More than 900 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “How do you, as a horse person, celebrate the holiday season?”

• Give special treats to my horse(s) 76.67% (690)
  
• Decorate the barn 34.22% (308)
  
• Donate to an equine rescue or other charity 28.78% (259)
  
• Have a holiday barn party 20.22% (182)
  
• Other (explain below) 13.89% (125)
  
• Participate in a holiday parade with my horse(s) 9.00% (81)

Readers shared how they keep the holiday spirit alive in the comments below.

Results of weekly polls from TheHorse.com are published in The Horse Health E-Newsletter. Published every week, this e-newsletter offers news on diseases, veterinary research, health events, and in-depth articles on common equine health conditions and what you can do to recognize, avoid, or treat them. Sign up for our e-newsletters using the form above or on our e-newsletter page.  

Look for a new poll on TheHorse.com every week!

• tree ornaments with horses
  
• hand warmers!
  
• Donae, donate–they need us!!
  
• decorate my horse and subject her to humiliating photos.. of her wearing her Holiday cheer..
  
• apple flavored wafers
  
• peppermints
  
• Horsey clothes
  
• Treats
  
• Decorate the horses!
  
• treats from the feed store.
  
• personalized horse items
  
• i invite hem over
  
• blankets and ornaments
  
• carrots
  
• horse treats
  
• horse ornaments
  
• horse books
  
• nothing
  
• hay
  
• carrots
  
• go for a great ride!
  
• OUr family has a birthday party for Jesus.
  
• Start the am with bran mash, have some alfalfa, top it off with a carrot for dessert – yumm
  
• horse statues
  
• Horse Treats
  
• some horse related gift
  
• I give gift cards to our local tack shop
  
• I dress as santa and ride the surrounding area and feel so good seeing the smiles and laughfter
  
• take silly holiday pics and make minty bran mash
  
• what ever they need to succeed!
  
• treats
  
• Gift Certificates to local Tack Shops
  
• I give all the horses a personalized stocking to be filled w/fruit & a candy cane
  
• Give my horses something that THEY will enjoy, like a massage!
  
• horse books, horsey trinkets
  
• gift certificates to Dressage Extensions
  
• subscription to THE HORSE
  
• Magazine subscription or a trip to a special equine event.
  
• gift certificates and bags of carrots
  
• Treats!
  
• treats to the other barn horses and animals too and of course Santa visits!
  
• lickits
  
• Starbucks organic blueberry oat bar – Yummy!
  
• gift cards
  
• Too cold for a barn party ;o(
  
• My friends and I get together and have Christmas cookie rides over the holiday
  
• tree ornaments horsey or western
  
• Equine portraits that I have painted.
  
• magazine subscriptions
  
• horse related signs
  
• we cut up carrots and apples to give the horses in their feed on Christmas and Thanksgiving, as well
  
• equine ornaments
  
• tack
  
• Clinton Anderson Tie ring
  
• horse cookies for their horses, books, calendars
  
• Special treats – carrots with tops; poor guys hasn’t seen anything green in a while!
  
• Omega Nibblers
  
• Special New Years Day Trail Ride
  
• funky saddle pads
  
• What holiday season?
  
• peppermints
  
• horse cookies and peppermints
  
• treats for their horses
  
• go on a horse trail extravaganza
  
• A warm mash.
  
• Enjoy extra time with my horses and appreciate their contribution to my life.
  
• I decorate my horse (with bells included) and ride out to sing Christmas carols!
  
• ornaments
  
• home made horse cookies
  
• homemade treats and new halter and lead
  
• try to pull one horse per winter from the slaughter sale
  
• pictures of them and their horses
  
• Horse calendar
  
• Treats. New warm blankets.
  
• New riding gloves!!!
  
• A day off work
  
• being a quilter, anything that i have made with “horsie” fabric
  
• horse mag. sub
  
• The Painted Pony figurines
  
• I make sure they have hay and feed for the next week or two!!!!
  
• Gift Cards
  
• Horse treats.
  
• I take my horse for a carriage drive.
  
• carrots or any other treat
  
• I make stockings for every horse in the barn
  
• horse equipment
  
• Make horse cookies for our horses and friends’ horses
  
• a photo of them and/or horse
  
• Winnie’s cookies
  
• Carrots & Apples
  
• warm mash with honey
  
• nothing
  
• Always a warm welcome to my barn-my 7 horses are the biggest blessings in my life & I share the love
  
• someting practical that can be used for horse and rider
  
• I bundle-up and go for a ride
  
• Love and treats
  
• magazine subsdriptions
  
• Baking special treats
  
• Every year, I take a holiday photo with my horse and all three dogs.
  
• I spend much of Christmas Eve at Barn w/horses bag of feed
  
• apples
  
• horse blanket
  
• Horse books: health, training, stories
  
• winter riding gloves or hats, always appreciated by cold barn people!
  
• Host a charity ride for a local agency collecting toys for needy
  
• lots of time and attention
  
• A day of doing their chores!
  
• Bags of horse treats
  
• Brass stall plates
  
• Xmas morning at dawn serve a hot mash laced with carrots, apples, molasses and a pint of Guinness
  
• they all get stockings to open!All 12!
  
• We braid jingle bells into our horses manes and tails and take a ride down the road.
  
• adopted a rescue horse
  
• Spend time with the horses.
  
• Treats for their horses
  
• Current Rolex dvd and books on eventing
  
• horse ornament
  
• carrots & apples
  
• every day is Christmas, my horses are my gift
  
• Ride my horse, give him some treats
  
• WILL TRY TO HAVE THE SANTA HORSE DELIVER XAMS CHEER TO A NEEDEY NEIGHBOR FOR THE KIDS
  
• horse home decor
  
• something I make that is horsey
  
• Anything they can use!
  
• A 50 pound bag of carots for their horses. Costs about $14.
  
• ornaments./ no money to donate this year interest rates have killed me
  
• home made horsey treats
  
• apples, carrots & Auntie Ann’s horse cookies
  
• Try to get a pleasure ride on Christmas Day, but we live in Iowa. You never know the weather.
  
• share Christmas cards with boarders, trainer, & owners
  
• nothing this year, just trying to have enough money for the basics- hay, grain, shavings, wormer
  
• Having kids early, so we are going riding while the turkey cooks
  
• I don’t
  
• Wool Socks!
  
• warm socks
  
• Include several horse-related items on my wish list
  
• apples
  
• Nothing
  
• Just enjoy having time off work and lots of riding.
  
• I do it for BO and riding groom. Phone holders. Photo mugs of the horses. Wine w/horse label… etc
  
• because i have miniture horses i am going to bring them home for christmas
  
• Everyone at our stable goes Christmas Caroling while riding our horses at a nearby subdivision.
  
• Hoesey candles from my candle business “BarnBurners Candles”.!!!
  
• Holidays are just another day to me. I don’t change a thing.
  
• make a carrot cake for horse and get him blueberry treats he will do anything for one
  
• Just a normal day, maybe a extra apple and couple of mints for my horse
  
• Home made horse cookies
  
• Homemade people cookies & horse treats
  
• New Halter&leadline,Jollyball & peppermints
  
• they also get a little extra hay & additional attention
  
• I love to give horse orna.ments to my friends
  
• books about their interested discipline
  
• I give my riding students gifts such as brushes, keychains, etc. 🙂
  
• warm gloves and wool socks
  
• Horse christmas ornaments
  
• calender with horses
  
• Homemade teeats for the horses and homemade treats for my two legged friends.
  
• gift certificate
  
• Donation to a local rescue in their name.
  
• None of the above
  
• hay
  
• hand care gift baskets
  
• pictures of them and their horses
  
• drive horses in sleigh
  
• Winter riding gloves
  
• spend extra time with my Horses!
  
• cinnamon doughnuts
  
• hang christmas stocking along by ours
  
• Horse ornaments
  
• chocolates
  
• riding apparal
  
• horse related anything
  
• We have a girls night out and exchange gifts.
  
• take a one horse open sleigh ride
  
• memorial luminarias for lost beloved horses across the Bridge
  
• Nothing special…my horses don’t know it’s Christmas! Duh!
  
• and i make specail horse treats for all the horses at my barn
  
• shredded carrots in warm beet pulp, lots of kisses
  
• Ride them & let them know they are very special
  
• horsey clothing or tack
  
• horse socks
  
• Candy!
  
• horsey things!
  
• something warm
  
• i don’t hold a barn party, but i go to the christmas parties my barn holds 🙂
  
• attend Cowgirl Luncheon this Sat.
  
• Take a special trail ride and visit the barn at midnight Christmas Eve to talk to the Boys.
  
• I make “horse cookies” for them
  
• Death Valley endurance Ride!! 🙂
  
• Equine rescue facilities really need help more than ever in these down economic times
  
• spend extra time with the horses
  
• Warm bran mash w/peppermints crushed into it!
  
• I usually give everyone a flake of alfalfa hay
  
• buy horse stuff for me or horse
  
• gift certificates for horse products
  
• I go to church!!
  
• horse related gifts
  
• Our horse will wear bells
  
• Deliver cookies on horseback to the neighbors.
  
• time in the saddle together on trail rides
  
• CARROTS for their horses
  
• special attention and brushing, along with carrots
  
• Call me a scrooge, but it’s just another day at the barn. If I remember, I’ll bring carrots…
  
• If it’s not too cold, I go for a ride a little before sunset on Christmas Eve.
  
• treats/toys for their horses, books to educate/train with
  
• homemade treats
  
• Decorate my stall door
  
• Books
  
• I give my horses wrapped presents and stockings as well as decorating their stalls.
  
• The book, “The Soul of a Horse”
  
• Camp and ride with close friends at a locak State Park!
  
• Exchange “horsey” gifts with friends that ride!
  
• We ride and go and visit our neighbors
  
• Give treats to all horses at our barn, with owners permission of course
  
• dress up the pony as Santa for lead-line class for the December shows
  
• Nothing too big… human celebration mostly. Maybe a warm bran mash & apples.
  
• Special treats, and a special peppermint bran mash. Plus treats for the other horses in the barn.
  
• I decorate old horseshoes to hang on the barn or stall doors.
  
• The Horse magazinestud muffins
  
• I always go for a ride with my non-horse person husband.
  
• Books – signed by author if horse-related
  
• gift certificates to the local tack shop
  
• I give my own artwork to friends
  
• Home made horse treats
  
• gift certificates, home made things, pictures
  
• massage
  
• Go for a ride in the snow on my horse, of course!
  
• On Christmas Eve I make my horse a special bran mash with chopped up carrots and apples
  
• warm riding gear
  
• I spend Christmas morning with my horses, giving them fruit and horse cookies.
  
• monogrammed pads
  
• work with rescue horses at the Los Angeles County Animal Shelter
  
• Carrots with the green tops still attached
  
• spend christmas with famliy
  
• New halters or picture frame for their horse’s pictures and such.
  
• Always give thanks for being blessed and having healthy horses. Go to a sorting or trail ride, too.
  
• Every year I take a photo with my horse in her Santa hat.
  
• if not the parade then nothing. They may get a little extra treat
  
• My community has a Horsemans’s Dinner open to all.
  
• new blanket, halters, treats
  
• Apples
  
• any equine-theme apparel, jewelry, etc.
  
• Warm things to make winter riding more pleasurable
  
• Santa leaves a stocking for my horse.
  
• carrots for their horses
  
• Warm bran mash with apples & carrots chopped up in the mix
  
• I get time off work, so I ride!!!
  
• Christmas Open Barn Day to show off our versatile Morgan Horses
  
• Go for a Christmas ride with my daughter and our horses
  
• DESIGNER HOOF PICKS
  
• Barn themed apparel
  
• We spend the holiday with them on a trail ride, Christmas and Thanksgiving Days
  
• Get together with friends and have a good trail ride,then have a good campfire meal
  
• Horse ornaments
  
• deworm with ivermectin and start on the taxes. Ho ho ho!
  
• Eat a great dinner and trail ride with friends!
  
• My trail club gets together for a catered event
  
• Treats for their horses!
  
• Nothing
  
• mine love peppermint treats!
  
• Treats for their horses!
  
• equiscentials horse care products
  
• Don’t celebrate
  
• baby carrots
  
• No holiday treats. Bah, hum bug!
  
• give (and request) horse-related gifts!
  
• Pictures of their horses playing in the snow.
  
• Haul water, keep it ice free and hunker down
  
• Since I’m at a boarding barn, I give every horse treats, also a little something, such as hoof picks
  
• wool saddle blankets
  
• Christmas eve I go to my barn this is when you can hear your horses talk….
  
• cookies, bananas, and apples
  
• Anything horse related
  
• Extra Love, Hugs, and Attention!!!!!
  
• Celebrate the birth of Christ!
  
• I dontate to the ASPCA and PETA
  
• decorate farm with horse light sculptures
  
• My feed room is a stand alone. I put lights on it- only
  
• an extra brushing, or just extra attention
  
• Horsey treats!
  
• Donate items to a local family in need
  
• put extra bedding in on Christmas eve
  
• Pay registration fees for last year’s new foals!
  
• Give gifts to my horse and my barn.
  
• We spend time with our horses, and take them out for a nice walk and trot, and give them some apple.
  
• Bake carrot muffins
  
• Always go for a ride alone with my mare to reflect on the year
  
• Give to human charities.
  
• save a horse from slaughter in their name
  
• anything their horse may need to be happier
  
• Nothing
  
• I give my two a warm bran mash and everyone gets carrots
  
• out of print or rare horse books
  
• Nothing
  
• go for a midnite snowy trail ride
  
• gift certificates to fleet farm