Our First Horse

A belated Merry Christmas to all (and if you don’t celebrate Christmas, we hope you had a great day, too). We’ve been busy this Christmas season and I have to admit we didn’t hang stockings for our horses or do anything really special for them this year besides feeding them peppermint horse snacks Christmas day. We did give (and receive) various horse/western gifts. How about you? Did you do anything special for your horses this year? Any interesting horse gifts?

We can all sit around and talk about all the research you should do before buying a horse, but you and I know that’s not how it usually happens. Somebody wants a horse desperately and you see an ad in the paper and whammo, you’re shoveling horse poo 24 hours later. Sure, fancy horse people (nothing against them, mind you) buy horses like wine aficionados buy wine, but the rest of us buy on looks. “Oh, look at that pretty horse, honey!” So here’s a top-ten list of reasons to justify going out and buying that pretty horse you’ve been dreaming about…this weekend:

1. If you’re a married woman, your husband owes you big for something. Now’s your turn to cash in! If need be, remind him of how sad it made you when he bought that laser-guided compound miter saw he failed to mention. It’s all about communication, after all.
2. Housing prices are going up and everything is getting more expensive with inflation, so horse prices must be going up too! Buy now before prices go up!
3. As Willie Nelson pointed out, thousands of unwanted horses are being slaughtered every year. You need to rescue one right away.
4. Similar to reason 1, your husband has been itching to build something. It’s probably just an excuse to buy more tools, but give him reason to buy into this whole horse thing. You’ll need a barn and a fence and a run-in shed…
5. It’s a great excuse to buy a one-ton dually 4×4. You’ll need it to pull a horse trailer.
6. It’s good for the kids. Horses help teach kids about responsibility and hard work. You do want what’s good for the kids, don’t you?
7. You’re not getting any younger and the older you get, the more it hurts when you fall off a horse.
8. All the cool kids have horses. Actually that’s not true. All the rich kids and the not-so-rich kids who are now poor kids because they bought a horse, have them. But owning a horse does raise your “cool” score a few points.
9. Your healthcare savings account (HSA) expires December 31st. Use it or lose it!
10. It’s Christmas! A horse would definitely qualify as that “one big present”.

Disclaimer: ourfirsthorse.com takes no responsibility for your impulse horse purchasing decision. 🙂

We’re animal people. We snuggle with our dogs at night and hug our horses when they come in at night. Every Christmas it’s always been a tradition of ours to have a Christmas stocking for each of our dogs. Inside we…I mean Santa…puts doggie treats, maybe a new collar, etc. This is our first Christmas with our horses and I’m wondering what to do for Valentine and Moonshine. Maybe we should buy two of those giant stockings and fill them with horse goodies. We could stuff them with Stud Muffins, peppermint treats, new grooming combs, his and her horse Santa hats and Tractor Supply gift cards!

But why wait? Bill found a really great site and he made the mistake of sending me the link. It’s called Cafe Press and they have a really neat concept. You find a design you like (they have over 23,500 designs for “horse lovers!”) and put it on a choice of items, such as T-shirts, hoodies, coffee cups, tote bags, calendars, journals, clocks, ornaments – dozens of choices that vary with the design you choose. Their prices are reasonable and the designs are just great. Some are beautiful, some are funky, some are witty. I like the witty ones myself, such as “I do my own stunts” with a cartoon silhouette of a rider thrown from his horse (see below). These were also my favorites, although I certainly haven’t viewed all 23,500 – yet:

“All I Need to Know In Life I Learned from My Horse” (you have to read that one)

“If this shirt is clean I haven’t been to the barn yet”

“Horses are only afraid of two things – things that move, and things that don’t.”

“Thank you for flying Air Amateur…” (you have to read that one too!)

“I’m being raised in a barn” (for kids, of course – or not)

And my personal favorite (click for products with this image):

Good advice, there!

And here is Bill’s favorite (click for products with this image):

Bill: “I have been there! It’s funny because it’s true. I’ll write about my stunt incident sometime soon.”

What’s your favorite? Happy shopping!