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HoofPrints Newsletter
April 18, 2011 Issue
Iowa woman is proud to train horse to eat carrots!
Last month we talked about our T-shirt "I Train Horses To Eat Carrots"
Carrot adNow, these shirts were designed with a tiny bit of sarcasm... as a joke for those of us who want to train our horses using non-forceful methods (treats) and who occasionally encounter less-than-stellar results. It's a whole 'nother story, but I personally found myself a bit lost after I decided to swear off using the option of punishment when working with my horses. I can't always get the results I am hoping for, but I CAN, ALWAYS get them to eat a carrot. It's a lighthearted way of looking at the learning process (both mine and theirs).

Last week I received this email from a newsletter subscriber:

Dear Gina, I have a story to share:

There is a local horse rescue that we help out by fostering cases that need more one on one attention than the rescue can reasonably provide. As I'm sure you know, abused horses need to re-learn to trust the humans around them.  One of the common traits of abused horses is that they refuse treats like horse cookies, apples and carrots - either because they are unfamiliar or because they associate them with past abuse.

The other night, my wife Sue was all excited: "Steve, Lil'Bit took a cookie from me!!"  

She already has one of your "I train horses to eat carrots" sweatshirts and t-shirts.  I got it as a joke at Christmas.  She's serious about it though.  Her next goal is to get this little abused horse to eat apples and carrots."

Thanks to Steve for sharing this lovely story. I am sure, with Sue's kindness and patience, that Lil'Bit will indeed learn to eat carrots! I hope to post an update soon.
Pony Girl - Rides again!
This cute little silver pony rider has been inspiration for all sorts of products
Carnelian Pony Girl Necklace & Earringshere at HoofPrints. The appropriateness of her nudity (or not) was discussed at length on our Facebook page here.
A painting by Edward Robert Hughes serves as inspiration here
She's the logo on the Horsewoman Balm here
She's embroidered on a Thermal Lined Sweatshirt here

We sold a tiny version for a couple years on a silver ball chain. Now we've found a matching large version (should we call her "horsey mama?") and paired her with some colorful, exotic gemstones for an exciting, new effect. These are made right here in Alexandria, Indiana, USA (by me) using stones from all over the world. The pendants are made in USA.

To see all the Pony Girl stuff click here

 

A Passion For Horses
True Stories of Lives Lived Loving Horses
CrysThere are a myriad of books out there that tell the stories of individuals who love horses, but this is by far my favorite. It's a visual feast - beautiful, meaningful color pictures on every page. Each image a delight in it's own right.
Shown here is Maribeth Scott and her giant Shire horse Crys. The stories that go with answer all the questions that the pictures make you ask - artfully written - as each chapter (there are 22) could be a whole book by itself!

This is a great book for horse lovers of all ages and experience levels - something to pick up when you want a little inspiration. Many photos by Sharon Fibelkorn, along with the personal photos and memorabilia of the characters featured. This will make you want to start a story / scrapbook of your own! Softcover, 160 oversize pages.
To order A Passion For Horses click here.

  

 More Passion! (and Patience)
This one's on sale HALF PRICE!
Passion & PatienceThis painting by John Sargent Noble is aptly named: Passion & Patience and it's available only through Hoofprints. I saw this painting in an Equine Art Magazine 25 years ago. I tried for years to find prints of it. To my knowledge, no prints are available (until now); we purchased the rights to reproduce this amazing painting so that farrier art collectors everywhere can enjoy it!

I supervised the printing so that we got the best possible colors, and sharp clean detail on premium quality paper. This picture certainly fits it's title; every farrier that I know has found him or herself in this situation. The details in this picture are wonderful; you can see many tools very clearly, right down to the bone-handled hoof knife in the farrier's hand. A variety of shoes are scattered around and hanging on the wall. You can see the toe clips, creases, heel calks etc. Even the bent nails on the shoes that have been pulled off and the shavings of hoof on the floor.

The picture has so much energy, so much going on. The tension between the farrier and horse is obvious, and on further study one notices the expression on the little dog; he knows something is about to happen. In the middle of all this action, the bay horse appears to be sleeping! The contrast in structure of the two horses; a fine boned hot-blood and a heavy cold-blood is apparent. John Sargent Noble was a painter who truly knew his subject.

We also sell it as a THANK YOU card - inside says: "In a sometimes-difficult world, the kindness of others helps one face daily challenges - Thank You"

Our family always embellishes the cards we buy - with extra wording. This card has a nice blank space near the heads of the horses and the dog. What could they be saying? The bay horse: "I hope he's finally got that fit right after the 14th trip to the anvil..." The grey horse: "One more step and I'm gonna nail  him." The dog: "What happened to all the hoof trimmings?"


You can see closeups of the print on our Facebook page here. You can order this print (and others on sale at HALF PRICE) here
Remembering Zack
The Keesling family said goodbye to our German Shepherd Zack
Zack Memorial Statueback in January. More here
Zack was nearly 12 years old; he had lived a very full life as "Chief of Security" here on our farm and in the HoofPrints warehouse. He was a vigilant dog who took his job very seriously. Much of the time, he looked just like the concrete statue shown here. Now, I am not much for concrete lawn decorations. In fact, most of the time I think they look pretty tacky. Kind of the redneck version of a bronze? But, I have made an exception. I mentioned to my mom that I would like to find something to mark Zack's grave, and she promptly found this. It's more spectacular than I ever could have imagined. See additional pictures, and read about the other dogs' reactions to the statue on our Facebook page here.

Recap - From the last newsletter...
Here's what we talked about last time:
Plaid Horsework capLadies Caps for hair control here
Easter is April 24 - HoofPrints' Christian Jewelry here
Naked Liberty
horse training book by Carolyn Resnick here
Praise for Beautiful Jim Key book here
GOOD STUFF: Enlightened Horsemanship blog here
A true story
with a happy ending. Read it here
New FREE magnet 4th in the series. Details here
100 Years from now Fathers Day gift idea ON SALE here
Farriers Traveling Desk here
Women Riders Who Could, and Did here
Handmade Dog Treat Pouches here
Excerpt on preserving memories from Beautiful Jim Key here
Horsey Scrapbook kits (for preserving memories) here

PAST NEWSLETTERS - See what you missed!
Click HERE to catch up on the news.
More about HoofPrints
Be sure to check out the "GOOD STUFF" links at the bottom of this section 
Rob shoeing RockyABOUT THE COMPANY
Farriers Greeting Cards was started by Gina Keesling in 1986 (in a very small way) to provide helpful promotional materials for her farrier husband Rob.

 ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
It's written by Gina Keesling, and emailed to subscribers a few times a month, depending on how often I have something to share. Watch for special sales, interesting stories, uplifting quotes and maybe some personal stuff. Let me know if you like it, and if you don't. We aim to please.

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San Francisco in 1906 - to watch a fascinating short movie click here 


This film was "lost" for many years.  It was the first 35mm film ever, taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car.  The number of automobiles is staggering for 1906. Look at the hats the ladies were wearing and the long dresses.  Some of the cars had the steering wheels on the right side.  I wonder when they standardized on the left.

 

Sure were still a lot of horse drawn vehicles in use.  Mass transit looked like the way to get around.  Looks like everybody had the right of way.

 

Watch the beginning carefully.  At the 33 second mark and immediately after an oncoming trolley clears the screen, a well dressed policeman walks across the street from left to right. Notice his right hand that he's carrying a truncheon (26 inch police baton) and although he appears walking his beat, he looks ready to use it.  Imagine the police of today walking down the street carrying a 26 inch club in their hand...???

 

The clock tower at the end of Market Street at the Embarcadero wharf is still there. How many "street cleaning" people were employed to pick up after the horses?  Talk about going green!

 

 **This film was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot from New York trade papers announcing the film showing, to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!).

 

It was filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing.  Perhaps the oldest "home movie" that you will ever see!

 

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Thanks everyone, for reading!
Gina Keesling, owner  

 

 Contact Information

GOOD STUFF: the easiest way to help your dog live a long life
Manage his or her weight. (Gina on a soapbox)
Overweight Border CollieThere are many studies that support the notion that dogs live longer, healthier lives if they are not allowed to become overweight. Shown here is a shocking example of a grossly obese dog. This poor Border Collie was so fat that she could barely get around; they had to shave her hair at the shelter to treat the bedsores that covered her body. Details here. Now, I won't get into the specifics of this particular case, as it is so extreme, but the article is blaming the fact that the dog ate only "human food" for her obesity. They don't really mention what I believe to be the REAL problem - the PORTIONS.
Commercial dog food is a relatively new phenomenon (if you look at the big picture) and before that dogs did, indeed eat "human food" along with scraps from the butcher shop and who knows what else. But there was a time that dry kibble in a bag did not even exist. There are lots of different ideas about exactly WHAT to feed dogs, the internet is filled with so much info it will make your head spin. This is what works for me personally. Portion control. Feed the highest quality food you can find. Know exactly how much your dog weighs. READ THE LABEL to see how much to feed. Start with this as a guideline and adjust up or down. Find a dipper that's appropriate and MAKE SURE the portion weighs what you think it does. For our small dog, horse supplement measures make great measuring cups. Our Lucy gets too fat on the "red cup", and looks great on the "blue cup" - the red cup is just 2 Tablespoons more. That is only ONE OUNCE! She eats twice a day, so 2 ounces difference determine whether she's a lean, mole-digging machine or a fat toad that would hold a puddle on her back in a rainstorm. I am not kidding. Our other dog Puppy-Girl was injured when she was young - both of her hind legs are held together with pins, wire and screws. The vets cautioned me to manage her weight carefully, as she will certainly become arthritic as she gets older, and extra pounds will make this worse. Spayed female labs tend to get portly, but Puppy-Girl still looks sleek and healthy as she approaches middle age.
Contrary to what the DogFiles article above cautions, we DO feed our dogs "human food" in addition to their dry food. Who would want to eat the same, boring dry stuff all the time? I try to give them some variety along with. But again, we watch the portions.
Share our emails
Viral marketing... it sounds bad, doesn't it?
You can ask my husband - a frequent topic around here is that of forwarded emails - and the psychology behind them - just WHAT prompts people to decide; "I am going to send this to everyone I know!".

We receive a lot of them. Some are pretty good, and others are dumb. Dumb in a myriad of ways...  Alarmist email rumors that have been around forever - that folks keep sending "just in case it's true" Pictures of someone's butt (or worse) - don't even get me started about the firecracker butt - but at least that one was timely when it showed up around July 4. Christian messages that are uplifting - until you get to the end and you're threatened "if you're not ashamed that you love Jesus, forward this - if you are, then delete." Pictures of cute puppies and kittens (awww)

I enjoy writing these newsletters - and sharing all this stuff with you all. But the fact is, it's also a way to help us stay connected with customers and sell products during the time between catalog mailings (which is only once a year) So I really, really like it when someone new stumbles upon the newsletter and is excited to "discover" our company and the products we offer.

In all my efforts to make the newsletter interesting and forward-worthy - it never occurred to me to JUST ASK you all to send it! Duh. Sometimes the obvious is elusive, I guess. So here goes - my request to ask you to forward our email newsletter to your horsey friends.  All we ask is that you please be judicious and only send to folks who might be interested. Otherwise we are no better than the "firecracker butt". Click the Forward email link below to get started. (please note - using this form does NOT subscribe anyone to our list - it is a one-time only forward)