As 2013 comes to an end, it has become a GoHorseShow.com tradition to look back on our top-10 most popular stories of the year as determined by our readers. GoHorseShow.com’s goal is to combine unbiased and responsible journalism, entertainment, education, interaction and fun and to provide a reading experience unparalleled to any other in our industry. We will reveal the top-10 stories of the year over the next 10 days. Each story’s ranking is determined by how many times it was read.
The year 2013 will be remembered for many things as our top-10 list will recall and GoHorseShow.com was there to cover it all. We would like to offer a special thank you to GoHorseShow.com readers for making 2013 the biggest year to date for our web traffic, solidifying GoHorseShow.com as the industry leader for yet another year.
NUMBER 1
The Industry Reacts to Crundwell Sentencing
02/14/2013
For the second year in a row, Rita Crundwell takes the top spot as the most popular story of the year. On February 14, Crundwell was sentenced to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for stealing $53.7 million from the City of Dixon over two decades. While the news of Crundwell’s sentencing was an extremely popular story on its own, GoHorseShow.com got the reaction from many industry leaders following her sentencing. While Crundwell’s long term effect on our industry is hard to quantify, the story appeared to offer some closure and healing and generated the most interest from our readers of any story all year.
Click here to view the most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013
NUMBER 2
AQHA Clarifies Western Pleasure Statement Announced at Shows
Published 09/11/2013
Without a doubt, western pleasure was a very controversial topic for 2013. GoHorseShow published numerous stories about the topic and the overwhelming consensus was that some thing needed to change. In September, AQHA addressed the issue with a clarification of what they were looking for from their announcements at the shows. These were the first steps toward AQHA letting GoHorseShow readers know what their expectations were at the AQHA World Show in November.
Click here to view the second most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013.
NUMBER 3
World Champion Stallion, Good I Will Be, Euthanized
Published 11/11/2013
We lost some great horses in 2013 including Majestic Scotch, Mister GQ and Scotches Old Gold. November 10, 2013 was a particularly sad day for our industry as we lost a wonderful and up-and-coming stallion, Good I Will Be. GoHorseShow was the first to report his passing and this story became our third most popular story of the year. Willy gained near celebrity status after he was purchased by Sandra Morgan in September, 2012 through the U.S. District Court-ordered Rita Crundwell Dispersal Sale. His future as a breeding horse was very bright until Sandra Morgan and Stephen Stephens informed us that he underwent surgery for a kidney stone. Unfortunately, he did not recover well from surgery and had to be humanely euthanized. Trainer, Leonard Berryhill, shared some memories of Willy with us a few days later.
Click here to view the third most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013.
NUMBER 4
Buckle Up! Helmet Styles are Changing with New Rules for
2014
Published 11/30/2013
GoHorseShow.com added Sarah Elder Chabot as a new writer to the staff in the second half of 2013 and she is responsible for the fourth most popular story of the year. Sarah educated our readers that starting at the 2014 AQHYA World Championship Show, all youth exhibitors competing in hunt seat classes will be required to wear helmets that are ASTM/SEI approved. Everyone, including Sarah, was taken slightly by surprise when the helmet story became all anyone wanted to talk about. Our readers became very vocal, both for and against, this new rule. The viral reach spanning multiple breeds and associations, turned this story into the fourth most popular of the year in 2013.
Click here to view the fourth most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013
NUMBER 5
We Ask the Judges: What Are Your Biggest Pet Peeves?
Published 01/30/2013
Year after year, GoHorseShow.com readers love when we ask judges their opinions on a certain topic. In 2013, we posed the question “What are your biggest pet peeves?” to 18 of the top judges in our industry. Their varying answers created quite a stir and our readers were very vocal about this topic. Some appreciated the judges’ honesty and found it very informative, while others thought their answers to be “nit picky”. Regardless of which side you come down on about this topic, it turned this story into the fifth most popular of the year.Â
Click here to view the fifth most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013
NUMBER 6
After Girl’s Passing, Her Dream Comes True at Congress
Published 10/23/2013
One of our very favorite stories of the year comes in as the sixth most popular of 2013. We are always guaranteed good stories coming out of the Congress, but Ann Crawford’s was unlike any we have ever told. Crawford, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis, had always loved horses but never had the chance to show and compete at the Congress. She passed away in 2008 at the age of 25 and had her wish come true at this year’s Congress. We are grateful to Clarice Cooper for initially bringing this story to our attention and to Ann’s family for sharing with us.
Click here to view the sixth most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013
NUMBER 7
Cathrin Gutmann’s Picture of the Day from the AQHA World Show
Published 11/23/2013
GoHorseShow.com readers made Cathrin Gutmann’s picture of the day from the AQHA World Show the seventh most popular story of 2013. Amateur Cathrin Gutmann of Jaidhof, Austria was an international exhibitor at this year’s AQHA World Show and has been a very good friend to GoHorseShow and a loyal advertiser in GoMag. Gutmann and her mare, Blue Couture were coming off a fabulous Congress with an impressive win in the Amateur Hunter Under Saddle. Our readers enjoyed Cathrin bringing us her view of the AQHA World Show each day. Thank you Cathrin for doing such a great job!
Click here to view the seventh most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013
NUMBER 8
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Riders by Kirsten Farris
Published 12/03/2013
The eighth most popular story of the year was published only a few weeks ago. GoHorseShow.com columnist, Kirsten Farris, comprised a list of seven habits she believes all effective riders share. Some of these traits include riders who put the horse first, take responsibility for their actions and those who are able to turn setbacks in to positives. Farris, a two-time AQHA World Champion herself, has written regularly for GoHorseShow since 2010. Her 2012 column titled “When Is Enough, Enough?” just missed making the Top-10 list in 2012.
Click here to read the eighth most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013.
NUMBER 9
Phil Harris Designs First Ever Engagement Saddle
Published 8/28/2013
Coming in at the number nine spot on the most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013…Phil Harris of Harris Leather and Silverworks of State Road, North Carolina had the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind engagement saddle for Adam Kilian to propose to his girlfriend, Laura Upton. While Phil has designed some special saddles in his past, he probably never imagined one of his show saddles being shipped to Ecuador as a surprise proposal gift. The concept of giving a saddle instead of a diamond ring enchanted many of our readers and we suspect the groom-to-be had no idea how big of a public reaction this story would create.
Shameless self-promotion time: It is uncommon that a story of this nature would get published by multiple equine websites. However, this one received widespread coverage within our industry. Our version was written by GoHorseShow.com Senior Writer, Laura Gilmer and gave us an uncommon opportunity to do an apples-to-apples study of how active our wonderful GoHorseShow.com readers are. Within the first 24 hours of being published, GoHorseShow’s Facebook fans issued more than FOUR times as many likes, more than FIVE times as many shares and more than TEN times as many comments than our multiple number of competitors…COMBINED! That is a true testament to our readership and for that, we thank you.
Click here to read the 9th most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013 Â
NUMBER 10
GoSmart with Charlie & Jason: Response to Young Girl’s Letter
Published 3/05/2013
The tenth most popular story on GoHorseShow.com for 2013 was part of our highly popular GoSmart column with Charlie Cole and Jason Martin. The particular topic featured a young girl’s letter to trainer Charlie Cole about a common problem she was having with her horse. This letter, and subsequently Cole’s response, became a viral sensation and is the tenth most popular story of the year.
Click here to read the 10th most popular story on GoHorseShow.com in 2013.
