When I launched the original Equine Tapestry blog in 2011, I hoped that it would facilitate a conversation. Over the years, conversations about horse color moved to social media – and I moved with them – because it was so much more immediate (and I didn’t have to deal with website coding). This came at a cost, however. Social platforms are not designed for archiving useful information; they are ephemeral and difficult to search. But perhaps more importantly, they seem to promote a more toxic form of discourse.
I want to create a different atmosphere here on the blog. If you, the reader, were to come to my house so that we could talk about my favorite subject – horse color! – we would likely sit in the library. That’s my favorite chair in the picture there. There are hundreds of horse books on the shelves. What few examples of my artwork I keep are in a curio cabinet in the corner, and you would be welcome to take them out so you could look more closely; they are quite tiny. If I knew you were coming in advance, I would bake cookies. My Collie, Quinn, would want to drape himself across your feet. He values good company almost as much as I do.
I started to write a rather lengthy list of rules for comments posted here on Equine Tapestry. I was going to address things like disparaging testing facilities or questioning the honesty of owners or breeders. Instead, I am going to ask that you behave with the same grace you would if you were here in my library and that you extend the same to my other guests. It is not every day, after all, that we meet others who love this odd branch of science! Let us take the opportunity to share what we know and learn from one another.