Tommy and Sharon dated briefly as teenagers back in 1971, while in high school in the small northern California Sierra Nevada foothill town of Grass Valley. After a 3 week romance, the youngsters went their separate ways.

25 years later, when Tommy lived in Texas and Sharon lived in Oregon, they made contact via a simple postcard at the suggestion of Sharon's oldest brother, Dennis. Tommy and Sharon were both divorced parents of grown daughters at the time and they were reflecting on what they wanted to do with the next chapter of their lives. Tommy had many careers since being in Cuba serving with the US Navy... including managing a Texas dairy farm and full time caregiving to critical care patients. He was also a mechanic. But he was ready for a change. Sharon was living in northern Oregon, restoring an isolated horse farm in Estacada for her California parents, John "Pat" and Claire O'Brien, and commuting to Portland for her job at an Exhibit House. She was enjoying her quiet life but knew it would have to change once the property sold.

Soon after receiving that life-interrupting postcard in Texas, Tommy called Sharon and what they thought would be a renewed acquaintance turned out to be falling in love. They began a telephone and greeting card courtship (this was before the internet) and were on the David Brenner radio show numerous times. Brenner broadcast from New York but with their phone bill reaching the thousands talking to each other so much, they used Brenner's toll free number to broadcast messages to each other. After 3 months of this, Tommy proposed to Sharon over the telephone (of course). In a very romantic next step, he packed up and drove from Texas to Oregon to marry Sharon. They had not seen each other in person for 25 years till the day he arrived to marry her!

Tommy and Sharon's
wedding Day.. April 7, 1996

Once together, and after the Oregon property sold, they traveled the west coast in a motorhome for a year, living in Oregon and southern Nevada, doing contract graphics for large corporations at high tech trade shows. Tommy sold his home in Texas, and they became working vagabonds during this time, traveling along the Pacific Ocean and through the West with just their cat (who loved motorhome life!) creating custom trade show graphics and selling their Keiko (Free Willy) coloring book to gift shops along the Pacific Coast.

At left is Tommy in front of a 16' graphic he and Sharon made at the Las Vegas Convention Center to simulate a giant speaker. At right is Sharon holding up their Keiko coloring book at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in front of Keiko (he really DID look at it!) just before he was moved to the Norwegian Fjord where sadly, he did not survive.

Whenever Tommy and Sharon found free time while working in southern Nevada, they headed for the remote desert, hoping to glimpse some wild horses and burros. They spent many long hours quietly waiting amidst sagebrush and cactus for one or more to appear. The result was a special collection of photos to forever remind them of their brief but memorable encounters during that time in their lives, some of which are pictured below...

A bay stallion, mare and foal, and two donkeys
photographed by Sharon in the Nevada wilds

Eventually, Tommy and Sharon grew weary of their corporate work and life on the road and yearned to return to their their childhood home town of Grass Valley, California, so Sharon could be near her family and have horses again. It had been too long and she couldn't stand it anymore! So they returned to Grass Valley and commuted to Las Vegas 4-6 times a year for trade show work.

In the meantime, Sharon had been drawing horses since she was a child as they are her lifelong passion (honest people call it an obsession). One day, while still in Nevada, she had created a small painting and poem inspired by an aged wild palomino mustang stallion she and Tommy had met up close one day in the desert by chance. This stunning old horse had survived the most extreme of elements for many years and Sharon was compelled to put his spirit to words and image. She printed the result on a shirt and it sold. Following that, she made a humorous donkey design inspired by wild burros and it sold, too. At this time, the internet was coming to life fast and furious and Sharon struggled to learn how to put her designs on the web. Once online, she began to discover the huge community of fellow horse lovers who were joining the world wide web, too. Encouraged by the positive response met with her first two designs, she began this journey of intense creativity, which eventually became HorseDesigns.Com.

The aged wild stallion who became Sharon's first horse t-shirt design

"All I've ever wanted to do, since as far back as I can remember," says Sharon, "is to be with horses and if I can't be with them, I draw them to keep myself content while in their absence. I have hundreds of designs still inside waiting to get out, as I will never tire of expressing the love that I and others as crazy as me have, for these wonderful equines. Being with a horse is as close as I can come to feeling the essense of all that is good, real and natural in this gift of life." A very real side benefit Sharon also enjoys are the many wonderful people from all over whom she's felt privileged to meet due to the internet.

Tommy and Sharon deeply love and appreciate their country and when the terrorists unleashed their attack on the U.S. on 9/11, they transformed their sorrow and anger to a series of designs that promoted unity and endurance by connecting the deep love of our country with the passion of horses. They also lost their business contracts in Las Vegas due to widespread corporate losses in the tech companies, generated by the attack and so they committed themselves to promoting the love of horses for their full time work. They also expanded into a line of firefighter air attack shirts, too, inspired by Sharon's brother, Tim O'Brien, and his detailed art plus his love of aircraft and respect for airtanker pilots who risk (and sometimes lose) their lives saving ours while attacking fires from above.

Sharon did rediscover her dream of having horses again. Here are a picture of Tommy's and her cherished horse pals...

Sunny and Sydney

While Tommy and Sharon work together in the production of shirts, Tommy has rekindled some of his own favorite activities in life, too, like the old Massey-Ferguson tractor he named Mr. Fred. Sharon referrs to Tommy as a "Truck Whisperer" because of his mechanical prowess. "Our life is not as financially wealthy as it once was," she says, "but the peace we get returning to our original roots, being close to family again, involved in our hobbies and with each other, enriches us meaningfully."

Sadly, both of Sharon's parents passed away within a few years of their moving back. But they are eternally grateful that they had some wonderful years with them and decided to stay in the area, to be close to her many brothers and their children, especially now that the little one's grandparents were no longer here. Tommy built them a home in Penn Valley, California, a beautiful, quiet rural town only 5 miles from Grass Valley. Here, they have wonderful neighbors all around, a horse community and are never far from family.

You can come home... and even marry your childhood sweetheart!

Mr. Fred and Tommy

For our t-shirts, we use exclusively 100% cotton, heavyweight and pre-shrunk. We choose brands that are known for being particularly soft and generously cut. We do not sacrifice quality to keep our prices reasonable. Some people request 50/50 cotton/poly blend shirts and we can also accommodate that... just be sure to ask.

For sweatshirts we selected Hanes PrintPro™ because they are made with a special blend of fabric designed to ensure a quality print on this more substantial textile, while giving you a soft cozy sweatshirt, too.

With polo shirts, we found the best fabric for printing our custom art on was also a blend.

They are all designed and produced by Sharon O'Brien-Lykins (known on the internet by her moniker "HorsePal"). Each design is born of true inspiration and often personally created due to input from people like you. Any shirt can be personalized with you or your horse's name, or your farm name or anything else... for no additional cost to you! There are no minimum orders or set up fees, plus you will receive a discount on larger orders, mix and match okay so you can get together with your friends to make an order and save money!

Sharon will also create shirts with YOUR original artwork, too! As beautifully detailed as you make it. Keep reading to find out how well our shirts hold up.

See a design of ours that you want us to alter for your club or group? We can do that! Our shirts make great trophies and prizes, too.

Check out our unsolicited customer feedback to see what they are telling us. These are real horse-loving people just like you, writing after they get their shirt orders... with no prompting. Their comments are deeply appreciated because they reflect the fact that Tommy and Sharon love their customers and work hard to satisfy them.

Unless otherwise specified (i.e. "ladies"), all shirts are "unisex" and based on men's and boys' sizes.

We print with waterproof, fadeproof inks (no inkjet or laser prints!) to ensure the best quality and longest lasting image we can provide. They are applied with a commercial grade heat press. You will be amazed at how detailed the designs are and how well they hold up.

We have abuse tested them and are happy to report they hold up excellent!

For optimum lasting power, it is recommended you turn the shirt inside out before washing to prevent other garments from rubbing against the image. Wash in cool water and use a gentle detergent (no bleach or harsh Woolite type of detergent), remove from wash and hang to dry or set on "air" setting in the dryer. If you must iron, do not iron on the actual image.

But again, we have been less than rigid with our own shirts and they have held up wonderful!

We have a strong commitment to getting your order to you as fast as possible because we know that when we order something, we can't wait to get it and assume you are the same!

The majority of orders are shipped the day after you place and pay for your order. Some orders are shipped up to 3 days after payment is received due to production schedule or stock.

We will always email you to confirm receipt of your order and to let you know when your order is being shipped and how it is being shipped. Generally speaking, smaller orders are shipped via USPS priority first class mail. Larger orders are shipped via FedEx ground service.

You can order online, via telephone, via regular mail or by sending us an email.

Our shopping cart offers you the option for online ordering with Visa or Mastercard.

We accept paypal.

We will let you know when we receive any orders by mail so that you can know when to expect your shirt(s).

A word about security... Our secure shopping cart does not automatically process your credit card. To maintain the highest level of security, we have your card number safely encripted and sent to us for manual processing. This is the highest form of online fraud-protection and we are proud to say that our customers have never experienced a single fraudulant charge as a result of online ordering from us.

Most orders to U.S. addresses are automatically shipped via USPS priority first class mail. Larger orders may be shipped via FedEx Ground services. Many people have found that we are so fast in getting our orders out that more expensive shipping is not required.

Canadian orders are shipped via airmail and pay the same shipping/handling charge as U.S. orders.

International orders are shipped via USPS Global Priority service and they are quoted so if you place an order from the UK or Australia, Germany, etc., we will first contact you with the shipping/handling charge and get your approval before processing your order..

We carry Youth T-Shirts in white or natural, but we may have ash grey in stock, too, so feel free to ask.

Adult shortsleeve and longsleeve T-Shirts in stocked in white, natural and sometimes ash grey.

Sweatshirts are stocked in white, but sometimes we have natural and ash grey so feel free to ask.

Sometimes we will have (or can get) a style that is listed as "white only" in natural or ash grey and all you have to do is ask and we'll let you know if it's in stock or how soon we can have it.

You will notice that some designs are only offered in white or natural. This does not necessarily mean we cannot provide it to you in ash grey, but it may mean that we've decided the particular design looks best on the color choice provided. But if you request we will still make it in the ash grey if we have it.

Because each shirt is printed to order, we do not stock pre-printed designs and as such, do not accept returns. We recognize that it can be difficult to choose the correct size, given that different brands these days have different measurements and people's bodies are very individual, some are wider or narrower at the hips, bust, shoulders, etc. If you are not sure what size T-Shirt to order, feel free to contact us before ordering so we can help you determine the size that will work for you.

One way we have found that has helped many unsure people get the right size, is to have them get a shirt from their wardrobe that fits them well... lay the shirt flat on a table or smooth surface and measure from armpit to armpit. When you provide us with that measurement, we can match it up to the closest size we have to that measurement.