The Behind The Stall Door series on www.coth.com has fast become an enormously popular feature, as we take you back to the barn with some of the most famous horses. Behind The Stall Door articles take you up close and personal with great candid photos and personal details of some of the sport’s biggest stars.

As 2017 looms on the horizon, we took a look back at the most popular stories on www.coth.com in 2016. From funny looks at our quirks as horsepeople to unusual equipment choices and equipment malfunctions to breaking news, we published it all and thousands of you read and shared the stories.

Right now, the closest thing I have to a horse is a 7-month-old yellow Lab puppy who’s rehabbing from OCD surgery in both hocks. She’s transitioning from strict stall rest to hand-walking, has had PRP therapy, and is on a regimen of joint supplements and bi-weekly Adequan injections. I monitor her soundness obsessively.

So, you know, I pretty much have all the vet bills associated with a fancy, high-maintenance show horse without any of the rideability of an actual equine. 

Just before I headed to Miami Beach, Fla., to cover the Longines Global Champions Tour there, I wrote a quick Throwback Thursday story about Chris Kappler winning the $100,000 Budweiser American Invitational in 1995.

As Chronicle staffers covering competitions around the world, we take thousands of photos each year. Some of our favorite pictures are ones you might expect—riders winning major championships or smiling on a podium—but others make the list because they demonstrate a particularly strong bond between horse and rider.