The newsletter of HorseHobbyist.com Winter 2002 In This Issue:
Here we are at the end of another year, one which has been hard on many people. On the one hand, it's hard to face Christmas when so many are out of jobs, or even just so behind or tightly pinched that gift-buying is a Christmas wish in itself. But on the other hand, which often is the better hand to look at just for sanity’s sake, we have a fresh new year ahead of us. And if it helps, my Dad was a very wise man, made quite a bit with the stock market, and one thing he taught me well is everything goes in cycles. It's about time this particular cycles starts making the upswing! Of course for some folks, this year may have contained losses that were not financial. Statistics show that the holidays are actually really hard on people who have lost loved ones, and we at the Pet Hobbyist understand that loved ones come in all shapes and sizes, from furry to scaled to feathered and then some. So if you do happen to need someone to just be there and understand this holiday season, keep in mind that we do have a Pet Loss and Grieving area with nightly hosted pet loss support chats. There you will find a wide array of comfort, from member support, to the Rainbow Bridge, and more. But enough of the sad memories for now! What kind of bright and wonderful things do we have going on at HorseHobbyist, you might ask, and I might even have an answer! First and foremost, have you been to our boards lately??? No, we’ve not gotten the brand new, shiny and super-user friendly ones just yet, they are being beta tested though. Who knows, maybe Santa will bring something extra special for our techs behind the scenes. Christmas magic has its uses! But we have revamped the old ones, put in some nice pictures, colors, and better organization. Come check it out! And while you’re there, you might notice some advertising for some special Christmas going-ons!All the details of our incredible Christmas contest are listed below... but I'll give you a hint, the prize is a 42-inch plasma ultra-thin monitor/TV! And while you are in the holiday spirit, if you have horse lovers on your shopping list, don't forget to browse our bookstore for the perfect gift!
So come join us! We’d love to see you! And Happy Holidays!
PH Cody
Ho Ho Ho, somebody is going to have a very merry Christmas!
Visit our Holiday Contest Page for details!
Some things to consider donating to local equine shelters: Big tag items
Small tag items
Non-horsy items
If you are looking at this list and thinking “I can’t afford that,” well, I have the perfect solution: Donate your time. It's time well spent and could mean the difference between a shelter making it or not. Volunteer to help clean stalls, groom horses, feed, or if you have a truck and trailer, to haul hay, feed, horses, etc. Better yet, if you know how to do such things (and I think most of us horse people tend to be multi-talented in the handy man department), volunteer to repair broken faucets, plumbing, fencing, stalls, tractors, clippers, or whatever you are good at! Humane societies and shelters aren’t the only places that need your support. Local therapeutic riding organizations are often non-profit and working on a shoestring budget and could use a helping hand. You can donate the same items to one of their groups or you can help out in other ways. If you do a lot of shopping online, try out www.IGive.com, where a percentage of everything you buy goes to support an organization of your choosing. There are several TR programs there, and several merchants that participate! If nothing else, send your local groups a Christmas card, and let them know that they are important and that you are glad they are there! If you really want to go all out, a gift basket or even a home-made batch of cookies are always wonderful!
New Holiday Trivia, Christmas Contests and more! Inquiring minds want to know - how often do you bathe your horse? What types of hackamores are out there and how well do they work? Problems catching a young horse? Eventing: A student needs your help! New Polish Arabian addition, complete with pictures! Mustangs: Inspiring training and rescues stories and adorable foals!
So how does a horse become a logo? Well, it helps if the horse just has great looks... but sometimes it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The story began when the Pet Care Forum was looking at a very daunting move from our home at VIN, where we had gotten quite comfortable, to our new home here at PetHobbyist.com. Looking into the new home, we decided we wanted to do a little decorating, and one of the things that needed a face-lift was the HorseHobbyist.com logo. I was in the process of packing up and moving my household at the time, a move of almost 800 miles which had me, well, stressed! So for the sake of time, I pulled up a couple of pictures of my own fillies that I happened to already have on the computer and spent a morning playing with them with my photo editing software. To make a long story short, I came up with two decent graphics which I sent to the gang to consider. Next thing I knew, there was Spider in the PetHobbyist logo, and shortly there after, she began to appear all throughout HorseHobbyist itself. I must admit, I’ve been amazed at the response, having never expected people to be as interested in this little black and white filly! So in answer to many of your questions about who she is, and where she came from, I thought I’d fill you in on her history and go from there, trying to follow along with her through Hoofbeats as she grows! Her nickname of Spider came about easily enough; she had long gangly legs and it just fit. But her “real” name took some thinking. We’d had a pretty rough year prior to Spider being born and it was my husband who came up with the basis for her name. He made the comment that she was the proverbial silver lining to the dark clouds, thus, she was registered as Tardee Silver Lining. She spent a hot southern summer finding her legs, growing and playing. She spent a mild southern winter working on lungeline basics, learning to stand still and square, and showing me that unlike her mellow, laid back sire, she had her momma’s spunk and attitude! Then we had the big move to New York, where she again spent the summer just eating and growing. Now there’s about 6 inches of snow on the ground as I write this, and Spider is as tall as her momma, and still growing. There are some big changes in store for her as soon as we get a new stall finished that she can be moved into. She’s already practising her terrible two behavior out with the other mares so bringing her in for training should be interesting! Look to future editions of Hoofbeats to see how she progresses! Or if you can’t wait that long, visit our Appaloosa message board and read about her there!!
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Merry Christmas!
We are also having a mega-chat week from December 8 to December 15. In HorseHobbyist, we have former Horse Illustrated editor and Horses for Dummies author Audrey Pavia (pictured to the right) coming to chat with us that Tuesday from 9-11 PM ET. Then on Saturday the 14th, at our wild and woolly Barn Party which runs from 9-11 ET also, we have Dr. Larry Allen who is an equine chiropractor, which should be very interesting to say the least! You can see the complete schedule in the 
Continuing kingsnake.com's holiday tradition of having a most excellent Christmas contest, PetHobbyist.com is having its biggest contest ever. This is a chance for pet lovers all over the continental United States to get their stocking stuffed with a NEW Gateway™ 42-inch plasma TV, thin enough to hang on the wall! Now you can watch TV or plug it into your computer and surf the web with the latest in flat screen plasma technology.
This time of year isn’t just hard on families and farms, it's also hard on our local humane societies and shelters. While running about doing your feed and hay shopping, not to mention while you’re browsing the local tack shop for you horsy friends, keep in mind that there are many who could use a little helping hand to care for the horses and barn animals that have been abandoned, confiscated, neglected, and abused. I realize that not many of us can afford large gifts, but sometimes you can find really good sales, and not everything that these places need come with a big price tag.
This
article was inspired by by all the wonderful folks who have come to
HorseHobbyist and taken the time either on the boards, in the photo
gallery, or to my email, to ask about, comment on, and compliment
our logo horse, who appears on all our site pages within the HorseHobbyist
site.
To
begin, Spider was born on March 7, 2001 in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
She was born on her due date, at about 11:30 that night. I know this
as I was there, my husband helped pull her out those final inches
and we were the first humans she ever laid eyes on. Spider’s momma
is my mare, Chris, who I’ve had since 1988... yes, we’re both getting
on up there! Her sire is also one of mine, who I bought as a 3 month
old colt in 1998. To say that Spider is special to me would be an
understatement. I liken it to having your first grandchild. Not to
mention that we were hoping for a colorful baby, expecting a chestnut
colt and I can’t tell you how excited I was to realize we had a black
and white filly!