helped me sharpen my training tools. I’ve had five dogs and two horses since, and every one had/has good ground manners because of what she taught me.
When I first joined McGurk, frugalannie, and LadyEboshi were the mavens of barn owner/manager knowledge. I learned from their posts how to screen boarders and manage/run a barn. I learned more from their posts passively than I learned IRL from my own BOs.
alto once walked me through one of my first “really bad patient” stall rest fiascos via DM. JB and Simkie showed me how little I knew about good farriery, and opened up the doors for my own journey into farriery. IPEsq taught me how misleading soundness can be when watching hind end lameness. rcloisonne (RIP) showed me how lacking my basic first aid kit was and I think of them every time I open my med bin. Ghazzu gave me so many insights on veterinarian topics over the years. JB taught me I didn’t know enough about nutrition. findeight shared valuable life lessons about how to conduct oneself well. In that vein so did mvp, who always offered insight on how to navigate uncomfortable situations with kindness and wit; as well as te value in always looking at a situation from all perspectives.Texarkana is in that category too, as another poster who is a class act. ChocoMare showed me what I was missing by not having a Hayhut and Haynet for my horses, but she also organized one of the best longstanding COTH traditions - inspiring me to take the reins on yearly SS in my own community. Bluey showed me how to stick up for what is right even if I felt outnumbered. I believe it was right_horse_at_the_right_time that taught me how to do cobra braids WELL. CatchMeIfUCan and Divine_Comedy showed me through bits and glimpses of their posts some groom tricks and tips for shows.
Fred, weixiao, RAyers, Jealoushe, enjoytheride, endlessclimb, Libby2563 and Larbear have shown me how there are so many amazing like-minded people on this forum who love their horses and put them above and beyond themselves. Larbear and I even ride together! 
I feel incredibly grateful for the friendships I’ve made here, was well as the depth of knowledge that is freely shared. Nowhere else on earth do we have decades-long horsewomen mixing with green-as-grass posters and the exchange of knowledge should be cherished.
ETA: I had to remove all tags in order to post this, sorry about that.
Well said. Thank you.
Agree with so much of this!
CoTH is always my go to when there is news, events, or something happening in our horse world. I can not begin to explain what I have learned here and how thankful I am for it.
The forums have given me better insight on how horse related things vary in different parts of the country, and of the world.
I replied to this on another forum before I realized it was crossposted on all. 
@Moderator_3 Will replies be collated somewhere we can see them all w/o hopping from forum to forum?
Agree with so much of what has already said! COTH is pretty much my go to for research, so many knowledgeable people on here and so awesome to meet COTHers in real life 
I lost my beloved equine partner of more than 20 years and as I’m searching for my new equine partner COTH has been invaluable in figuring out how to horse shop after not having to do this in more than 20 years…especially with the help of Beowulf letting me sit on her awesome horse and her sharp eyes for all the videos I’ve sent her way! 
When I first joined many years ago, I was a trail rider only, I evented when I was in my 20’s and living on the east coast but since I moved to the west coast, I quit the showing and hit the trails. However, reading the posts revived my interest in eventing and also, brought back a lot of memories. There were posts about people I knew back in the day or worked for - the Wallers in Mt. Kisco for one. So one day, I took a look at the stock I had on hand to bring me back into the eventing world and told my mustang Zephyr that she was it. Luckily, she loved(s) to jump and made the transition seamlessly from trail horse to an all arounder. Now, years later, I am a sometimes trail rider but consider myself an eventer and I owe it to this forum to renew my passion.
The only ones I met in real life was Jenners and Fenway Bartholomew.
That was probably me. I grew up across the road from Tanrackin Farm.
I hope yours wasn’t one of the mailboxes I accidently mowed down when I jack knifed the tractor . Thanks for reminding me of the name of the farm, I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember it.
Probably not.
Our mailbox was knocked over on regular basis, but it wouldn’t have been in the way of a tractor. We were opposite the retired geldings barn (which was next to the “Revolutionary War era” house), but some distance from the driveway to that barn. It would have been difficult to jackknife into our mailbox unless you were actually trying to use OUR driveway to turn around.
Oh okay, I was at the breeding barn. Coming out that driveway hauling a manure spreader with the stone wall on either side, was rather tricky.
We are working on our 85th anniversary issue and are collecting responses from our forum users to include in that issue.
Kimberly (COTH staff)
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