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HoofPrints Newsletter
October 20, 2015
Rob shoeing Rocky
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. 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.
Two brand new Christmas Card designs are at the printers and will be ready to ship shortly! I am so excited about these - and judging from the early sales, you all are, too. I'd like to say I spent hours and hours reviewing thousands of photos, and that these are the product of months of careful consideration. But the truth is, fall always sort of sneaks up on me, and I'm suddenly realizing that if I want to add any new card designs, I had better get busy! All four of these new ones are here because professional photographers are extremely accommodating, AND HoofPrints Facebook fans are super encouraging, and helpful as far as coming up with great wording to go with the cards.
First is Putting Heart & Sole into Happy? Holiday Wishes...
This one was a little tricky because I had mixed feelings about picturing a situation where somebody could get hurt. However, the story behind this dog and his relationship with Harry the Belgian really wanted to be told. I figured you all could weigh in your vote by your purchasing decisions anyway. Here's the story:

Photo is by Christina Handley - an award winning equestrian photographer who lives in Canada. Christina and her husband Boyd live on a working farm in Ontario, and her photos reflect real life in agriculture and with horses. They own draft horses, beef cattle and a myriad of other farm animals, housed on lovely picturesque acres that include traditional farm outbuildings; we see them all immortalized via her camera.

Her appreciation and reverence for the rural lifestyle is apparent in the sensitivity of her images, and this series is no exception. At first blush, it might seem that Border Collie/Heeler Dingo may be headed into something serious, but Christina tells me that Harry the Belgian's threatening gestures are just an act, and that the two of them have carried on like this for years. Originally a rescue, Dingo has honed his skills through his job as Handley Acres' chief herd dog - helping to move cows between pastures, and being a top hand when calves are doctored or weaned.

At eight years old, Dingo's role on the Handley farm is a productive one. But it didn't start out that way. As a feral four month old puppy, he had to be trapped in order to be rescued. He'd missed the socialization opportunities that are so important for a dog to learn how to get along with humans; he was both fearful and aggressive. Boyd and Christina patiently worked with him, gave him a job and now he is a well-adjusted, happy farm dog!
Inside the card features a photo of Dingo and Harry taking a break. It says: If the holidays start to make you cranky, find a friend & kick up your heels..  or take a nice break instead! You can see that photo and if you're so inclined, order the card here.
Next is Could it be Church Bells on high; Like Anvils Ringing - The Laughter of Children, or Carolers Singing? that fills our Hearts with Christmas Cheer...
This one's art is from a vintage Raphael Tuck & Sons Oilette Postcard; "Merry Winter". It was originally printed in England circa 1912
The verse by Rob Keesling. Inside says: As we celebrate Christ's Birthday; Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. To see closeups of this card, click here

Protect this Rider Necklace
MADE IN USA: 
Protect this Rider... and the Horse she rode in on

Pewter Pendant from Sweet Bird Studio
is made in USA, and hangs on a beefy ball chain. Sweet Bird's stuff is awesome, and I have fawned over it for a long time, but she works in sterling silver mostly, and with found objects, antique imprinted tin, stones, baubles, etc - so her stuff is expensive AND one of a kind. More appropriate for an upscale boutique where customers can see in person than for catalog sales.
So, I was delighted to learn that this hand-stamped PROTECT THIS RIDER medallion is being produced in pewter. This is a great little company and we are proud to support them. 

In the words of the owner Nancy Anderson:
"Stand for something. Release the brakes. Be your own hero. Tell kids they have the power to change the world. Go outside and get dirty. Rethink the idea of cool. Remember when cool meant different? Turn off the cell phone and have a conversation with the person next to you. Legalize freedom by causing a riot in your soul. Write your own eulogy. NOW live it. 
And when you're going through hell, keep going. Via Con Dios..." -Nancy  
  Protect this horse medallion Cherri
Since my office and warehouse are here on the farm in central Indiana, there are some weeks that I never leave the place. But I get to vacation "vicariously" via friends like Cherri. 
Shown here is Cherri's horse Gilbert - he's wearing a PROTECT THIS HORSE medallion on his bridle. Cherri is gracious enough to share her awesome trail ride vacation pictures with her Facebook friends, and from the looks of some of those challenging trails, she and Gilbert certainly needed their medallions!


These make great gifts - more than just horsey jewelry - but a reminder that the giver wants the recipient(s) to stay safe from harm. Something they'll think about every time they wear it. To order Protect This Horse & Protect This Rider medallions click here
PROTECT THIS DOG medallions are here.
copper hoofprint bracelet
The Copper HoofPrint Healing Bracelet is a unique gift choice 
It's made of turquoise, coral, brass, nickel and yak bone! Actually this bracelet is made in Tibet (hoofprint charm in USA) and the Tibetan people believe that such organic components have healing properties. Certain materials are thought to improve circulation and promote the flow of healing energies through the body.

Here's what I found specifically about yak bone:
"Bone is used in practice because the more we contemplate death the more fruitful our life becomes. We begin to live life differently and accept that death is inevitable while the path to the end of this life is about service to others, loving all, and being happy (without the pursuit of happiness) in each moment...through the supposed good and bad. 
Yak is an important animal in Tibet as they are used as packing animals for the nomadic tribes and to honour their passing they are used in practice. Continuing to be of service as they pass from this consciousness to another." from DestinationOM

Whether you believe this is a valid idea or not, this is still a pretty cool bracelet. It's rugged looking with it's chunky beads (they're about 3/8" across) and the braided portion is designed to slide so you can adjust it to fit just right. To see this and all our other hoof jewelry, click here
Barn Blade Pink Knife
This anodized aluminum knife is just what horsewomen have been waiting for! Here's a great knife to take riding or to the barn - that the guys won't cabbage onto because it's PINK! It's a good, sensible size (4" closed, 7" open) to carry and use. The spring steel clip on the back lets you hang it on the inside of your pocket so you can get to it without fishing around, and the special notch with a protected second blade lets you cut hay strings in a jiffy without ever opening your knife! The blackened stainless steel blade has an easy-open knurled grip in case (heaven forbid) you need it quickly to cut someone loose. Horsemen (and women) should always carry a knife when working around horses, and this one is perfect for the job!
The HoofPrints Barn Blade is only $19.95 but it was PRICELESS for one HoofPrints customer - here's her story: 
quotation mark left
The barn I board at has about 75 horses. I'm also a working student and I volunteer at a horse rescue. Between being in the fire department and being a trail guide out in Colorado 10 years I always carry a knife. My Leatherman walked away so I got the pink one because it was distinctive and I liked the inscription. It's mostly hung out in my pocket until last night.

When new horses come to the rescue they start out in the quarantine barn for 2 weeks just to be safe. We just got 2 and I hadn't met them yet. I was in the office thawing (I know Maryland isn't as bad as a lot of places but this week has been nuts) when someone said the handyman needed help up at quarantine because one of the new ones was cast. I grabbed my trainer and we drove up so we'd have the headlights. She had gotten wedged against the stall door and when he opened it to try to help her, her head and front legs came out the door and she got completely stuck. My talent lies in calming horses down so I talked to her while we tried to figure out how to help. She broke the wall so we were moving boards and buckets and anything else.

She was wearing 2 blankets layered, really nice strong ones, and we had to cut them off so she could move enough to get free. It took 5 of us 45 minutes at least, and she didn't have a scratch on her. It could have gone so wrong. We just kept saying thank God I had a good knife. For now we're calling her Angel - she is gorgeous, a big grey, the size 84 blanket was snug. She is so regal though. Once she gets some weight on I cannot wait to see what she becomes. So thank you for helping us save her. I really thought she was going to get badly enough injured that we'd lose her. Lots of power in a little pink package " -Laura R, MD

To order a barn blade click here 

Clean Up CLOSEUP
MORE ITEMS ADDED to HALF PRICE SALE!
Clutter busting continues at HoofPrints

My efforts to clear the warehouse (and my 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 samples* - so many wonderful things, it's hard to choose just a handful for the website/flyer. And the rest have got to go! Only one of each available so act fast if you see something you like. The image shown here is what was available at the time this newsletter was sent. All prices on this page are at least 50% off retail.

*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.

Copper HoofPrint Pony Bead Bracelets - colors 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 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 overstocks, items that are being phased out - still lots of good deals to be had there, too
In This Issue
Here's what we talked about last time
What Did I Miss? graphic
Last newsletter is  here   
ALL newsletters are here
These just in...

Check out new products here
When they're gone - they're gone...

Don't miss one you've been wanting - sadly, some favorites have been discontinued with no replacement - see them here
Horse Eye Necklace

Available in four colors here
DON'T do it yourself
FARRIER COASTERS

No farriers were harmed in the making of these coasters. To order click here
MADE IN USA
Secret Box
Horse 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
PONY GIRL'S ON THE LABEL!
Horse Woman's Balm
Horsewoman's Balm
A great product that DOES WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO!
Order here
Courage doesn't always roar...
Courage Pink Mug
sometimes courage is that quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "i will try again tomorrow." To order click here
NEW! Horsey Gift Wrap Assortments

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!
More info here 
MADE IN USA
Tooled Leather Bracelet

Features braided rawhide, engraved heart and fancy buckle. Only $19.95 here 
It's Back! HOLLYWOOD HOOFBEATS

New updated version
includes 10 more years of horse movies - to order click  here
HALF PRICE AND PRINTED IN USA: "Pharaoh's Horses"
Pharaoh's Horses with type
20x26 Print with history and trivia article included is available here
PRINTED IN USA:
This Hug's For You

Equine Sympathy Cards here
Silver Dog Whistle
Dog Whistle
Solid Sterling Silver Whistle on waxed cotton cord here 
Message
Gina Keesling with Clydesdale
I love hearing from customers. You can contact HoofPrints owner Gina Keesling via email at [email protected]
 
GINA'S BLOG
Fun on the Farm

read the latest happenings in the Keesling household, involving construction, destruction, remodeling adventures and general wreckage here
Find us on facebook
facebook logo
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
 

HoofPrints is SO SMALL...  
well, it couldn't BE any smaller than it is 
(one person).

Farriers Greeting Cards was started by Gina Keesling (me) 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. Long story here. For years I tried to make the company seem "bigger" - so as to compete with the thick horsey catalogs that showed up in my own mailbox almost daily.

But I finally stopped trying to be something I am not. As I have gotten older and less energetic, it's been of paramount importance to streamline the operation so that I can continue to focus on procuring the unique and inspirational products that you all seem to love. Special thanks are in order, also, to my dear husband Rob, and his mom Judy - who help me get the products onto the shelves (folding and packaging) as well as back off and into boxes on their way to customers during times.

The all new website is the latest (and one of the biggest/scariest) steps in that direction. It streamlines a lot of data entry that previously took hours, freeing me up for more important tasks. But the "smallness" doesn't stop in the HoofPrints warehouse (which is a pole barn behind my house in the middle of a cornfield). I use an outside call center to answer my order line 24/7. Call Center Plus is not some detached entity in a foreign land that can't do much but frustrate callers. No, CCP is a small business success story of it's own. This company began as a home-based business in a Utah, USA bedroom loft by a single mom with zero business experience - as a means of supporting her children while still being home with them. The odds of succeeding suggest that any one of those factors would be cause for failure. However the odds of success never went up against someone with as much faith, determination, and imagination as Ilene Christensen.

When her business outgrew the loft, in order to still be home with her children and to keep overhead low, Ilene converted part of her garage into office space. With shear grit, determination, and prayer, she continued to grow the business. A call center requires the use of sophisticated equipment, so out of necessity she also learned about computer hardware, software, and servers. She became an IT specialist as she learned to build, troubleshoot, repair, and program computers. You can read about the latest news at CCP here .

And the "smallness" doesn't stop here, either. It continues with many of the products that HoofPrints stocks on our "middle of a cornfield" warehouse shelves.

So, instead of offering discount prices to entice you all to buy, I like to share some of my favorite products, and encourage you to support small business with your shopping dollars. ~G 
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 to get started. (please note - using this form does NOT subscribe anyone to our list - it is a one-time only forward)