Last Minute Holiday Gifts for Equestrian Clients

Remember how you said last year around the holidays that next year would be different?

That you would plan ahead and have great holiday gifts chosen for each of your clients - something personal and affordable that you knew they'd love? Well, we hate to be the ones to break it to you,  but it's next year and the holidays have arrived.

Before you race to the big box store to buy a bunch of cocoa and mug gift sets, read on. We've got some ideas that will make your clients happy, won't break the bank, and best of all, will save you a trip to the big box store!

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words
Face it, everyone loves a picture of their horse. With smart phone cameras and the ease of digital photos and home printing, you can make your clients very happy with a photo album with pictures of their horse you've taken throughout the year.

Didn't actually take that many pics? No worries, a picture frame can also be a great gift. Your local tack store or online retailers have dozens of horsey ones to choose from.

If you do have hundreds of pictures on your computer,  you can do a lot more than fill a photo album. Photos can be used for a wide variety of personalized gifts.

Personalized Gifts
Here are a few gifts you can personalize with photos:

    • Calendars - You can set them up and have them printed right from your computer from services like Shutterfly, VistaPrint and Apple's Photos app. Most office supply stores, and drug stores which offer photo printing also print calendars with a quick turnaround time.

    • Mugs - Many horse people love coffee almost as much as their horses. Why not combine the two and get a mug with a photo of their horse on it? Again, your local office supply store or photo printing department can probably take care of you.

    • Christmas ornaments, note cards and tote bags are also popular items for customizing.

Another way to approach the personalized gift is by giving away items customized with your business name and logo.

Apparel from ball caps to jackets can be screen printed or embroidered with a logo and farm name with a surprisingly quick turnaround time. If you have a local screen print shop, head there to keep shipping costs to a minimum (and support your local business). Otherwise, try an online company like 4imprint, VistaPrint or CafePress. 4imprint can have many items delivered to you within 4 or 5 days of ordering - but when we spoke to them, they did warn that they get very busy around the 18^th - so don't wait the extra week.

Your logo can also be added to saddle pads, the ever popular coffee mugs, hoof picks, pens, and just about any other item you can think of.

Incredible Edibles
If going the customized route is too time consuming, you can win over your clients with edible goodies - either for them or their horse (or, if you're feeling generous - treat them both!)

Human Treats
Dark Horse Chocolates are a perennial favorite. In delicious flavors like Grand Prix Jumpers (dark chocolate and caramel), Peppermint Ponies (dark chocolate and peppermint crunch), Tallyho (solid milk chocolate) and Dressage Classics (Almond butter crunch in dark chocolate). With a horsey design on each chocolate - they're sure to please.

Horse Treats
From the basic to the gourmet, there are horse treats out there to please every equine palate. Your local tack and feed stores and online retailers have more varieties than imaginable. If you're feeling creative, you can get several styles and dispense them in festive cookie tins. This can also be a great way to give out home made horse treats or simple peppermint candies.

Especially for Kids
If you cater to the younger set in your lesson program, gifts like horse themed coloring books, sticker books and stamp sets can be put into a horsey gift bag. HorseLoverz.com has a wide range of kids' activity gifts, as well horse themed gift bags.

For older juniors, stationery sets, books and inexpensive grooming tools or lead ropes in their favorite colors make welcome and practical gifts.

The Super Easy Route
We get it. Even with all of these great ideas, some of you still won't have decided what to do the day before your holiday party. For you, we offer the easy route: gift certificates.

Gift certificates can either be for your clients' favorite coffee shop, feed store, gas station or tack shop, or you can offer them for a discount on one of your services. This can be strategic marketing as well as a welcome gift.  If you know your client is interested in a particular service, but hasn't taken advantage of it yet, a free or discounted opportunity to give it a try may be just the thing to convince them.

 Happy Holidays! We hope we've given you a few ideas on how you can still get last minute holiday gifts for your clients that will keep them happy, and thinking of you, throughout the coming year.

Members and future members of Equestrian Professional
One of the most important benefits of being a member of EquestrianProfessional.com is that we understand how different the horse business is from mainstream businesses. Our members gain access to a proven system and collection of tools and resources specifically for professional equestrians that help you to unify your equestrian career and business goals so that you are able to build both a successful career and a profitable business.

Also, for our annual members, this is a great time of year to schedule your consulting session(s)!  (If you are not an annual member, but would like to schedule a session, you are welcome to purchase a session or sessions from our shopping cart.)

Many national equestrian associations participate in our educational partner program. If you belong to any of the organizations below, be sure to take advantage of the discounts they have provided for you.