Happy holidays! We are ready to welcome 2021 with open arms and say a hearty farewell to 2020. Thank you, all, for submitting your horsey holiday traditions for a chance to win some awesome prize packages in the Nation Media Holiday Contest!
Some of our amazing sponsors generously donated sweet prizes…
- Banixx: Super effective grooming products
- Haygain: Super luxe hay nets
- Kentucky Performance Products: Coolers and other “cool” goodies
- Legends: ProElite performance horse feed
- SmartPak: Cute saddle pads
And the winners are…
My “holiday” tradition is nothing flashy, but it’s important to me. My 8 y/o appendix mare Duchess (Royal Trouble) has PSSM 2, a disease that involves muscular problems due to abnormalities in the horse’s ability to process sugars into usable polysaccharides. She is lovely to ride during the warmer months. In the cold, she gets pretty uncomfortable under saddle. Therefore, around November or December, we stop riding and dedicate the winter to in-hand dressage work. As hard as it is not to ride her, it’s really beneficial to work on strength and subtlety of cues on the ground, and then transfer these things to the saddle in the spring! During this time, I get the chance to ride many of the other horses at my barn, giving me the opportunity to test my riding abilities on different types of horses and strengthen my connections with my barn family. The start of the winter reminds me to be thankful for their willingness to support me and my mare. Plus, I get the chance to slow down and really appreciate all of Duchess’s cheeky moments from the ground! — Kelsey Walworth
Riding in Christmas parades dressed in poinsettias with sleigh bells as a breast collar so we jingle down the whole route. — Ami and Jamie Smith
Ready for the parade! Photo courtesy Ami and Jamie Smith.
Our horsey holiday traditions begin with Thanksgiving. We organize a barn “Turkey Trot” aka a trail ride with all the boarders. Christmas for us is typically spent out of town (not this year), so my mom and I make a point to go for a New Year’s Day ride. No better way to ring in the new year than on horseback! This year we might sage the place as we go and hope for better juju in 2021. The photos are of my mom attempting to convince my horse Beau to wear reindeer antlers for holiday pictures. He wasn’t into it. — Leslie Threlkeld
Attempt #1. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Attempt #37. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Beau may or may not have removed these antlers immediately after this photo was taken. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Keep an eye out for an email from our team so we can mail you your prize packages!
These readers had some lovely holiday traditions, as well:
Since we moved to AZ, we’ve taken on a traditional southwestern Christmas Eve dinner of posole and tamales. Jolene approves of the great winters here. — Lisa Burnett
A happy camper in the southwest! Photo by Lisa Burnett.
Our Horsey Holiday tradition is to give our employees Christmas Eve and Christmas off and my husband and I take care of all the horses. Everyone gets a secret surprise from Santa, including homemade mashes peppermints! For the boarders who come to visit, we go on a bareback blanket ride! — Jaclyn Burke
Glad to see this horse is on the “good” list! Photo by Jaclyn Burke.
Normally I give peppermints to the ponies and cookies to the humans, but this year I have more free time on my hands, so I combined the two and made these outrageous cookies for the ponies! PS. I also shaved a Christmas tree in my mare’s butt. It might become a new tradition. — Cortni Edwards
Want the recipe? Click HERE! Photo by Cortni Edwards.
Pure epic-ness. Photo by Cortni Edwards.
Thank you again for sharing your horsey holiday traditions.
Go Jumping! Happy Holidays from Nation Media and our wonderful sponsors!