You are listening to the Horse Radio Network, part of the Equine Network Family.

What a beautiful day for horses in the morning.

You are listening to the number one horse podcast in the world.

Here is your entertaining look at the horse world and the people in it.

Julie I'm Julie Broadway, President at the American Horse Council.

And I'm Emily Stearns, health, welfare and regulatory affairs liaison for the American Horse Council.

And you are listening to the special monthly American Horse Council episode of Horses in the Morning on the Horse Radio Network for Tuesday, December 3, 2024.

Good Morning Horse world.

It's time to hear from the American Horse Council in this monthly episode of Horses in the oh, Emily, the holidays are fast approaching and I'm so excited about today's episode as there are so many cool gift giving ideas for the horse lover or the horse enthusiast out there.

Books, retail items, excursions.

Like going to a dude ranch.

Wouldn't that be so much fun for the holidays?

Tickets to an event like the National Finals Rodeo or the Derby, or just a gift of what I call love to a needed equine nonprofit.

And again, we're not just talking for horse owners, but enthusiasts, participants, maybe even your niece or nephew that you're hoping to turn into a horse crazy kid.

And before we get going with our guests today, we thought it would be great to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

What do horse people want for the holidays?

So to do that, we roped the American Horse Council staff into sharing what's on their holiday list this year.

So Julie, let's start with you.

What's on your list?

Okay, so I'm a very pragmatic person, which means I have three price levels for my gift ideas.

So at the top of the list, the most expensive, of course is going to be I would love another Morgan English pleasure horse.

Wee, big, big bucks there.

Probably not going to happen under my Christmas tree this year.

Secondly would be if I would love if the horse industry would make a significant donation to the American Horse Council Foundation.

We've got some great research and initiatives going on, but we need some funding so that would be on the top of my list too.

On the bottom of my list, I need new riding gloves.

Most of you probably know my riding gloves have seen a lot of sweat and a lot of miles and they've probably gotten a little sticky and stiff.

So that's a cheap little gift, Emily, but that's probably what I'll see in my Christmas stocking.

Oh, great idea.

It's going to be hard to fit that horse in Santa's bag, I'm thinking I would like.

Well, as you may or may not know, we've got this farm we're putting together.

So other than having someone come refense all my paddocks, I would love a brand new pair of insulated bibs.

I need winter bibs.

I'm out there mugging stalls.

I would love some warm, cozy bibs.

Is that.

Is that a tractor supply kind of item?

Is that a.

It definitely could be.

You know, I'm really kind of brand neutral.

As long as they fit and they're.

Starting where we're at at this point.

Fair enough.

So next up, we have Brigid Shea, who handles our legislative affairs.

Hi, Bridget.

Hi there.

I would like Santa to arrange for a professional photo shoot of my mayor.

She's absolutely gorgeous, and my iPhone does not do her justice.

So that's what I'm hoping for.

Okay, Bridget, we gotta ask.

What kind of horse do you have?

She is a registered elite Hanoverian mayor from the Virginia Tech program.

She's a redhead, and in so many.

Ways, I really love that you have.

To have elite in there as the describer.

Oh, that sounds like a lot.

That sounds like a lot of personality and attitude to me, Bridget.

Wow.

All that and then some.

All right, so heading over to Ashley.

Harkins, our American Horse Council Operations manager.

Ashley, what's on your list?

Okay, so I'm totally going to be the one that gets a little sappy here, but we had to put our old rescue horse down at the age of 30 last year, and we've been holding on to his tail because we haven't really figured out what we want to do with it yet.

And we have three kiddos, so we've been trying to think of things that would be appropriate for them.

So I haven't.

So they have something that they can sort of remember him by.

I ended up doing a Google search actually, a couple of weeks ago on what, like what people normally do with horse hair.

And I came across these beautiful horsehair jewelry sites on Etsy.

Apparently, it's a big thing, so I think for me, for Christmas, we might pick out some custom horsehair jewelry.

And I.

One of the things that I also came across just.

Just floated through my head here.

I.

I was on scrolling on Facebook the other day and came across a.

One of the rescue sites called New England Equine Rescue.

I had an individual that takes old saddles and turns them into these really beautiful bags.

I just thought that was so neat.

I have no idea what the Cost of something like that is because it's.

It's really custom.

But.

But the way that they turned it into something, you know, something practical and beautiful at the same time, I thought was pretty.

Pretty cool.

So that's.

Those are on my.

My Christmas list this year.

That's a great list.

Hey, Ashley, we can talk offline, but years ago, I lost a horse, and we used the mane and tail to have a potter make a pot that incorporated the hair.

So there's a.

There's another idea.

Really cool idea.

I know it's interesting because I just.

I never thought of it like we.

We've just.

His.

His tail has been hanging around for a while, and I'm like, what am I gonna do with this?

And.

Yeah, there's some really neat creations out there.

I have one too.

Julie.

I love it.

They're beautiful.

Who's next?

I think we have Andrea.

Andrea Manley, our United Horse Coalition manager.

Andrea, what would you like for the holidays this year?

I'd have to say, Ashley, those are great gifts.

I actually have mother and son.

Thank God.

Still with me.

But sun is gray.

Mother is a bae, so I made a bracelet of some of their tail, and it's black and white, so it's really pretty, and it's just cool to have both of them with me.

And then I had my old saddle that got turned into a laptop bag, so I bring that with me when I go away on business trips.

So those are excellent ideas, and you'll have a lot of fun with those.

For me, I'm like, Emily, I just purchased a farm just under a year ago and have been.

Well, I purchased land.

It wasn't even a farm.

So I have a lot of things on my Christmas list to be like Julie.

The big ticket item certainly would be a new barn, but there's no way that'll fit in Santa sleigh.

That'll.

That'll be a little heavy.

So to be really practical, I would love some grass seed.

I know that sounds silly, but I'm trying to get grass established here in South Carolina with our sandy loam.

It's pretty difficult, but that's kind of a difficult gift to wrap.

So I would take a.

I would take a gift card to anything, like SmartPak or text supplier or the grass feed store.

So those are some things that I would really love this Christmas Grassy.

It's the gift that keeps on giving, you know?

That's right.

That's right.

That's very true.

So that leaves us with Kelsey, right?

Sure.

Kelsey Buckley is Our program manager for the Equine Welfare Data Collective, Kelsey.

So I know you've got a pretty good list for Santa this year.

I do, but I'm trying to be practical.

If I was going to be over the top, unpractical, I would ask for my own farm.

And I would love to have all the problems of the grass seeds and the bibs.

But my more practical thing I would love Last year I actually purchased at Equine Affair a very lovely western saddle as my fifth jack of all trades departure into the equine world with my wonderful horse who does anything I ask of him.

So I would love, love to have a matching bridle for it because it has a beautiful matching breast collar with little gemstones and alligator skin and it's so pretty.

But I don't have a matching bridal and that is what I would ask for for Santa to bring to me.

Okay, so I think you have to slip a little secret into the rest of our ears offline so we know what to tell your significant other is really on your list.

Oh, he knows.

He knows.

And delivers it back to you guys.

Well, folks, that is our American Horse Council cast and crew that keeps the association hard at work.

And in case you're worried, they're all on the nice list, not on the naughty list.

And for our panel today, our guests include Martha Cook from Trafalgar Square Books, Amanda Boykin from SmartPak, John Nicholson from Old Friends Farm.

But before we get to our guest, we would like to ask you to tell us a little bit more after the episode of all the things that you love or that are on your Christmas list with that.

So we have Christmas gift ideas for humans and horses alike.

So we are so excited to have today's episode about gift giving for the horse enthusiast, horse lover or the horse.

And our friends at SmartPak are on a mission.

A mission to help support even more healthy horses and happy riders.

And that's why they carry everything you need from brands you know and love to SmartPak exclusives like supplements, which is part of their full family of the SmartFlex joint supplements to all tack essentials for your horse.

Plus they stand by all their products with their own 100% happiness guarantee.

Visit smartpak.com or find them on Instagram @smartpak to discover how they can support your equestrian journey and have a great ride from SmartPak.

I'm excited to introduce our guests today and get this holiday party started.

With us is Martha Cook, the managing director at TRAFALGAR Square Books.

Trafalgar Square Books published its first book, centered riding, in 1985 and has since released more than 500 titles.

Martha has been with the company for over 30 years and today she owns two Morgan geldings and rides as much as time allows.

We also have with us Amanda Bodkin of SmartPak.

Amanda joined SmartPak in May 2022 and we knew and admired her from her work with Equine Network as their digital project coordinator.

We bet you didn't.

She was Miss Evergreen Rodeo in 2008.

And finally, also joining us is John Nicholson, president and CEO at Old Friends, which is making an important and vital contribution not only to the racing industry, but most importantly to the lives of the horses who have given so much to us.

Together we can help assure that Old Friends will remain a strong and viable force for all the good things it does for decades and generations to come.

So welcome everybody and thank you for joining us today as we get talking about what everybody wants for the holidays.

Thanks, Emily.

So guys, I'm just going to add to what Emily said.

I look forward to delving into some of these things.

I need to understand what being Miss Evergreen Rodeo means, what responsibilities are involved in that.

We'll get to that in a minute.

But what do you think are some of the best gifts this year for a seasoned horse in purse person or maybe not Subs Seasoned So I'm going to start with Martha, Martha from Trafalgar Square Books.

What do you guys got on your bestseller list that you think everybody needs to be reading this year?

Well, we always have books coming.

We publish 12 to 15 new books a year.

So now that we're coming to the close of 2024, we have all sorts of new books to offer as well some bestsellers.

I always say that books are great holiday gifts.

There's no sizes to worry about, no colors, and there's nothing perishable about them.

So I have picked three suggestions to share with you today.

The first is Dear readers and Writers.

It's by Leti Teague and it's the biography of Marguerite Henry.

It delves into Marguerite's life, how she wrote the famous stories like Misty of Chincoteague, Justin Morgan had a horse, King of the Wind, lots of vintage photographs.

The author dug up all sorts of facts about Marguerite that people in the horse world will want to know who grew up with or are now reading her famous children's books.

If you are into coffee table books, we have a fabulous large format book called Wild Horses of Blues and Families by Claire Staples.

Some of your listeners may be familiar with the Sky Dog Ranch and Sanctuary out in Bend, Oregon.

It is a mustang sanctuary and this book we published with gorgeous full color photos and the stories of the famous stallion, blue Zeus and the family members that Claire has rescued.

So gorgeous coffee table book to give to fellow horse lovers.

And another coffee table book that also is a a story is the Horses who Made Me by Alizee Fromon.

She's a famous European rider, does a lot of performance shows in Europe and many people know of her from Instagram.

She has lots of dancing horse video out.

So those are kind of three big Christmas books that I'd recommend.

Oh, I love all three of those ideas, Emily.

I think my Christmas list is going to be actively changing as we.

I agree.

Amanda, what would you say are some of the top best gifts this year?

Well, that's a hard choice.

We have our gift guide coming out next Monday and the options are endless.

But definitely a favorite among the group is our Smart Therapy Thermo Balance Quilted cooler.

Now this is an on the horse item.

So it is the ceramic particles in the fabric help absorb the body heat and then reflect it back to your horse so that it provides soothing infrared rays that way.

Because whether you're in any discipline or any activity level recovery is really important for the horses, you know, in their muscles and making sure they're healing correctly and all of that.

So that is definitely a favorite.

It's a little bit on the high end, but it's an investment.

It's an investment piece that I feel like all horse items are investment pieces.

But that's one of our top ones.

And another item we really love is our Piper Evolution breeches.

The full seat ones come in Merlot and we have navy with warm tan, black and white.

So you can never be too stylish with a pair of our good Piper Evolution breeches.

Oh, I like the sound of those breeches myself.

I have pretty beautiful.

I have a question about the thermal blanket because I feel like if we have people may be shopping for other people listening in.

How would someone know what size to buy?

Maybe for their significant other or their kiddo's pony?

Are they sized like a regular blanket?

They are sized like a regular blanket, but we do always suggest making sure you get a measuring tape or finding somebody that has a tape and measuring from the center of the chest all the way to the rear.

Just because, you know, different breeds you can kind of.

Some are a little bit narrower, some are a little Bit stockier and so that can kind of fluctuate, but it should fit like a normal blanket.

Cool.

I see something going on your list for Dave to take out the tape measure for here.

That's, that's her husband, Dave.

But I have three sizes, so I gotta get.

But you.

Yeah, you do.

And the small.

Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it.

So, John, talk to us about how the horse community can give back into the rescue or to the non profit sector.

Because Old Friends has some great Christmas ideas.

I love them every year when I get the newsletter.

Well, and hello everybody.

And I've been busy writing down all the good ideas and the books from Martha and the, and the, the cool stuff from Amanda.

So I'll put my pen down and.

You know, Julie, what I think is unique about Old Friends is the experience and to have the opportunity not only to, to support aftercare and to support the great retired horses here at Old Friends, but it's a, it's a great opportunity to have the rare experience of an up and close up and personal, close visit with some of the, some of the greats of our time here at Old Friends.

And, and I think really the best way to do that is, is to just get it like a gift certificate for the tours at Old Friends and let your person, whether they're an accomplished horse person, a person that has, you know, real knowledge of this era of, of thoroughbred racing, or someone who's just kind of interested or might want to be interested and let them pick the kind of experience they would like to have here at our, our main farm of Old Friends in, in Kentucky.

Because you can take like a, just a general tour for $30 or you can get a private tour, which be the kind of thing you might want to do for your family or for your close friends, which is a very, very, you know, kind of customized personal tour for you or something.

That's really cool to get a, for $100 gift certificate, you could get a, a specialized private tour with Michael Blowin, the founder.

And those of you who know Michael know what a great storyteller he is.

He is, he is to us here at Old Friends what Walt Disney would be to Disneyland.

He, you know, he's a, he's our guy, he's our Mickey Mouse, which I say with, with love.

And he has great, great and endless stories of this, of not only the horses, but the people connected with the horses and often the really cool, interesting, behind the scenes, sometimes funny, sometimes really poignant stories of how these horses arrived here.

And you Know, for some of our horses, it was a perilous journey to get here, and to other ones, it was a really, really happy story.

Sometimes it was just wonderful serendipity.

So I think in terms of a gift, I think the experience of the up close and personal visit with the horses is really something that would be a totally unique gift to someone you cared about.

That's a great idea, John.

And if you're not in Kentucky, I'm sure there's somewhere local to wherever you are that you could go, take a cool tour, or maybe you want to travel to Kentucky to go see old friends.

But getting that experience as a gift is always really great.

So I think also, you know, so far our conversation has been directed at people who are already in the industry.

They own a horse.

They have a loved one with a horse.

What do we think we want to give to, let's say, the kids that we want?

I kind of think of it as evangelizing them into the horse industry.

Maybe they don't ride yet, maybe they don't take lessons yet, but they've.

They're looking at the horses out the car window.

They're petting them at the county fair.

So let's start with Amanda.

Do you guys have anything for maybe not quite yet, horsey kids?

Oh, gosh, of course we do.

One of our new favorite items, actually are our smart cookies, because every horse and pony deserves some cookies.

And the new flavor is spiced cider for the holiday season.

And a great thing about our cookies is that they do go through palatability testing.

So majority of horses like them.

But also there's no sugar added.

So whether you have a horse that has maybe insulin resistance or Cushing's or, you know, maybe no health issues, cookies are always great to have as a little treat, especially for kids.

You know, flat hand, hand that out.

And it's a great way to kind of create a bonding experience that is, it's really smart.

And I will say, because I have a lot of, you know, neighbors come over to my farm.

They always want to pet the horses.

If I have a bucket of cookies, that is one way to get everybody having a good time.

The horses and the kiddos.

Yes, exactly.

So, Martha, what do you guys have on board?

Well, one book that we published just this month is not for kids, but for parents and people getting adults getting into the horse world.

And it's called Newcomer to the Horse World by Andrea Sinner.

It is a book that demystifies our equestrian world, which, of course, is so necessary for People that don't really understand us but have, have a real interest in getting into the horse world.

It's a guidebook perfect for people that maybe rode as children but are getting back in and want to know what's up with owning horses now.

From selecting boarding barns to selecting trainers to you know, purchasing investment pieces like saddles and covers all even, even you know, what to do with leaving horses in your will and that kind of thing.

So it's a soup to nuts on getting involved in the horse world.

So a really good new resource for getting kids involved.

We of course have Gene Abernathy's and fabulous Fergus books.

We have four Fergus storybooks and then also some cartoon, a volume of cartoons.

They are, you know, all under the twenty five dollar mark, some under twenty.

So perfect gifts for kids and for not kids.

As Jean said, the age groups for her books are 5 to 95.

We also have the Thelwell cartoon books that are great for kids that dream of horses.

And we're doing some publishing of fiction, middle grade fiction.

We have two terrific stories now.

One is called Liberty Biscuit and another is called Little Pearl about a early teen girl who adopts a rescue donkey.

And in the second book she adopts little Pearl who's a rescue horse.

So kind of good dream books with good values for kids interested in horses.

Martha, I am sure my husband is cringing downstairs listening to me because I'm a book hoarder.

He's only imagining what the bookshelf is gonna look like.

Well, Trafalgar Square has over 400 titles in print, so come shopping.

Yeah.

She could be an investor with you, Martha.

I think.

Okay, perfect.

You know, I feel like you'd love to nerd out with me.

I collect Black Beauties, so I have about six different editions of Black Beauty on my shelf.

Wow, John, what are you thinking?

Well, you know, you know, guys under the category of kids, you know, from, from 1 to 91, you know, the.

We have a program of an available opportunity at Old Friends where you can have a share of one of our horses.

And, and so imagine on Christmas morning you get a, a certificate with the horse's name, your name, saying that you have a share of Lava man or I'll have another or Silver Charm.

And you receive a glossy 8 by 10 photograph of, of the horse and you know, a magnet and a keychain and with, with the names on it.

And so you become kind of quote unquote an owner and you've got something that, that you, that you can say there's something cool about having a certificate.

And then it's a great way, I think, for kids to.

To then be motivated to learn about the history and the career of that horse.

And of course we would.

We offer the opportunity then if you come to see us, you get a special visit with your horse.

I love that.

Yeah.

And so I think that's got great, you know, great opportunity for a fun Christmas morning and something to look forward to throughout the year.

Oh, that's awesome.

I can.

My husband is probably upstairs cringing now too, Emily, so.

Yeah, gotcha.

So we're.

Won't we want to talk next about what I call out of the box ideas for Christmas?

Something that's unique, that's personalized, that's customized.

Now, John just gave us a great example of something that's really customized and kind of cool and personalized.

Martha, do you guys have something in mind that would work, like, I don't know, a signed book or something special that's customized?

We really.

We can accommodate requests for signed books.

We don't actually offer them on the website, but if that is something that someone really wants to make a special gift to someone, we can make arrangements to have authors sign books and have them sent.

So that would certainly be very personal.

And.

But from my perspective, I was kind of thinking about purchasing a book and, you know, wrapping that up along with a gift certificate for a kid to, you know, take a, you know, group of writing lessons or, you know, purchase a book and pack it up with some great gift from, say, SmartPak.

Just adding a book to something more practical is really kind of what I would see as, you know, is something personalized from a.

From a publisher's perspective.

Oh, I can so see a gift basket with a book and a couple of other little things tucked in.

That makes it really customized.

So I get where you're coming from.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Amanda, what are you thinking?

Well, I'm thinking about our wood grooming tote.

This tote is made from solid pine, and it's absolutely beautiful.

And you can have a custom name plate put on it.

And so like you just said, Julie, you could put a book in there, you could put some toys in there.

You could really kind of make it this little care package.

It's kind of stained like this dark color, but it's one of our favorite pieces that is a little bit more personalized, especially if you can put somebody's name on there.

If you put the farm name, you could put the horse's name on there.

It's really a really nice looking tote.

I love the wood totes.

They last forever.

They do.

And they ju.

They're just so clean.

They're easy to wipe down.

And, you know, they're easy to hold, too.

It's not, they're not overly sized.

They're only about 15 inches long.

And so I think it's easy for anybody to kind of load up and take wherever you need in the barn.

Oh, that's cool.

Now, John, you already gave us one great idea.

Do you have a second one?

Well, here, see what you think about this.

I think this is particularly an opportunity for something that's very, very unique and custom to an individual.

A very special place here at the farm is our Nikki Bacharach memorial Garden.

Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson made this possible for us.

And it's the final resting places for place for horses like War Emblem and Charismatic.

And it's, you know, it's a very, very kind of warm and spiritual place.

And we have the opportunities for.

For pavers as you walk through the memorial gardens.

And what, what makes this kind of unique is that a lot of people memorialize not, not just their names, but a special horse for them.

You know, even if it wasn't a racehorse or anything, just that special horse or pony that you grew up with.

Sometimes it's a pet, a dog or a cat that they want to memorialize in our memorial gardens.

And I think that's an opportunity to do something really customized and really unique and really special to individuals.

Oh, what a great legacy kind of thing.

I mean, that lasts forever and you're.

That's a good point, Julie.

I mean, your children and your grandchildren can, can come and visit and still see those names engraved.

That's awesome, John.

I love that.

Emily, you.

I'm going to ask you, so is there a personal, unique, customized gift that you've received that you want to share?

So this, this will go double time as also one of the low budget examples.

When I brought the horses home to the new farm, I had a friend hand paint name signs with little pictures of little cartoon pictures of their faces.

And she just got the cheapo rubber halter hooks and screwed those on.

So I had individual painted halter hooks for each of my horses.

And I think it cost her like, you know, she got the wood at Michael's, whatever craft store you have near you.

I think it probably cost her 25 to do all three.

Oh, that's unique.

That's great.

I'm going to give you two that I have in my collection.

The first one is my sister in law is a basket weaver and she made me a beautiful large basket that has a painting that wraps around the top edge.

And she took some pictures of my horses and had a friend who painted them.

And they're woven into the basket.

So it's really special.

It's very unique.

The other one for, for people who have been showing for a while, I have a huge tub, I mean maybe two or three tubs of ribbons of various colors.

I will admit I'm not always at the top of the card.

So lots of different colors of ribbons.

And I found a woman who makes custom blankets and pillows and other things from ribbons.

And so I've got a couple of really nice pieces that are very special to me.

And some of them have my horse's name embroidered on them because those ribbons came from just that particular horse that I owned.

So there's some really cool different ideas of things you can do out there.

If somebody's got some ideas, send them in.

We'll, we'll put them out as part of our show notes and let people know.

So Emily, you just reminded me one other thing I got is I hoard T shirts from volunteering.

So volunteering at horse shows.

I have a lot of horse show T shirts and I, I was like, I can't throw these away.

But now I have too many T shirts.

So my neighbor makes T shirt quilts and she quilted all my horse show T shirts for me.

So I love it.

So Emily, I think the next question is really about ideas for people who are on a limited budget.

So I'm going to go back to John.

He's gave us some great ideas.

John, talk a minute about something that's under $50 or under $20 that they could do that old friends would really appreciate.

Yeah, there really are a lot of opportunities.

We have the old friends giving tree, which is just a, you know, a cornucopia.

A list of things that our horses need on a daily basis that, that an individual can provide for them.

All of our horses are, are geriatric.

You know, they are at a certain age and so they require a certain kind of feed.

So just for example, a bag of senior feed is only $25 and that takes care of one of our horses for a good amount of time.

A 50 pound bag of carrots.

And carrots are our commodity here.

As you can imagine, it's the currency here at old Friends.

You know, a 50 pound bag is, you know, for 50 bucks around, around hay bale for 59.

Those are very, very special gifts that can be given to old friends but can be given to us in the name of someone you care about.

And it would be, well, it's something deeply appreciated here.

So those are examples I think of, of economical gifts that, that could be given that are unique and special.

Oh, I love that, John.

So I'm just going to do this just on the fly here, but I'm going to challenge people out there in the equine community to follow my lead.

Every year at Christmas, I buy a 50 pound bag of carrots and I.

For old friends.

And I give those in the name of my staff at the American Horse Council because we all love horses and we all want to give back and it's a, it's a just a nice little fun thing.

So guys, here's my challenge to you.

Step up.

Come on, help them out.

Amanda, what would, what would be an inexpensive idea you have for people?

I would say I would have to pick if, if you're a lady, I would probably pick our Piper three pack boot socks.

They're currently in purple and they have horseshoe bits on them.

The other set of socks has some really cute horses on them.

But also our cookies are another great, you know, under $20 that you can gift horse treats.

Mrs.

Pastures also has stockings, so they took plastic and they put their cookies in them and then they sealed them but they look like a stocking.

So we've got quite a few different ideas.

Even the horseshoe hooks, Emily talked about having those, those are always a fun item that you can paint or decorate and put up to hang anything on.

Oh, love those ideas.

Martha, what about you ideas for the limited budget person?

Well, I just, I just have to encourage people to do what you and John suggest and donate to two rescues.

I, I always give gifts to people that you don't know what to give them donate to Brooke USA or a rescue in their names because you know, they, it's something that they, you know, it's something that means something to them and they don't just get a gift that, you know, sits in their shelf.

So I encourage everyone to do that.

From my book publishing seat, I would say, as I've already mentioned, we have the Fergus books that are all under $20, the Felwell books.

We do have some memoirs under the twenty dollar mark.

We also offer gift cards so those are affordable to give to someone that they can then order online and you know, top up what the gift card is.

Also we do have a sales and clearance section on our Website where we mark down, you know, some overstock or some older books where they're really good buys.

So there are plenty of things that are affordable in the, in the book world.

Oh, great.

That's awesome.

Okay, Emily, I'm gonna toss it to you.

So.

Well, I will segue into our next section.

You know, we're talking about giving a gift of time or talents to honor family member.

But Martha also just mentioned, you know, donating to a local rescue.

If that is something you're looking to do and you're looking to donate to a local rescue near you and you need help finding one, we encourage you to look at the United Horse Coalition's Equine Resource database, which is a national list of all equine rescues and sanctuaries in the country.

It's a database you can search by state, you can search by services offered, and it'll let you know what's near you or if there's a specific service you're looking to support, something like veterinary assistance or euthanasia assistance, something like that that's really meaningful to you, you can go to United Horse Coalition and go to the Equine Resource Database and find a rescue near you to donate to.

So, and I would add to that, Emily, that it's not just rescues, but any of the equine non profits that are doing fantastic work in this space.

And equine assisted services facilities.

I'm very involved with the Professional association of Therapeutic Horsemanship and there are lots of equine assisted facilities out there that would love a gift of support.

You know, whether that's feed or halter or, you know, sponsor a day with, with one horse or whatever that turns out to be sort of like what John described.

Lots of different ways for people to give back into the larger community and support the industry.

And there's a lot of other opportunities for donations as well.

So if you live near a vocational school with a riding program or a college or university, a lot of them offer scholarship programs for students in need for financial aid so they can ride in the programs as well.

And those are all great opportunities to help support the horse industry near you and support keeping kids in the horse industry near you.

Thanks, Emily.

Well, we really want to thank all our guests today.

Some great ideas that came out of this look in the show notes to see their contact information, learn more about the things that they've suggested.

And Martha, I don't want to put you on the spot, but I think you made a offer for a Christmas discount.

Yes.

Your listeners can certainly Come to Trafalgar Square and use the code AHC 2024 and receive 20% off.

Oh, thanks, Martha.

Boy.

Okay, guys, get out your Christmas list now.

It's time to go shopping.

I'm very excited.

Thanks so much, John, Amanda and Martha.

We really appreciate it.

So our next little commercial break is brought to you by the American Horse Council's Marketing alliance.

And we want to talk a little bit about the Here for Horses campaign.

So the American Horse Council believes that the more opportunities available to enjoy the partnership with horses in various activities, the better the overall health of the industry.

And for those who participate with that mission in mind, our Marketing alliance was formed in 2011 when leaders from around the industry sought ways to bring more people into the industry.

The Marketing alliance was built with the understanding that a thriving and robust equine industry benefits all who are part of it.

With the objective to create lifelong engagement with the equine industry.

The alliance introduced Here for Horses and its website, hereforhorses.comorg a website with an introductory video designed to foster interest in the industry back in December of 2022.

So we've been around for just a little while now.

Most importantly, Here for Horses.

The website shares pathways for visitors to make a connection with horses either as a spectator or as a hands on participant within the horse industry.

Potential and current horse enthusiasts can now find information on events, education, volunteer opportunities and places to learn to handle, ride or drive a horse.

So Please go to hereforhorses.org and check us out.

Today's legislative update is a little different than normal.

So recently the American Horse Council hosted a webinar on equine appraisals.

And I mentioned that since we're talking about shopping for Christmas, this is a prime time for people to go buy a pony, trade horses, you know, all kinds of things.

So go to our website and check out that webinar on the value and the importance of equine appraisals.

You never know when you might need to have that kind of a service.

And from there, Emily, I'm going to wrap up our episode for today and say thank you for joining us.

We'll provide lots of phone numbers and links in our show notes and we invite you to support our beloved industry and join the American Horse Council and get a free subscription to our monthly newsletter which is just chocked full of the latest in all our legislative happenings, federal, state, as well as more information that horse owners like you really need to know.

And before I carry on, I would just like to say Happy Birthday, Julie.

I know.

Keeping it a little secret while we record.

Thanks Ibley.

But everybody else, you can follow the American Horse Council on social media.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram X, formerly known as Twitter, and LinkedIn.

And you can also subscribe to this podcast's RSS feed.

You can subscribe to Horses in the Morning on any podcast player and find all the shows, including ours, on the Horse radio network@horseradionetwork.com and we are so.

Pleased to have you.

We hope you have a wonderful and a joyous holiday.

And as we like to say, we are here for horses.