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HoofPrints Newsletter
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April 18, 2013
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ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THIS NEWSLETTERFarriers Greeting Cards was started by Gina Keesling in 1986 (in a very small way) to provide helpful promotional materials for farrier husband Rob. Along the way we became HoofPrints.com, too, adding a selection of fun horse and dog products geared toward women of a certain age. 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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BARN Girl spotted in Outer Mongolia!
 I love seeing HoofPrints garments on folks out riding their horses - much better than sitting here on the shelves. This one turned up on Facebook and it's got a special story. Shown above are R.T. (center) and Terry Fitch (right) with an unknown guide - in Outer Mongolia. R.T.'s an author, and Terry's an equine photographer, together they make a formidable team as advocates for wild horses everywhere. This trek took them to the unspoiled wilderness of Outer Mongolia - to document the reintroduction of the world's most primitive specimen of the wild horse. I'm honored that Terry chose our sturdy BARN Girl sweatshirt for the journey. More about their adventure is here.  In case you missed BARN Girl, it's an embroidered logo using this cute graphic of a gal hefting a bale of hay - while eager horses rip mouthfuls out - created by talented horse artist Lesley Bruce. Lesley's BARN girl is also featured as "Miss Four O'Clock" on our Time to Go To The Barn Clock here. The black sweatshirt that Terry's wearing above utilizes a lovely cotton fabric that's printed all over with what looks like a massive stack of hay bales; that's sewn inside the letters B-A-R-N and intricately embroidered with the struggling girl and her greedy horses. The sweatshirt itself is trimmed in coordinating pale gold piping, and the hood is lined in gold. It's pricey at almost $60., but a lot have sold with nothing but praise coming from our customers. And this is not some wimpy number that needs pampering in the laundry. It's colorfast, washer and dryer safe, and it comes out the same size it was when you put it in. It's going to be tough to sell you all black SWEATSHIRTS with temps approaching the 80's these days, so do consider the lighter weight zip-up hoodie, too. You can see them both here
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MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA
A Woman's Place is on A Horse!
What mom doesn't want to get out of the house and onto a horse?
This sparkly pink gift bag is sturdy, durable, and UNDER $5.00! It measures a handy 9 "x 4" x 12" (not counting the handles) When I posted a picture of it on HoofPrints Facebook page, a customer immediately chimed in: "I love this bag! It's just the right size for my lunch, or shoes + a big bottle of my favorite flavored water. And, since I carry a giant tote anyway, it takes up no room to have it folded and available when I need it, Plus -- it's pink; what more needs to be said?" ~Jenne You can see this, and a sweatshirt that matches, along with all our other Horsewoman products here.
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HALF PRICE BOOKS!
Spring cleaning continues at HoofPrints
My efforts to clear the warehouse (and my house- house) of accumulated oddball products continues to gain momentum. I've written about it before. The point continues to be, sometimes the space becomes more valuable than the items that are occupying it. So this is where most places say... "our loss is your gain!" Well, check out this super-cheap stuff and BUY IT. And your gain will be my gain, too. Because I need that space on the shelf.
The Half Price Page is here - check this often as they're one-of-a-kind things that will sell quickly and be replaced with whatever else starts to get on my nerves. I am currently going through a large stash of sample books - so many wonderful titles, it's hard to choose just a handful for the catalog. And the rest have got to go! Only one of each available so act fast if you see something you like.
Our Closeouts Page is here - it features items that are being phased out - still lots of good deals to be had there, too.
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Wikipedia tells us that Unsolved Mysteries used a documentary format profiling real-life mysteries and featured reenactments of unsolved crimes, missing persons, conspiracy theories and unexplained paranormal phenomena (alien abductions, ghosts, UFOs, and "secret history" theories). Not my normal choice of entertainment, but for some reason I always found it riveting. And after all these years, I can still hear the show's music in my head.
Anyway , shown at left is the winner of the unsolved mysteries contest around here. Most of what goes on behind the scenes here at HoofPrints is pretty ordinary. The warehouse is a modest pole barn behind our house, stocked with used grocery store shelving, the floors littered with sleeping dogs... Here I keep an inventory of all the items in our catalog - waiting for folks like you to order it and I ship it on it's way. I order product from vendors, they send it out - UPS or USPS brings it. I unpack, inspect, package and put the items away on the shelves so they're ready to pull and pack for shipment. Not too exciting. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. This shipment from an author was supposed to a box full of books. It had taken a long time to get here, and I was glad when it showed up - as we had a lot of orders holding for that particular title. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found not books, but a sleeping bag, dirty clothes, tennis shoes, flip flops and what looked like a Halloween costume - complete with REAL BONES sewn on. Ewww. Postal inspectors got pretty excited about the bones (thinking they might be human) and sent the coroner out to get the whole works. Luckily I snapped some lovely photos before they took it away. Later I learned that the bones are animal bones. It showed up here a couple weeks after Halloween, and I thought it was a pretty good/macabre costume idea - no one else around here shared my sentiments. The label on the box is the actual one from the book author. Somewhere between here and Texas, it was removed from their package (along with the sticker that shows that the postage was paid) and taped to this box. The package was sent via Media Mail (Book Rate) which is a cheaper way that doesn't include tracking... so how this happened is a total mystery. It's been a couple years, but I am still hoping someone recognizes these items and comes forward with some info. More pictures of what was in the box are here.
Here's another unsolved mystery. Two books and a card were delivered via UPS in a box that was previously used to ship one of HoofPrints orders. The label for the real recipient (Lisa) was missing and tracking yielded no clues. So here we have a sweet 50th birthday gift for Lisa from Shaul that never made it to the intended recipient. I tried hard to find where this package should have gone - and there were just no clues. I was sad because Lisa didn't get her gift - and worried that Shaul would get his feelings hurt if she didn't thank him. It's been a couple years on this one, too, but maybe the networking power of Facebook can help us sort it out. More info with a closeup of the inscriptions in the books/card are here.
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Last time I talked about scrapbooking, and pictured an example of a page I made for my Billy using the Horses and Hope Calendar pages as backgrounds. Below that was supposed to be Roany, a treasured appaloosa pony who carries his owner through a variety of classes at the county 4-H fair. Somehow the Billy page got repeated. Above is the Roany page (sorry about that)
This is the creation of my son's girlfriend Sarah Hardin. She's made great use of a variety of ephemera - integrating items from our Cowgirl Scrapbook Kit - letters, ribbons, horsehead paper clip, etc. along with her own special objects; a 1st place blue ribbon, a lock of Roany's braided hair, and a touch of glitter... In the background is Horses and Hope Calendar's March (2012) which states:
"Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person."
-quote by Richard Buckminster Fuller
There are a few Horses and Hope Calendars left here. 100% of the proceeds from these goes to help horses in need via One Horse At A Time
 Here's another picture of Sarah & Roany. I featured them in my article:
What's the real value of that horse?
"All horses have value" and it would seem that statement could come off sounding idealistic and unrealistic...
...but no place can you see horses and ponies of immeasurable value than at a County Fair. I spent 10+ years in 4H when I was growing up, and at that time failed to realize what an incredibly precious group these horses were. Often times, in our area, rural kids would get a horse or pony - a family that had no previous experience - and they'd join 4H. What you'd think was a disaster waiting to happen - most times wasn't. Nobody knew the "right" way to do things, but they did the best they could and everything worked out. Last summer, I had the pleasure of attending the 4H Horse & Pony Show at the Madison County fair here in Indiana. Sarah is a longtime member and was participating. She's shown here with Roany, the two just having won their bareback class. Roany's unregistered; Sarah's family purchased him from a dealer for a modest sum a few years ago. He quietly carried her to a win in their bareback class, only to kick it up a notch later that day to garner some impressive times in gaming classes. The next day he was a steady hunter under saddle. In looking around the grounds that day, it was easy to spot the kids whose families were seriously into showing. Nice horses, expensive tack, polished appearance, etc. I could count on one hand the pairs that fit that description. The rest were just regular horses - the kind who might not bring $100 on a slow night at the sale. And I watched those "regular horses" cart kids carefully around the arena, safely through crowds of people and baby strollers, etc. It had been raining, and many folks had umbrellas. Ever show your horse an open umbrella? Most definitely need convincing that it's not going to eat them. I didn't see a single horse or pony shy at anything that day. And believe me, there was plenty of strange stuff there. I watched kids in the costume class with everything from cow udders to flower boxes fastened on their horses, who took it all in stride, barely batting an eye. At this stage in my life, I'll take one of those unremarkable regular horses over a show ring winner any day. And I suspect most folks who truly love horses feel the same way.
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RECAP - From the last newsletter
Here's what we talked about last time:
Crazy Dog Stories & Dog Scrapbooks hereI'm Listening With A Broken Ear hereDon't Dump The Dog hereBad Dog - A Love Story hereNew Home Page just for FARRIERS herePony Girl Sweat & Trapper Hat 50% OFF hereCrappy Products hereBUCK DVD HALF PRICE hereBeautiful Jim Key book a true story here
PAST NEWSLETTERS - See what you missed! Catch up on the news here
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COFFEE & DOG HAIR
I NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THEM16 oz Ceramic Travel Mug with leakproof lid only $16.95 here |
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BELOW HALF PRICE!
"Hug" clay plaqueRegular price $14.50 now only $4.99 here |
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A CRAPPY CLOCK
Time To Go To The Barn Clock here |
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How to Handle Stress
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Silver Dog Whistle
Solid Sterling Silver Whistle on waxed cotton cord here |
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TURD SIGN
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SAME SH*T
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WHAT'S HALF PRICE?
I'm Still Hot!
It' Just Comes In Flashes Now Bracelet here |
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HALF PRICE!
Underwater DogsCalendar on sale here |
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PROTECT THIS DOG
Pewter Medallions for DogsSize Large and Small here |
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We have it! The old classic print FOUND
12x16 Print available here
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WHAT'S NEW?
SALE on Spring T's
3 Springy Horsey T-shirts less than $14 each here! |
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WHAT'S ON SALE?
~ Closeouts ~
Select Farrier Sportswear here |
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IT'S BACK!
Courage Mug
The manufacturer sold out of this mug this fall, and many of you were disappointed when you tried to order. We've since found a replacement that is even better. To order click here |
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WHAT'S NEW?
~ for Horsewomen ~
Horsewoman's Long Tall List of Things to Do here
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Message
We LOVE hearing from our customers. You can contact HoofPrints owner Gina Keesling via email at gina@hoofprints.com |
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Find us on facebook
Be sure to LIKE our facebook page - it's where we announce special sales, breaking news and everything else we find interesting. To see it go here |
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Our Current Catalog
Request your copy of HoofPrints Catalog by clicking here |
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ANOTHER GREAT MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA!
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I featured the quote below in a newsletter last year - because Mother's Day was upcoming. The response was tremendous - from women who needed to read those words, or knew someone else who needed to read them. We located the publisher - so we could make the book available to our customers. WARNING! The book is not one bit horsey - no mention of equine anywhere. This sweet little hardcover book has a presentation plate in the front - makes a great gift. It's illustrated throughout in sepia-toned photos, and is an inspirational read that's not too heavy/deep. To order click here. Below is an excerpt:
The Invisible Woman: A Special Story for Mothers
"It started to happen gradually. One day I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, 'Who is that with you, young fella?' 'Nobody,' he shrugged. Nobody? The crossing guard and I laughed. My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street I thought, 'Oh my goodness, nobody?'
I would walk into a room and no one would notice. I would say something to my family - like 'Turn the TV down, please' - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, 'Would someone turn the TV down?' Nothing.
Just the other night my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, 'I'm ready to go when you are.' He just kept right on talking.
That's when I started to put all the pieces together. I don't think he can see me. I don't think anyone can see me.
I'm invisible. It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible.
Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.
She's going... she's going... she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.'
That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women."
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Share our emails
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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 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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