Horse wishes for the holidays

1. My two front teeth back
2. Horses that view shelter as their pristine palace and don’t hold it in then deposit with pride the moment they enter their stall or shed
3. A sawdust pitchfork that doesn’t break on the first stall a horse care farm hand tackles (the same one that held a year prior to ‘his touch’)
4. Time for mud to dry and be leveled before the next deep freeze
5. Snow drifts that are satisfied with a height below chest level
6. A winter without 30-40 mph hour gusts and 20 mph sustained winds sweeping across the pastures
7. Fence posts that don’t wait until the ground is frozen solid to crack in two
8. Ice-free ground for routes to pastures, barns and training areas (please repel ice from training areas as well)
9. Hydrants that don’t crap out the moment it’s too difficult to dig through the ground for a fix
10. A young horse training trick to teach Leah that has her cleaning out her hoof before she crashes it through the water trough
11. Gloves you can work and ride in that actually keep your hands warm
12. Boots that repel water and snow moisture that don’t have your feet numb after ten minutes of standing
13. The secret to keeping warm while holding horses for the farrier
14. Sunny days that don’t turn snow to ice
15. A tractor that starts when it’s cold and needed to lend a hand
16. Double-ended snaps that don’t require bare-hand warmth to function as designed
17. Uninterrupted electricity throughout the winter to power the well
18. More training clients who are happy to include the horse in the conversation when it comes to activities and results
19. No more than 100 inches of snow
20. Hoses that don’t freeze
21. Furry coats that repel rather than absorb dirt
22. An early, temperate and long spring

Of course, this is a greedy list for one, but bet I there are more than twenty-one people who are wishing for the same as winter attacks (sans the Leah request, of course). How about we each ask for one and suggest Santa share the gifts with all? What do you all think? Have more to add? It shouldn’t be hard to find additional supporters to spread the spirit if you want to add to the list. Yep, this is a bit of horse humor, but imagine the answers may be among readers of his blog.Please offer your deepest desire in the comments below as it relates to horses and we’ll see if we can’t build some Santa support (and will probably get some good advice from the readers with ideas to help make our wishes come true).

Many of you have been asking for this (particularly overseas, although we do have distributors in the UK and EU), and I’ve been remiss in not announcing this earlier – sorry. The Turning Challenging Horses Into Willing Partners book is available as a Kindle edition for $9.95. It’s a great Christmas gift for the horse lover in your life if you’re a last-minute shopper.