We are gearing up for Dressage Today’s 12 Days of Giving right now and it has put me in a holiday mood. Each day, starting on December 1, readers will be asked to answer a question related to the magazine or our social media sites. 12 Days = 12 days of prizes! Anyway, it put me in the spirit to make my own “advent calendar” for my own business. Alsikkan Farm is going to be hosting a “31 Days of Christmas” that I think will encourage students to come out and ride, even on the foul-weather days. I encourage you to do the same at your barn (maybe do a gift or cookie exchange in the stockings, if you need to do a potluck-style event).

1. On December 1, each horse at the barn will have a stocking hung in the barn (with care!). A new gift will arrive in the stocking.

2. Everyone who rides a horse is entitled to the gift that is in the stocking.

3. After the barn closes for the night, elves come and empty the stocking. If you do not come out to ride your horse, you lose the gift.

4. The next day, a new gift will be in the horse’s stocking and ready for claiming.

That means that if you come out to ride/groom your horse every day in December, you receive 31 gifts! I figured I would spice it up by putting extra-special gifts in the stockings when the weather is particularly rainy/snowy/cold. Who knows what the day will bring … maybe a lump of coal? Maybe a bottle of shampoo? Maybe a new car (yeah right!).

Happy Holidays!