All I want for Christmas is … horse poop?

Many women want jewelry, clothes or spa treatments for Christmas. Sandy Cochran of Jackson, South Carolina wanted to pick up horse manure for a week.

Sandy is a trained Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteer with United Animal Nations, and when she learned about the horse rescue operation, she asked her husband to buy her a plane ticket to Nashville as her Christmas present so she could help.

Sandy mucked and stripped stalls, brushed and fed horses, and yes, even cleaned up manure for five days. “It was hard work,” she said. “But it is the best Christmas present I could have received.”

Watch this video to see what else Sandy had to say.

Oh, and you’re probably wondering about these photos. The holiday spirit is definitely in the air. A volunteer made stockings for all the horses, then proceeded to decorate the entire shelter!