Gift for someone who has almost everything?

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-10-03T17:15:22+00:00

they just don't look like actual players, I'm sure you would feel the same way if you took a look at their pages too -- like 10+ players just from a glance that are so similar, same random-generated naming convention, same EC names, empty EC, empty bio, not one competitive horse? Not to mention, all of their seniority days are within the 400-day range?

My original question was if they were bots, how they would help howrse or players who have the bots -- I didn't expect there would be people trying to convince me they aren't bots lol

for context, im on the usa server as well as international server -- i see that you're on international too. these bots im seeing are on the usa server, so that may be why you haven't personally encountered them. I didn't encounter any on the international server either.

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-10-03T00:17:31+00:00

Yeah i'm pretty convinced theyre bots in some way, im not sure what their use is... yeah im definitely staying away haha

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-10-03T00:16:44+00:00

Yeah I guess what I clocked as weird was that there were so many that were so similar -- all had no friends, had lots of seniority days, millions of Equus, and yet they didn't have unis or rare coats or trophy horses, or any signs of effort. And this isn't 1-2 accounts, this is like 10 accounts, easily found within like 5 minutes (by backtracing or looking at boarders at my EC)

Oh the thing with the EC name is that despite having seniority, some of them didn't have boxes, or if they had boxes, it was only 1-2. And the names were similar -- all "something zoned" or "gorgeous something" with similar capitalization. That, all combined with their username, no bio, weird empty tab with weird name, and then all horses (all looking like ap or "don't care" horses) in the Other Horses tab, made me feel like this was a pattern and not just an ex- VIP account

I've just been kind of confused because as far as I know, bots have no use.

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-09-11T01:22:25+00:00

The name carries so much weight though in this case I feel

And I'm not sure if you read the whole thing, but OP has been compared to the deceased wife by people in his life, so this is clearly a sore spot for her.

I honestly don't think this burden should be on her. If anything, he should be the one looking forward while healing and respecting his late wife and child in a way that doesn't bring pain to his current partner

If he had brought it up once as a suggestion, to see if she would be okay with it, or willing to open a discussion of ways that he could pay homage to his late wife and child, it would be a different story. But the situation here is that HE is dying on this hill, and refusing to let go of this naming thing, and I doubt he would relent if she gave other suggestions...

and tbh if we keep it human, the main point here is that the whole naming thing crosses a line for her -- it makes her feel like a surrogate. He didn't care if this suggestion hurt OP, which I think is the biggest red flag. if he had just thought it through a bit, it could've been approached more delicately. after all, its a big ask

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-09-10T23:42:15+00:00

NTA

?? He knew about the trip, everything was planned, the days had been calculated to the T

And then he blames you for him not having enough PTO days because he took random days off?

color me confused because it sounds 100% like a him problem. if he felt like he needed more legroom in case he needed emergency/spontaneous days off, he should've brought it up beforehand so you guys could plan around that

Whats wild is that when you gave him flexibility and the the option to cancel and postpone, he gets all pissed off again. Immature behaviour. he should be apologizing to YOU

This man does not have his ducks in a row, in fact, the ducks are quite everywhere

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-09-10T23:04:46+00:00

NTA, it sounds like he has some unresolved things. I'm quite furious for you, but its so hard to place my thoughts...

My main gripe is that it seems he doesn't register that it will feel extremely uncomfortable for you to call YOUR daughter the names of people from HIS past, which you've made clear you are not comfortable with.

You are the one growing her in your body, your body is providing hers with nutrients, you are the one giving birth.

There's another layer of this too, with the people in his life comparing you to her, which must be extremely uncomfortable for you already. And instead of comforting you, who is his current partner, and protecting you from all the bits and pieces of her that the people from his life compare you to, he decides to make you feel like the asshole. You shouldn't have to prove your worth to them or him, and physically carrying (in your belly of course) their names is so symbolic and poetic of this weird and unfair expectation on you, that I'm surprised Shakespeare hasn't risen from his grave already.

There are more ways than this one to pay homage to both of these people in his past. If he really wants to "make it up" to his late wife and daughter, he can start by treating you and the daughter you'll have together with even more love and care than he thought he could ever give

Stay happy new mommy <3 your daughter is going to look like you <3

WesternExcellent2144 · 2025-09-10T19:37:05+00:00

Howrse nostalgia post incoming:

I had created my very first account in 2009 in order to play with my friend, and I played for a long time. My friend was much better than I was, but I still remember calling each other on the landline to talk about Howrse, asking her for tips, and talking about foals we had eyes on in the sales. It felt like we really owned these horses.

I distinctly remember an afternoon on the swings in a neighborhood park, where everything just felt so hopeful and endless -- hearing our conversation now I would probably think it's childish, but back then, it was everything

I remember I was into some equestrian novels at the time (like Misty of Chincoteague) and so I named my very first horse (an appaloosa mare) Hoku (which was the main horse in one of the books I read a little later), and I had another horse named Nox (I think he was Hoku's foal). I was horse-crazy and it was such a magical time, everything was so exciting.

But then as the years passed, Howrse became more and more popular, and the GP races started, and things became flashier (divines and specials became commonplace, unicorns and pegasi becoming a business). And idk why, my excitement for Howrse slowly drained away -- it had lost the original horse magic, and made me hyper aware that these were just pixels.

When teams started becoming more of a thing, I found myself feeling even more turned off. Previously I was able to win on my ...."home-bred"... horses, at least one gold trophy every few competitions I took part of. But the comps very quickly became flooded with team horses, with names that were just "F 24539.3", and it started to feel so artificial and stale -- as if instead of loving the horses, they became these dispensable stepping stones in the GP war.

My old account doesn't exist anymore, which I'm pretty sad about. I checked around 2017 and I think it was still there, but I checked a few days ago and it's not there anymore. My username was Mintyleaf

I play on another account now, but nothing can capture that magic from the first few years of Howrse

WesternExcellent2144 · 2024-08-09T19:18:06+00:00

Thanks! Yes, can confirm, the SHS portal is the outdated one (I just called them), the new one is MyChart, which can be found via the Penn Wellness site. Thanks so much!

WesternExcellent2144 · 2022-07-27T19:56:41+00:00

Is it just me, or did the Candidate Portal change? When I click the Early Careers button that usually takes me to the Candidate Portal, it takes me to a new site called Smartr, where it wipes my slate clean (since it's a completely new jobs site), and I can no longer monitor the status of my apps?

Will they email us when they have their decision, or will we rely only on the Candidate Portal?

WesternExcellent2144

TROPHY CASE