Last week, I posted the above card on HoofPrints Facebook page. Shortly a comment appeared from one of my husband's former horseshoeing clients:

HHA Rifraf was an Arabian Gelding who did look a lot like the horse in the picture. He was 34 when he died in 2011. He lived a long and happy life with Betty, who loved him dearly.
 

Shown at left is the very first version of the new Special Edition Great Horses Framed Verse. I had several feet of this lovely (and discontinued) embossed horse frame that I'd been saving for a special occasion.

It's available, customized with the wording of your choice, while supplies

last.

The original idea for the framed verse was borne out of a real tragedy. I had a customer call, wanting one of our Great Horses sympathy cards as a framed piece. Her horse, along with several others, had perished in a terrible barn fire. Her grief was obviously still overwhelming at the time of her call; she wept as she told the heartbreaking story.

I didn't offer that particular design framed, and it required special matting to fit the frame that she was wanting. I figured out a way to incorporate the ghosted horse image from the back of the card into the picture, and print 3 lines of custom information in the resulting space.

The product of these efforts is a stunning tribute to any horse - a lovely, relevant verse combined with an ethereal photograph of an obviously old horse bathed in heavenly light, set off with personal information of the beloved deceased. Click here to order the custom framed verse. We also have a full selection of equine sympathy cards here.

Are you POSITIVE? What would your horse(s) and dog(s) say?

Read how I solved real problems using positive methods:

If you've never tried positive reinforcement training, DON'T do what I did. I viewed it as a curious novelty - but never gave it much consideration. After all - I had kept horses and dogs my whole life - and pretty much had everybody doing what I asked. Without carrying around treats and risking being bitten. (I came from the crowd that thought that hand feeding created biters.)

It wasn't until Allie came along (and I was desparate for something that could help us get along) that I revisited the idea again. My first attempts have been awkward and full of mistakes - but nonetheless - what an amazing breakthrough! The proverbial "light bulb" came on - for both of us. Her distant attitude toward me warmed - and my appreciation for her tries grew. I won't go into method specifics here - there are lots of great references online here. I personally don't use a clicker - but instead substitute a word; "good". The idea is to create a marker that tells the animal when he or she is doing correctly - and that a tasty food reward is forthcoming for a job well done. For the record, I have not been bitten, either. They get pretty excited sometimes - but there are ways to teach them politeness that are effective and still maintain enthusiasm. Plenty of info online about that under mugging for treats.

My particular horsekeeping situation involves moving the horses from their stalls through the barn aisle and out a door to the pasture. Most days they are only in at night if it is bad weather, and they are eager to dash off to graze as soon as allowed. I don't usually put a halter on anybody - they know the way to the door and it's not likely they'll attempt to go any other direction. However, the charging out of the stalls is troublesome and dangerous. Jack, the Hackney pony, was OK to come out of his stall quietly, but once he got past me a bit he would "launch", and be at a gallop in the three strides it took to get to the door. NOT safe, as he would sometimes throw in a kick/buck along the way.

Both of these problems were solved so easily once I changed my way of thinking about how to manage them. Instead of correcting the wrong behavior, I stopped focusing on that and instead put my attention on rewarding the right behavior. It really was almost like magic.

After I introduced the hooded sweatshirt with this phrase, I had many requests for a T with the same logo. Finding good ladies shirts at wholesale pricing in ORANGE is a taller order than most would suspect. My own wardrobe is chock full of all manner of ladies t-shirts that I've gotten in as samples over the years. None of them passed my tests with flying colors. Either they were cut way too small, or were too short, or the sleeves were too tight (I HATE that - being restricted around the armpits). The ones that passed my "comfort test" were not very feminine - they just looked like men's shirts with skinnier collars and smaller sizing. It really was quite a dilemma. The ones I liked the most had limited color selection - and orange was out of the question, unless I wanted "safety orange" which is too gaudy for the effect I was trying to achieve. Then, as luck would have it, I got a spring catalog from a vendor who I'd previously not purchased from - their styles are very fashionable - young and hip - but most are in junior (read: TINY) sizes that we normal women can't hope to fit into. But this time was different - they have this wonderful soft ORANGE t-shirt - feminine cut, comfortable AND in sensible WOMENS sizes! I could hardly believe my good fortune. The fabric is soft, fashionable shade of orange - AND it launders great with no special care (I tested it myself). It's a cotton/poly blend that comes out of the dryer the same size it was when it went in! (can you tell I am excited?) It's a great price at just $14.95 each - or get some for your friends and pay only $39.00 for 3!

To order click here.

I TRAIN HORSES...

The rest of the story: 

Now, 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).

A while back 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.

 

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.

Half Price PRINTS are here - there are a lot of lovely prints languishing in drawers here that really should be hanging on folks' walls making them smile and beautifying their homes. Fall/winter is busy season here and I don't encourage print sales then - I don't have the extra time it takes to wrap these carefully for safe delivery. Now that Christmas is past, I've marked them way down now to sweeten the deal.

Last newsletter is  here   
ALL newsletters are here

Leather bound Bible is gift boxed - it's the bestselling NIV version with additional 12 pages of horse photos accompanied by inspirational thoughts and scripture verses.

I Make Horse Calls, More Horse Calls & Call Dr Tebow - She Makes Horse Calls (new) Books about living a dream with horses here

Check out this brass longear charm and more here

Read how/why here
Order here

Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly
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I love hearing from customers. You can contact HoofPrints owner Gina Keesling via email at gina@hoofprints.com

 

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