HGG Community Forums

::Event Navigation::
New Crabbet Arabian Breed Characteristic
Cookie Exchange Event
Gingerbarn Building Contest
Skewed Appaloosa
Random Acts of Giving
Special Tack Editor Updates

I have lots of exciting things coming for this event. Links will be added to this area as these posts are created

Cookie Exchange - Celebrating Mutual Aid

Each year I choose a theme for our end of the year festival. Themes over the years have ranged from silly, solemn, and even whimsical. 2025 has been marked by a raising global cost of living crisis and targeted violence against some of our most vulnerable groups of people. It is also a year that has seen a much higher than normal level of serious and life threatening illnesses among our membership. With that in mind I have chosen the theme of Cookie Exchange - Celebrating Mutual Aid.

When the night is too big and too dark, it can feel like there is nothing we can do to bring back the light. We can end up detached and numb to the vast problems of the world. This is your reminder that every act of kindness we do makes the candle brighter. Sure we can't change the whole world but we can change OUR world. Our actions can mean the whole world to someone in need.

This December I am encouraging you to get off my game and go spend some time on something that is meaningful, even if it is small. Bake cookies for others to show them you care. Play board games with your friends. Pick up trash at the park. If you can volunteer, amazing. Fix a broken bench, or paint some silly rocks and hide them around your town. Find a way to bring joy and support and aid to your little part of the world.

The best way we can push back the dark is to remember we are all in this together. Let's help each other out.

::Herd Helpers::
The year is ending with special herd helper events on the create a horse page running until New Years Day. You can see the full schedule on the create a horse page. I selected herd helpers this year with a special eye towards hope, family, community, and marginalized groups.

We will also have an entire week of brand new herd helpers based on this years theme.


Charity
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
- Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings

All horses will have one copy of donkey dominate white.

Mutual Aid

"Peter Kropotkin called mutual aid a “factor in evolution.” The Black Panther Party called it “survival pending revolution.” Dean Spade tells us that mutual aid is fundamental to making revolution. It is about building solidarity, preparing for battle, and creating a culture of collective care to displace the atomizing culture of individualism and the market. "
-Robin D. G. Kelley

All horses will be het. kit promoter, het. gulastra plume and het satin.

Buñuelos

Buñuelos are a fried yeasted dough found throughout Latin America. They often represent good luck and come in a huge range of shapes, many covered in powdered sugar.

All horses will have one copy of powder white.

Tea Cakes

"We especially integrate the tea cake into celebrations like Juneteenth because it is the celebration of the removal of an obstacle that prevented the humanity of Black Americans from enduring. It is the commemoration of a removal of a shackle that prevented people from becoming their true selves. The tea cake is symbolic of that removal and the future we hope to create."
-Etha Robinson,Tea Cakes and Black History: Reclaiming a Legacy

All horses will be flaxen sooty chestnut homozygous tobiano with belton spotting and p+


Chocolate Truffle

"Growing up my mom and her friends would always get together to make a huge batch of homemade chocolate truffles for Christmas exchanges. It's the christmas treat I most associate with community."
-Ammit

All horses will be homozygous for the chocolate gene and have at least one copy of the black gene.

Sunprint

Not the traditional "thumbprint" cookie, but instead a "sunprint" cookie using native ingredients like sunflower, squash and chokecherry. Recipe provided by the First Nations Development Institute.
Click Here for Recipe


All horses will be homozygous for the pearl like sunshine gene, with one copy of appaloosa spot regulator and at least one copy of appaloosa.


Trefoil

The Girl Scouts of America have been uplifting girls and women since 1912, with a mission to "build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place." The Trefoil cookie dates to 1922 and has been raising funds for Girl Scouts for over 100 years.


All horses will be exceptional producing palomino duns with one copy of dun factor promoter 1



::Galloping sales::
20% off sales will be happening all December long with sale items changing daily.

If you can afford to add us to your holiday shopping list this year we would be incredibly appreciative. Economic crunches hit businesses like ours pretty hard. Instead of buying stuff from a international giant why not help a queer immigrant woman feed her family? You have my internal thanks for considering it!