HoofPrints Newsletter
November 27, 2011 Issue - A Thanksgiving Story & Crappy Christmas gift ideas
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Thanksgiving at Camelot - a story from the Horses & Hope Calendar
| This story by Penny Austin is on the November page of the calendar - enjoy;
|  They wondered what was going to happen. The night before had been very confusing. Lots of hustle and bustle. Men had put saddles on them. Men they didn't know. And ridden them through the ring. There were people there. Some mentioned how pretty they were or how well they moved.
The tall hunter was nonplussed. He confided in the little black and white pony that the few seconds in the ring could surely not impress anyone. And he wondered where the jumps were. He continued his musing, mostly to himself.
The girls in the group, huddled together, each of them trying to impress the others with their past glories. One mentioned she had flown down the track in front of thousands of people. The older one, asked what had happened. The racing mare said she wasn't sure. One day, they just took her away. She had been traveling awhile. The girls grew quiet. Each of them had had something similar happen. One day, they were loved, cared for, the next they were loaded up and taken away. The paint in the corner stared out the window, lost in thought, or perhaps lost in memory.
None knew what their tomorrows would be like. Where they would end up. Some were worried. Others, just went somewhere inside that was safe and quiet. Perhaps they hung onto a sweet memory.
The little ginger colored dog saw their sadness, and taking pity on them, told them not to worry, that it was Thanksgiving. They looked at her almost as one. The older gelding, perhaps the one who had been through the most, asked the dog, "Thanksgiving, what is Thanksgiving?"
The ginger colored dog sat down in the pen with them and began explaining.
"Why Thanksgiving is the day we all give thanks for the many blessings we have".
The mares and geldings just shook their heads, most still lost in their confusion. The little pony, perhaps the most curious of the group, managed to say to the dog "we have had blessings in the past, but we don't know what our tomorrows will bring and we are afraid."
The little ginger colored dog stood up, shaking the shavings and hay from her bottom, and began to trot off. But before she did, she told the group, still wondering what they had to be thankful for, "don't worry, my friends, you are at Camelot. You are on a list and a woman will come today and take your pictures. Your faces will be all over the place. Many people will say how beautiful you are and they will show your pictures to other people, and those people will wonder how you came to be here, and they will show your pictures to even more people, and so on and so on. And soon, very soon, your very special someone will see you and say "that's the one for me". And they will come to get you. You will have green pastures, and cool water, as much hay as you could possibly want. Oh and the best part, this person will love you forever." With that, the little ginger colored dog trotted off happily.
The mares and the geldings wondered if this could truly be. If this "list" really was. And then, while they were all still muttering to each other, a woman came in with a camera. One by one, she took their pictures. And one by one, as each mare and gelding took its turn in front of the camera, a very special thing began to happen. They looked into the camera and sent their love to it, so that whoever saw their pictures would know. Would know that their hearts were loving and their souls were pure. They began to believe. They began to hope.
After all, it was Thanksgiving at Camelot. (the rest of the story will be in the next newsletter, so stay tuned...)
***A little background on the Camelot auction***
It's held each week on Wednesday evening. The horses who are not sold to private buyers collect at the feedlot until there is a truckload. A truck that is ultimately Canada-bound, where horse slaughter is still legal. An army of dedicated volunteers works to evaluate, photograph, and network these horses - folks all over the country see the lovely pictures Sarah captures, and many do say "That's the one for me." Since the effort began in 2009, thousands of horses have been placed, and none have shipped to slaughter from this auction. An impressive record, considering EACH week there are 15-50 horses that remain in the pen after the last bidder goes home on auction night.
To order your copy(s) of the Horses and Hope Calendar, featuring over 100 of Sarah K. Andrew's photos of Camelot auction horses, click here. Remember, this is a gift that keeps on giving - 100% of PROFITS go to One Horse At A Time.
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Crappy Christmas gift ideas for horse lovers - prices REDUCED!
| If you are going to act like a TURD - Go lay in the YARD...
|  This goofy wood sign is a big hit every holiday season. It's surprisingly nice (if you can say that about something that refers to a turd). It's made of solid wood, screenprinted in multiple colors for a rustic look, and then framed with a raised edge (also in wood). It's got a hanger on the back, and measures an impressive 8.5" wide x 14.5" tall.
This is actually the first thing I go to when needing to choose an item for a White Elephant Gift exchange; it's surprisingly nice for the price (just under $20.) It always gets a chuckle, and is usually coveted by multiple gift openers before the game is over. You can order yours here.
By now you may be asking - why would we put a page full of products dedicated to HORSE MANURE on our website? The fact is, if you've got horses, you've got manure. And lots of it. Most of us accept this as a not-all-that-unpleasant aspect of horse ownership. City folk pay to go to the gym. I can clean stalls for free! It's a great fitness workout routine - 7 days a week. Do kennel owners have an endearing relationship with dog poop? I doubt it. But for horse folk, it's all part of the lifestyle. We've also got note pads and journals made with paper containing horse manure (don't worry - it's odorless)
 Another big hit is our MUCKING FABULOUS sweatshirt. Unfortunately, it's only available now in size small. Whenever we find a wonderful product that's produced by another company, we know there is a risk involved. If they decide to stop making it, then we are at their mercy. And that's the case with this one. DAV is famous for their high fashion brightly colored / patterned rubber boots. They were "discovered" by horsewomen wanting to make a statement while keeping their feet dry in the rain, mud and manure. For that crowd they came up with this jaunty pony-tailed gal and her manure fork, screenprinted on the back of a sweatshirt with the words "Mucking Fabulous". For all of us who think mud and manure is, well, fabulous. This slate grey, 100% cotton french terry zippered hoodie is a lighter weight fabric that's perfect for chilly days. We only have size SMALL left - so if you've got a small gal on your list who spends a lot of time cleaning stalls - this is the gift for her! We've marked it down by $15. to sweeten the deal here.
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Positive training advice - I felt compelled to clarify...
| A couple weeks ago in this newsletter, I shared some info about how I solved
|  a couple "REAL PROBLEMS" with my own horses.
In reviewing this particular newsletter after I had sent it, I realized that it could be construed by folks reading that I may really be lacking in the horse management skills department, especially if 2 of the 3 horses I currently own (and have owned for years) had issues just coming out of their stalls! Who would be impressed by the fact that I solved these problems using treats? Hmmm.
So I went digging for proof that I wasn't a total incompetent, and got a chuckle out of what I found. Here are a few shots of me and one season's winnings. I won't say how long ago these were taken, but I will say that I was very proud of my Dorothy Hamill haircut, which was all the rage in those days.
I could (and would) ride any horse without an ounce of fear. And well enough, apparently, that judges saw fit to give me ribbons. Other than the occasional clinic/lesson with an "expert", I trained all my horses myself. Including my first registered Arabian (which was a very big deal in those days). The only way I could afford such an "expensive" breed (my, how times have changed) was to buy an untouched 3-year-old stallion (who was still running with his dam) from somebody's backyard. My vet (also an Arabian breeder) found him for me - wrestled him into a trailer, gelded him, and delivered him to me - with literally just a day or two of handling. We went on to survive that, and he and I won most of the awards you see in these pictures in a variety of disciplines.
These days, things are a whole lot different. I could care less about a ribbon. I want my horses to be happy, and to enjoy interacting with me. Gone are the days where I justified meaningless drilling to attain a particular look - even if my horse hated it - because they lived a cushy life otherwise, and "owed" me their best efforts as repayment.
Once I made the decision to take the tools of pressure, coercion and punishment out of my toolbox (metaphorically speaking) I was left with a feeling of being clueless, lost, and often fearful. My horses realized it and worried about who was in charge. It's been an interesting journey, to say the least.
So, it's from this perspective that I offer up discussion of what I've discovered. And I have my horses to thank - all those years ago for humoring me when I wasn't very nice to them - and now for responding in ways I didn't know were possible AND for insisting that I stay this new course. There's a little more about my start on this journey here, more of my favorite books on the topic here, and the positive training items specifically are here.
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Recap from the last newsletter - here's what we talked about last time
| in the November 21st issue - Christmas is closer than you think!
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Our Horsey Holiday cards say MERRY CHRISTMAS and more here
Exotic gemstone necklace features 100+ year old Balinese coin here
Barefoot Hoof Products listed here
Snuggly Thermal Sherpa Lined hood is a big favorite here
New positive training products, revisiting old + using treats to solve REAL problems here
More about our research & development department here
Free excerpt - Sometimes a Woman Needs a Horse here
GOOD STUFF: Things aren't always what they appear here
NEW BOOKS- Good Ol' Cowgirl stories here
A Look at Life From the Saddle here
PAST NEWSLETTERS - see what you missed! - Click HERE to catch up on the news |
| More about HoofPrints - and miscellaneous ramblings from Gina | | Check out our NEW "GOOD STUFF" links at the bottom of this section! |  ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THIS NEWSLETTER
Farriers Greeting Cards was started by Gina Keesling in 1986 (in a very small way) to provide helpful promotional materials for farrier husband Rob. This newsletter is 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 more.
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This weeks quote is
In Times Like These
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The world is too big for us, too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race, in spite of yourself It's an incessant strain, to keep pace... and still, you lose ground.
Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you staggerbeneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world isnews seen so rapidly, you're out of breath trying to keep pace with who's in and who's out. Everything is high pressure.
Human nature can't endure much more!
~Atlantic Journal, June 16, 1833~
In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these"
~Paul Harvey~ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Thanks everyone, for reading!
Gina Keesling, owner
Contact Information
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| GOOD STUFF: Helping with holiday gift giving | |
It's probably a dumb idea to promote a service we offer that doesn't make
|  a single penny for the company. But it's one of those feel-good things that I'd like to share...
We offer to include a gift card at no charge should our customer be needing us to send the item directly to it's intended recipient. Probably the big companies have a clever computerized way to handle this, but we don't. It involves one of us choosing an actual card from our specially reserved stash, and hand-writing the requested sentiment for the recipient to read. It can get to be time-consuming, especially if it's a long message, or one with a lot of names that we need to make sure are spelled correctly, etc.
But we always appreciate being a part of a kind gesture between one person and another - even if it's two folks we don't even know. The Life is Short, Play with Your Dog T-shirt shown here was recently ordered by a woman, to be sent as a get-well gift to a friend who'd sustained a broken leg. She hurt herself PLAYING WITH HER DOG!
Another was a Horse Woman Sweatshirt from a gentleman, to his sister - with the sweetest message honoring her love of horses. And we've sent a whole bunch of Courage Mugs as gifts to women facing all manner of challenges. Probably the most awkward (at least for us) was processing the order for the farrier who ordered several Sleeping With A Farrier Night Shirts, each for a different woman.
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Share our emails
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Viral marketing... it sounds bad, doesn't it?
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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 to get started. (please note - using this form does NOT subscribe anyone to our list - it is a one-time only forward)
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