My first post! And I need your best gift ideas!

[BigBlackDog]

My first post on CoTH! I’ve been lurking for the longest and finally decided to make an account since I need some help!

 I'm in college and ride at an h/j barn with some really awesome people who have been so amazingly wonderful to me. My trainer is absolutely wonderful and I feel like I was meant to end up at this barn since it was where my parents met! I should say I've only been riding for around 3 years, the parents didn't really teach me much riding wise, but I have always been comfortable with horses.

  My trainer is amazing and has given me a lot of fun opportunities and gives me as much attention as she does to her clients who are a little more well off in the finance department. She has let me work off lessons, shows and the occasional hunt which I am forever appreciative of. 
 The main group of ladies I've been riding with for the past 2 1/2 years have been so kind and motherly to me since day 1, which is truly lovely since I lost my mom about 4 years ago. They are amazingly encouraging and always have always made me feel welcome and included. They let me ride their horses when they go out of town or won't be able to make it to a lesson. This past summer one lady let me have exclusive use of her horse, free of charge, for 5 months while she recovered from back surgery! (I am still honored that she thought enough of me as a rider and a person to put her horse in my care.) Right now another lady is letting me ride her horse to help get him fit for hunting while she concentrates on her new mount.

SO! Sorry for the bit of a long post, now to my question! I really want to be able to give my wonderful barn family some tokens of gratitude for making sure I always have a ride and helping me become a trustworthy and safe rider. Do any of you have any suggestions on gifts, horsey or otherwise, to give out? I was thinking about getting everyone monogrammed saddle covers and treats of course. I don't have a ton of money to spend, but any and all suggestions are welcome!

I forgot to mention I’m looking for these for Christmas, gotta start saving up now!

[rustbreeches]

Perhaps a great photo of each person’s horse, matted and in a frame, even a personalized frame? Just a beautiful head shot, doesn’t need to be an action photo.

[Pennylane]

The framed pics would be a hit! If you include a heartfelt note with each one letting them know how much you appreciate their friendship and kindness, they will be ecstatic!

Remember, sincerity is the most important here, they won’t care if you didn’t buy them anything, if you gave them cards with a sincere note inside. My last barn was big on Christmas, but the sweetest gift ever came from a student who’s horse did not recover from colic surgery. She gave me a framed picture of me showing him, and a note telling me how thankful she was that we tried our hardest for him. I will always keep that picture, and the note is tucked safely away in the frame behind it. Of all the presents I’ve received from barn family, friends and prior students, I will probably remember this one the longest.

I think it’s very thoughtful of you to think of them. . . I’m glad you’re in a happy barn family!

[HungarianHippo]

There are lots of threads on this topic, with tons of great ideas. To find the old threads, click on “Search”, then Advanced Search. In Keywords, type “gift idea” (You have to put the quotes around it – this tells the search engine to look for that phrase. If you don’t enclose it in quotation marks, it will go find every post that includes the word gift OR idea. )

Anyway, here are two samples that this search produced:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?376867-Good-present-for-Dressage-rider-Advice-please!&highlight=GIFT+IDEA

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?283203-gifts-for-horse-people&highlight=GIFT+IDEA

[Bluey]

I helped, thru the trainer, provide a horse for a teen that was really doing a wonderful job helping in the barn and was very talented.
At the end of the season, she made a scrapbook of pictures of the horse, some candid ones, some showing, some the wins and trophies.
It is wonderfully done and sits on the coffee table.

You can print the pages with the pictures and a caption in your computer and then attach the pages into a scrapbook.

[Foxtrot_s]

Can you bake? Goodies always needed at Christmas time. It is not about how much you spend, but the sincerity, and from the sounds of it you are already very gracious and reliable.

[BigBlackDog]

I can’t believe I didn’t think of getting portraits of everyone’s horse. Super idea, thank you!
Now to plan out how to get the perfect shot of everyone’s horse without ruining the surprise…

[jetsmom]

You sound like such a mature, nice appreciate young lady that I wish you were at our barn. You will go far in life with the attitude you have.
Welcome to the boards! (Don’t let some of the snarky posters get you down, as you browse thru the forum. Overall, we are a great group, and even the snarky ones are kind at heart).

If you can steal one of their horse’s shoes when they are being redone from the farrier, you could put the photo and shoe in a shadow box that you can get from Hobby Lobby, Kmart, Michael’s and maybe find a poem online about the joy of horses, or what they mean, or a saying ( http://www.quotegarden.com/horses.html )

And put the saying at the top or bottom, and put the shoe and photo in the middle. It would be really cheap to do.

[eventgroupie2]

More gift ideas from COTH artisans

http://www.mightythoroughbredclique.com/coth_artisans.html?

[clanter]

We often loaned out our Morgans to youth who were competing in the National Youth of the Year contest at the Morgan Championships… never once were we not sent a heartfelt letter of appreciation from the rider who could not have competed because of the cost of shipping their mounts in for the show

Sometimes there was an accompanying gift which over time has been forgotten, but the letters remain .

So my thoughts lean toward a nice letter and some brownies … as many of us have been a poor college student before

[SMF11]

Just another voice saying it is the THOUGHT that counts! Please don’t spend a lot of money (for you) on any gifts! They won’t be remembered. However, clanter is absolutely right. A heartfelt letter is free and will be remembered for decades.

Welcome to COTH! I completely agree with Jetsmom – you have a wonderful attitude and it will take you far in life. I look forward to reading more of your posts!

[Bluey]

Any horseshoe may do, if you don’t have one from each horse, which would be ideal:

[BigBlackDog]

Thanks for the ideas! I really am lucky to have such an awesome barn family, so I definitely want to let them know how much I appreciate all they do for me!