Welcome to old friends and new subscribers. Welcome to Spring. It's been a struggle getting here. Bulbs are starting to appear though the last couple of mornings we've awakened to a white landscape. Most of the snow melts by mid-day so guess that means we're at a turning point.

The horses are starting to shed like mad. Can't get within 5 feet of any of them without picking up a bunch of loose hair. No place for Velcro!

First, and this falls under the heading of Tiny Horse Art, i.e. postage stamps, I want to share a couple of attractive images, one of which I think you will agree is somewhat unusual.

Both are on my Tiny Horses Art page (https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/horses-on-stamps.html). You can go there if you aren't receiving these images in this e-mail. Worth a look.

Then there's this stamp from the Saar region of post-WWII Germany.

In the Horse Art section I've added a page about the great English artist Sir Alfred Munnings - some great subject matter for a gift of a fine art print.

Munnings was very much a student of the style of realism, apparent in his depiction of scenes at the race track. "The Red Prince Mare" shown at the top of the Munning's page, https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/munnings-horse-art.html, is a classic and Munnings' best known painting.

So What Else is New?

A common cause of writer's cramp stems from difficulty in finding new ideas. One of the joys of publishing Your Guide ... and Nose to The Ground is coming up with gift ideas that are perhaps a little unique out of the ordinary.

Our "Contact Us" page where you can send ideas, comments, or suggestions really doesn't see much action. When you're surfing the Net the last thing you feel like doing is sending in a comment when you haven't even be asked what to comment about.

What's new is a series of forms where you're encouraged to share your gift ideas with others. You'll find these forms on pages addressing Gift Baskets, Cool Ideas, Horseback vacations and the Round Pen. These pages were chosen for starters as they have been among the most popular and most visited. So, with your help, the more ideas the better.

The response to these forms has been very gratifying to date. Nearly twenty new ideas in just a few days. On these pages you'll find some topics regarding the Round Pen, horseback vacation experiences in Turkey and France, a couple of "Cool Ideas", and, maybe my favorite, several neat ideas about what to put in a horse lover's gift basket.

You're invited to see the ideas others have shared, perhaps rate their contributions, and hopefully forward along an idea of your own.

• For "Cool" Ideas: https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/horse-lover-gifts.html

• For Gift Baskets: https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/horse-gift-baskets.html

• For Vacations on Horseback: https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/horseback-riding-vacation-ideas.html

• and, for the Round Pen: https://www.your-guide-to-gifts-for-horse-lovers.com/round-pen.html

Submit an Article

If you've authored an equine article you'd like to share, please contact us. Of course you'll get full credit and a link to your website when it's published.

Links to Past Articles

• Rules of Thumb for Saddle Fit - Some things you should know if purchasing a saddle for the first time. It does have to fit (rider and horse).

• Saddle Rigging Demystified - explains the basics of western saddle rigging. This article contains most everything you need to know unless your needs are very special.

• Horse Art - Eadweard Muybridge, Leland Stanford and the Hobby Horse - One individual is well known, the other less so, but what they accomplished together changed horse art forever.

• What goes on in the mind of the horse artist as they create their work? - I asked this question in a recent edition of our newsletter and received a very nice reply from our favorite European artist.