Year in Review: The EN Stories You Loved the Most in 2018

As you would expect with the most-read eventing news source on the internet, heavy-hitting headlines lead the way when we tabulate which stories on EN received the most views in 2018. But as we look through the posts that captured the most clicks this year, it’s worth taking a deeper dive to remember the stories that made us laugh and cry, inspired us, and ultimately made us fall even more head-over-heels in love with the sport.

Amidst the more than 7 million page views EN received in 2018, our coverage of the FEI World Equestrian Games dominated the list of most-viewed posts. EN’s coverage of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event followed closely behind Tryon, with our coverage of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials hot on Kentucky’s heels.

It’s no secret that controversial stories dominated eventing headlines this year. Cases of visible blood  and excessive whip use on cross country clocked in as the #2 and #10 most-read stories on EN this year. Those incidents ultimately spurred the FEI to introduce new rule changes that will take effect in 2019. (While we have your attention, be sure to brush up on the new rules.)

On a lighter note, celebrating April Fool’s Day is a time-honored tradition here at EN, so we were delighted to see our bogus story about the FEI unanimously voting to ban dogs from all competitions ranking as the #6 most-read story of the year.

While contentious headlines will always garner clicks by nature, one of EN’s driving missions is to celebrate the positive in the sport, especially tales of triumph in the face of adversity. The clicks on stories about Jonty Evans’s fall at Tattersalls and subsequent recovery from a traumatic brain injury rivaled our major event coverage. The outpouring of love and support for Jonty this year truly showcased the eventing community at its best.

With that concept in mind, here are a few of EN’s most-read stories of 2018 that might not have ranked in the top 10 but are very much worthy of revisiting.

On Being a Girl: An Eventer Goes Dress Shopping: We laughed until we cried while reading Rachel Skirvin’s opus about shopping for a bridesmaid’s dress her friend’s wedding. This snippet in particular had us in stitches: “What looks good on a 5’ Midwestern sausage with man shoulders and a slowly fading farmers tan? Nothing.”

The Last Ride: Cat Hill’s post about the decision to place her horse on stall rest following an injury — all the while knowing she might never be able to ride him again — so aptly captures the raw emotion of making that agonizing call. “If I’ve had my last ride on him, I will not mourn for more. I already got more than I could have ever hoped for. But I wish I had known. I wish I had been able to say goodbye to that chapter.”

As Inmidair Retires, Jan Byyny Reflects on Her Horse of a Lifetime: From aiding her recovery from a life-changing accident to becoming the U.S. National CCI3* Champion, Jan Byyny tells JR’s emotional story with touching candor: “We never know what’s going to happen in our lives, but I’m so thankful for everything he has done for me. It was JR who gave me my life back.”

This ‘ISO Horse to Lease’ Is Honesty at Its Most Hilarious: “Seriously though, we’re not interested in your 6yo, 1.5m horse that you want to lease out for $10k a year. I wish … but not right now. I need school-master, broke to death, has maintenance issues, ugly as sin, out of shape, you really don’t care about money but want him to have a great home. Oh, and not across the continental US from GA because I only do a 6 hour radius due to sweet tea.”

6 Times the WEG Vendor Village Made George Morris Die, Just So He Could Roll Over in His Grave: When I saw Leslie Wylie’s proposed headline for this post before we published it, I nervously asked her to change it for fear of backlash from readers. She told me to trust that y’all would love it, and she was 100% right. This illustrated guide to blingy boots, browbands and helmets that George would most definitely not approve of landed a spot in EN’s top 20 most-read posts of 2018.

Robin Godel’s Save of the Day at WEG: We saw some spectacular saves and valiant recovery efforts on cross country day at the FEI World Equestrian Games, but Switzerland’s Robin Godel defied gravity in making this save — with help from his horse Grandeur de Lully CH.

What were your other favorites stories of 2018, EN? Let us know in the comments below.

Thank you for trusting EN as your go-to news source. We are humbled by your support and vow to continue covering the sport with the utmost dedication, integrity and insanity in 2019 and beyond.

Happy New Year! Go Eventing.