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HoofPrints Newsletter
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July 8, 2015
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HALF PRICE CARD SALE ENDS SOON!!
I hate it when companies have sales - and bombard your inbox every day...
- but it must be effective, because they all do it. Or maybe the person whose in charge of the email marketing needs something to do? Here at HoofPrints, I have plenty to do. In fact right now I should be working on a new sales brochure for fall. It's a monstrous project that is almost too scary to begin... so I busy myself with other things that could be deemed important - but ultimately won't be if the brochure doesn't get done. Anyway, I do want everyone to have a chance to try our cards for almost nothing... a pack of 10 is just $3.98! You have until midnight July 19. To order click here |
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ALL CHRISTMAS CARDS HALF PRICE Through July 19, 2015
 All fall and winter I take calls from budget-minded farriers and other equine professionals - trying to decide if it's worth the cost to send Christmas cards to their clients. If you're one of those - now might be the time to reconsider.
Anyone who has been getting this newsletter for very long probably has noticed that I'm not doing big sale promotions every time you turn around. I pretty much need to sell everything at regular price in order to stay in business. We are not Wal-Mart, and I hope that low prices are not the main reason folks shop at HoofPrints.com.
However, when I DO have sales, I try to make them memorable. And this one falls into that category, I hope. A special reward for those out there who are clever enough to anticipate how many cards they might need at Christmas time, AND organized enough to REMEMBER that they've already purchased them and WHERE they put them. That's not me. But I know you folks exist - I've heard stories...
This glorious sale ends July 19, some of the card designs are low inventory and will NOT be reprinted, so make your selections early. To see them click here.  I frequently get request specifically for cards that say MERRY CHRISTMAS. Shown above are 4 of our favorites that say just that. The one on the far left was actually painted BY A HORSE, and there's a story on the back that tells about the horse artist, along with a photo of him painting. #2 is a design that often doesn't get considered because folks don't realize how it works. It's got little slots cut through the paper so you can stick your own business card in there - looks just like they're holding it in their mouths! The white square and "YOUR BUSINESS CARD GOES HERE" is NOT printed on the card; you see the rest of the horses - the palomino wears a wreath around his shoulders. The back of this card shows the horses (and the dog's) backsides. It's really cute. FAVORITE HOLIDAY CARDS
It's always fun coming up with new designs, and these were no exception. First is #MRS
"Leaving the 8 tiny reindeer for Santa, Mrs Claus upgraded to a more powerful ride."
(Photo by Laura Cotterman)
Next is "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" Pictured is the blue-eyed miniature horse Harley. Baby Harley and his mom were rescued from the New Holland, PA horse auction by Project Sage Horse Rescue - this photo was taken there by Sarah Andrew. The New Holland auction is located in Amish country, and an awful lot of the horses sold there end up slaughter-bound. Many rescues do their work by outbidding kill buyers, rehabbing / training these horses and finding them good homes. Harley's all grown up now, and he's landed in a great home with Georgina Bloomberg - you can see a picture of him here.
Third is "Full yet? Nope." With the hay shortage much of the country is experiencing, this card may be anything but funny, but I decided to include it anyway. My own horses are gluttons, and quickly become "wide-bodies" if allowed unrestricted access to hay or pasture. Photographer Christina Handley tells us that these girls are expecting, so their cravings and portly statures are justified.
 Shown here is one of my favorites, and one of the few dog Christmas cards that HoofPrints offers. "May all your Christmas prayers be answered." features a lovely vintage photo of a little girl and her dog saying their prayers. This image came from a now defunct publisher, and I was never able to find any information about it. Then I stumbled upon this. There are subtle differences, but it's obviously the same photo. It says Russia, Circa 1908, but I don't know how to tell if the photo was taken in Russia. No matter where it was taken, it looks like a sweet, old-time bedroom, and I paired it with Laura Ingalls Wilder's words:
"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime."
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NATIONAL FARRIERS WEEK
Farriers work hard year-round to provide quality hoof care for horses worldwide.
17 years ago, to honor their dedication and service, American Farriers Journal created National Farriers Week. The Journal's "Farriers Spotlight" is an online-exclusive compilation dedicated to showcasing some of the many farriers in the industry. The farriers featured there were either submitted by members of the equine community worldwide, or were stories sent in by farriers about what they are doing in the industry.
There are plenty of photos, videos and anecdotes for you to read and see. Be sure to share this with your family and friends, and give your own "thank you" to our beloved farriers in the comments section here or on any of the individual farrier pages that follow. For more info click here  True to form with their reputation for posting excellent, useful equine care content, SmartPak is celebrating National Farriers Week in style with their latest blog post: "Sure, you already know the saying, "no hoof, no horse." We would add to that, "no farrier, no hoof!" Your hoof care professional is an invaluable member of your horse's health team, so don't forget to show your gratitude for his/her hard work during National Farriers Week!"To see SmartPak's top 10 tips for being a great client for your farrier, click here
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 ***ALL NEW***
Deluxe Assortments of Super High Quality Gift Wrap for Horse Lovers - 3 different styles to choose from!
These awesome gift wrap collections were designed by a lifelong horse owner, whose career happened to be in packaging design - so all the details are just right! Each assortment includes 8 pieces; everything you need to wrap up a hoard of gifts in horsey style.
There's a rich plaid with embossed foil horseshoe - Gold foil harlequin pattern with classic engraved horses- and rich tooled leather that looks and feels so real you can hardly believe it's paper and not genuine leather! Regular price on each of these assortments is over $30 - and they're ON SALE for just $19.95 here |
NEW! Cowgirls of the American West Note Cards
These blank note cards from are a big 5.5" x 7.25" and are printed on heavy, glossy paper. The insides are printed in color with western motifs, and the back of each card tells more about the work on the front and the artist who painted it. You also get 22 parchment textured envelopes that match the cards. These all come gift boxed in a lovely package that you'll probably want to keep once the cards are all used! See these and our other all-occasion cards here
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The Dollar Sale continues, but this time I've added a stash of ONE OF A KIND ITEMS! I know I just sent a newsletter a few days ago. Please bear with me as I have a bit of a clutter conniption. I promise I won't make a habit of it...
This week, at a time when most normal people were gearing up for a fun holiday weekend, for some reason I was spazzing over all the clutter in the warehouse. In a fit of relative craziness, I've marked some pretty good stuff down to $1.00 or less. A lot of it sold already, but I replaced with more! There are now about a dozen ONE OF A KIND things on the Half Price Page that are insanely good deals at half price or below. Some are discontinued so not to be had anywhere else at any price! To see them click 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 samples* - so many wonderful things, 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.
*A note about the samples - Someone made a comment on the HoofPrints Facebook page that the samples are free to me and implied should thus be priced accordingly. Just to set the record straight - I pay for almost every sample I acquire. Occasionally an author or publisher will send me a book unsolicited, but I prefer to buy these anonymously so if I review and don't think it is a good fit for the product line, I don't feel guilty about not including it.
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.
Half Price JEWELRY is here
The more I got to digging, the more I found. Jewelry doesn't take up much room - suffice to say there is a LOT of lovely stuff that needs to find a new home. Then there's that whole problem I have with the beads. It's getting worse. Stay tuned for details on that.
Half Price Books & Magazine Back Issues are here
This represents a major turning point for HoofPrints owner Gina Keesling. This treasure trove of magazine back issues has been lovingly collected and hoarded for many, many years. It's getting to be a space problem, keeping them all stored AND due to the sheer volume of them, along with my busy schedule, they rarely get any attention. But even now, as I go through them to write sales descriptions, I am feeling sad at the prospect of letting go of this vast collection of pictures and articles about all the things I love - Horses, Dogs, Farriery and Blacksmithing, The West, Pretty Western Clothes and Jewelry, Awesome Country Homes, Recipes for Hearty Food, Healthy Living, Spirituality and more. I'll do my best to mention the content that stands out to me in the descriptions. Prices on these back issues reflect the fact that I am still very much in love with them, however they are at or below what the publishers are charging. The current sales list is small, but I'll be adding more as I am able; going through these is a slow process, as you can imagine, I get sidetracked frequently by all the fascinating content that lead me to hoard these in the first place.
The 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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Here's what we talked about last time
Last newsletter is here ALL newsletters are here
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GINA'S BLOG
Fun on the Farm
read the latest happenings in the Keesling household, involving construction, destruction, remodeling adventures and general wreckage here
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NEW! Tuff Chix CHORE GLOVES
great for grooming, building fence, baling hay and other farm chores, gardening, and even riding! To order, click here
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HoofPrints
BARN BLADE
Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly
Order here
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TREAT POUCHES IN TWO COLORS!
Perfect for your phone, keys, horse treats, and more (one HoofPrints customer tells us she uses her's to carry her .38 on late night trips to the barn! Whatever the use, it's a great deal at only $19.95! Order here |
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I Make Horse Calls Books
"I was so grateful for the care the gentle senior student took with Pischka that day. ... I will not forget the thoroughness of that student, and would emulate her when I entered practice. I would never dismiss an owner's complaint, because I remember how I felt when vets dismissed Pischka's illness, never trying to find out what made Pischka so sick." -from Horse Calls, available here
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DON'T do it yourself
FARRIER COASTERS
No farriers were harmed in the making of these coasters. To order click here
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Look Professional
On The Job
Sturdy cotton golf shirts look and feel great! See our complete selection here
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Farriers Traveling Desk
Corral your paperwork on the road! And it's HALF the cost of the previous version here
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Don't Look Back
That's Not Where You're Going - Inspirational Necklace only $14.95 here
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MADE IN USA:
A CRAPPY MUG!
Same sh*t different day
mug here
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The Natural Superiority of Mules
Brand new updated second edition covers everything you ever wanted to know about mules. Order here
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The Doctor is In Horse Thermometer
Measures a big 17" tall and under $15.00! Order here
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This Hug's For You
Equine Sympathy Cards here
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SUMMER HORSEY Ts
3 Summery Horsey T-shirts less than $15 each here!
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MADE IN USA
Secret Box
Nifty little wood box has a lid that fits so neatly that it's virtually invisible when closed. A real deal at only $19.95 here
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Message
I love hearing from customers. You can contact HoofPrints owner Gina Keesling via email at gina@hoofprints.com |
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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 the company 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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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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"While you're here, would you mind trimming my new BLM Mustang?"
