"Have you heard about the survey results?"

The picture to the left is Riley as a weanling, with a former pasturemate. Why am I posting it? Because the survey said was that you all like pictures of Riley and Harv :-)

Thanks to all who have responded--70 responses in two days--far more than I expected. I'm going to keep a feedback survey available as a link, because the info I got was incredibly useful! The results were unexpected (in my mind anyway).

Simple things I learned:

• I didn't know that some countries block Youtube! All of those videos I post, I had no idea you couldn't see them. From now on I'll try to find the same video on other sites as well as Youtube.
  
• I assumed most people who read BTB regularly were subscribers; I see now that most of you just check the site periodically. I've been carefully watching my subscriptions guessing that this was the most accurate representation of how many people read the blog. In reality, less than half of the regular readers are subscribers.

What you said about content Here's where it gets interesting. It's pretty clear you like informational/research articles the best. But many of you also stipulated that you want information mixed with analysis/commentary rather than an encyclopedic summary. My horsie credentials are pretty weak, and I worry that I come across as "all-knowing" when I insert my own opinion in matters of horse sport or horse health. But if you don't mind a man on the street sort of interpretation, I'm happy to share opinions unencumbered by knowledge or experience :-). I was surprised to learn that you like the personal stories! More than a few of you actually wanted more stories about Harv and Riley. This tickles me to no end. I like talking about my horses entirely too much, and in real life, my endless chatter about "the boys" drives people to the other side of the room, the barn, the office. I do entries about my horses mostly for myself -- gratifying to hear that someone out there likes to read about them. In honor of this realization, I'm breaking a cardinal rule of blogging and posting pictures of my cats. Here we see Red Kitty lying among my old COTH issues... The throw-away entries -- quick links to videos or Web sites with no context or narrative -- are your least favorites. Of course they're easy for me but they're unsatisfying, since they're impersonal. I'll try to do less of those. My thanks... I'd like to thank the survey respondents who expressed wonderful sentiments and compliments, and also those who made specific suggestions that will be helpful in making this blog more useful/readable. Lastly: to the person who mentioned The Manure Pile fiasco and offered kind words. You know who you are -- THANKS. So here are the results...

1. How did you find out about the blog?
Google or other search engine 15.2%
From another blog 56.1%
From a bulletin board posting 18.2%
Other 10%

2. How do you find out about new posts?
I check the blog periodically 56.1% 37
I subscribe via email 27.3% 18
I subscribe via RSS 10.6% 7
Other 3.0% 2
Other (please specify) 3.0%

3. What kind of entries do you most enjoy?
Humor 16.7%
Informational/research 34.8%
Personal opinion 13.6% 9
Highlighting new videos, articles, or Web sites 9.1%
Other 25% (most of these were requests to select more than one answer)

4. What kinds of topics are you most interested in?
Personal stories 61.3%
Personal opinion 53.2%
Humorous 61.3%
Horse Health 53.2%
Dressage or other discipline 77.4%
Breeding 32.3%
Grooming 43.5%
Conformation 46.8%


5 and 6. What general topics would you like to see? and Comments/Suggestions
Quite varied, but a few of the more unique ones include an article on miniature donkeys, which is a coincidence because I was thinking about writing on dressage mules! Another respondent suggested topics that don't pop up in other books, videos, etc., which I do try to do -- but it's hard! Other topics suggested include saddle fitting, shoeing, horse behavior, biomechanics, endurance riding, conditioning, show jumping, cross-country.