Big Sandy Texas Beginner Horsemanship Lessons

My name is Shylah Robertson. I was 16 in November. My mom says when I was little I didn't play with dolls I wanted horses. I played with piles of plastic horses and barbie horses, I colored fuzzy horse posters and let my sisters ride my back while pretending to be a horse! We were invited on occasion to ride with friends that had horses.

When I was 6, we got our first living breathing horse for Christmas and started lessons. Four years ago we moved to Idaho and had no horse so we began volunteering at 2 horse rescue facilities. One had many horses and we spent many hours feeding and repairing equipment. The other facility was a rehabilitation center for rescued animals and a retirement home for aged horses. They often were called and responded in a moment's notice at any hour day or night to help injured, lost and neglected horses.

My service there started with loading trailers with square bales of hay and unloading then unloading that hay at the facility. Then we got to help with feeding and grooming the horses. Work at the rescue included long hard hours moving hay, brushing and bandages horses, moving 50 pound bags of feed and lots of shoveling and even more shoveling. We loved every minute of it! Our new teachers were patient and kind. We spent a year with our new friends at R.E.A.C.H. We met and adopted Annie. We moved back home to Texas after 2 years and have made Upshur County our home. I have continued to study horsemanship through books, DVD's, seminars, teachers, new and challenging horses and students with great questions!

Heavenly Father has blessed me with great teachers and amazing horses from which to learn. As grateful as I am for all the people who have taught me, I am most grateful for my sweet mare Annie who sometimes taught me gently, sometimes not so gently and sometimes she let me think I was teaching her. At some point I decided I knew the basics about horses and wanted to share my passion with others. Annie became a lesson horse and I became a teacher.

I have been teaching lessons for over a year now. I began with my sisters, friends and neighbors. Now people call me for lessons and training AND I get paid to do what I love! I have helped adults with their first horses and taught small children who love horses like I do. I have "started" 5 horses(that means they had never been ridden). We have recently rescued 3 more horses. One was abandoned and the other we found in a ditch eating dog food with a nursing foal. Even more recently I have been given 3 more horses to train and find homes for.

Taking lessons for many years and wanting to learn all about horses and knowing what I wanted to learn I have created a series of 8 lessons. I start my students with the very basic nature of a horse, safety, anatomy, feed, grooming, tack care, saddling, health and well-being, hoof care, common problems, first aid, ground work and of coarse riding. I encourage students to build a notebook of information that I give them and of things they research on their own as a personal resource. I hope for my students to leave my lessons with a basic set of skills that will keep them safe and allow them the enjoyment we all imagine we can have with horses. I can start your horse or just give him/her a refresher course. I have gone to homes for lessons also my goal is to have safe horses available for my students to buy if they choose. My business is allowing me to save for college.

My classes will be starting in June. I have a limited number of students. My lessons are $20 each. I have a summer fun horse camp in the planning for this year also. Hope to see you there! This blogging just might be fun....thanks mom.           Written by Shylah Robertson

Ice storm and 48 hours without electricity...Were we prepared?????

I remember my mom once telling me to be careful what you promise.  Now I remember that lesson after I promised an article daily... I apologise I will try to write regular articles weather and farm life permitting. Ahhh thats better now for the guts of my learning experience.

Saturday we knew we had severe thunder storms coming and probable freezing temperatures so we began our outdoor preparations. The garden and greenhouse got our first attentions as we wanted to protect all our newly emerging seedlings and transplants. We covered everything as the temperature began to drop. There were many things that needed to be secured so as to not blow away. Those things done we covered exterior water spigots to prevent freezing. Wishing we had a few more batteries, extra propane and more firewood the rains began.

Sunday morning it was cold and rainy, no big deal right..............

By evening it was still raining and starting to freeze. As we watched the trees become heavier and heavier with ice I knew we would loose our power.  It was not long before we had about an inch of ice on everything. I wondered if my garden "babies" would survive. The thought of no electricity excites our family. We have always used it as a time of celebration! How better to spend the time than rotating the food in the 72 hour kits and snuggling up with a good book and a warm fire? The children danced and gathered their bags as they are filled with fun and nourishing food for just such an "emergency" dah dah dah dah............

To our sad surprise we remembered our recent camp out, the use of our kit contents and a procrastination of restocking. Note to self always keep bug out bags stocked ready for use. Thanks for a back up plan and our long term preparations, we put our dutch oven skills to work. WOW! Mom is every ones hero as she saves the day because we love dutch oven cooking. It takes a bit more time and care but the results are mouth watering!

Sunday night we had the crock pot of bean soup Dad had put together for us with some dutch oven biscuits. Despite our efforts to prevent the water freezing Monday morning several fixtures burst and had to be repaired. With roads being messy traffic was slow and a bit stressful (I would rather be prepared than be one of those desperate and on the road). We don't get much ice in the south and it is a might scary. Country people tend to slow down and use caution and surprisingly the nearest town with a Lowe's did not have the severe weather we did so the roads just twenty minutes away were not bad at all. I was tempted to rent a room and send for the rest of the family. Being the brave adventurous woman I am we gathered our needed supplied for the repairs and ventured home.

Dad was able to get our water on by late afternoon and boy that was something to be thankful for! Heating water to wash dishes takes more time and lugging and the water had to be changed often as it was a bit chilly and got cold quickly. I do have to say with a bit of a childish grin that it made doing the dishes a bit funner. Carrying the big pots of hot water and doing dishes by dim light made me grateful for running water and water heaters. We truly are a blessed people!

Monday was busy so we warmed leftover from the fridge for meals, ate sandwiches, and more dutch oven biscuits.  We had to make a little stop at the local walmart for some propane to heat the greenhouse. Which Rachel Thank you your little buddy deer stand heater works wonderful. It used 2-3 small bottles per day and kept the temps up in the high 60's. I wondered if I had wasted all that time planting tomatoes and peppers could we keep them warm enough in our greenhouse from tractor supply. 

Tuesday the hubby got the day off and joined the fun. Paul and Gramp gathered more firewood as we knew not when the power would return. There was a business unlike our day to day routine but by Tuesday we had it down. Morning chores and breakfast, then clean up and chores, a little time to enjoy the ice...some sledding, then dinner prep and evening chores, then the best part of the day Louis L'amour and smores.

After two days of physical work (more so than normal) and 3 meals a day I definitely decided that when the power goes our two meals is more than enough. Lugging the water for dishes is good exercise but twice a day was enough for this woman! Those that need a snack can just grab another biscuit and jelly.

Tuesday when we were reading Down the Long Hills there was an awesome scene where the horse is attacked by a grizzly I wont spoil the book for you but it inspired dinner......dutch oven bear stew and it was fabulous. With some biscuits and cherry cobbler and candle light we had us an amazing evening. The power came un just as we were sitting together toeat so we ran about the house and turned everyting off for a memory making evening country style!

I am surprised we were able to keep our home above 60 with our fireplace without the electric blower. I am a bit disappointed I did not take pictures. I need to hire Rachel or one of the children to be in charge of that. I am well surprised all our garden goodies and greenhouse starts have survived. Our family had some much needed QUALITY family time. With the ice and snow melting our temps are supposed to reach into the whoppin 60's, I am excited to get back to planting!

Thank you for reading and letting me share. Angie on  ripplecreekranch@gmail.com also see our family farm blog at ripplecreekranch.blogspot.com

Ground Work Deluxe walk-in greenhouse from Tractor Supply

 

This year we are offering several more shares in our garden produce CSA and are starting all our own seeds.  Last week in anticipation of a large seed order coming in we purchased a smaller inexpensive greenhouse to start seeds close to our home where they are more quickly accessible.  We have successfully started them indoors for years but with as much traffic as our home gets that comes with some casualties (for the delicate seedlings).  Looking at our larger greenhouse which is across the garden and anticipating having to walk there several times a day we opted for a small hot house close by to insure greater care.

After looking at a couple other products we chose Ground Work's Deluxe walk- in Greenhouse from our local Tractor Supply because of its size, design and cost.  We like its lightweight design as it will be blocked from most wind in its position close to our home.  It has 16 shelves and its assembled dimensions are 52.29 in W x 56.29 in D x 76.77 in H.  It has a rear Velcro vent and a zippered roll-up door.  I couldn't wait to see it fill with tiny sprouting seeds.

 

beginning assembly 

 

                               
                                       I just couldn't let them have all the fun without me.

The cost of the greenhouse was $79.99.  Dad started putting it together alone but it was not long before two very interested little boys age 6 and 3 went to work.  When I looked out the window and saw all the fun they were having I had to join in.  They were having much more fun than I was doing the dishes.  The instructions were 2 simple steps with good illustrations.  All the pieces were well marked and once we became oriented to the parts assembly was self explanatory.  It was very simple and the boys loved fitting the tubular steel frame pieces together. 

assembled tubular steel frame

It took the 4 of us a little under an hour to assemble it; no doubt it would have taken longer and would not have been as entertaining if John and Jeremiah "the boys" had not been assisting.  Putting on the roof definitely took the 2 taller-ups.

                                                                       crew break

We have been able to keep our greenhouse above 60 on colder nights (for us in the south anything under 50 is cold) with a single heat lamp.  Tonight we are adding another to increase the temp.  During the day we watch the temp and can open the small vent in the back or the zippered roll up door as needed. 

                                     assembly complete and ready for the real work to begin

We will post at the end of the season how our little house stood up to the test............Angie Robertson

New blog, fun farm life, grass-fed beef, and CSA shares.

Our dream of a family ranch/farm began over twenty years ago.  We were young, falling in love and thinking of our future together.   As we began our lives together and our family grew to a whopping 7 children we have seen the increased need and desire of ourselves and our neighbors to be more aware of where our food comes from and with which techniques.  We have studied and practiced sustainable and natural techniques for our animals and gardens for many years and love what it has done for our family.   Our blog is an effort on the part of our family to share with you the learning process, the fun experiences and fruits of the family farm.

 

Chickens were our first farm animal and boy were we thrilled with the taste of our first fresh eggs.  There is nothing like the smile you get on your face the first day you find a fresh egg in the chicken coop.  Our children still get excited and all want to go gather the eggs just to see how many we will get today!  When you taste the difference for the first time you may feel as if you have been cheated your whole life, I know I did.  They have so much flavor compared to the store bought version. 

 As the first gardens were put in the chickens became a nuisance as they dug up seeds and pecked at the fruits that were supposed to be for us! We adopted "Cubby" one late fall to help the next year and help he most certainly did. We trained our corgi to keep the chickens out of the flower beds and garden. As unbelievable as it sounds his herding instinct came in handy and "Cubby" not only held a place in our hearts but he became our first working dog. As long as he lived we never had chickens in our gardens again!

 The first garden attempts were... well... lets just say learning experiences. As I remember growing up, my dad often had a garden that he planted, cared for and harvested mostly by himself as my mother I am sure was busy with raising us 3 girls and running a home. So I unfortunately learned little from him and had to learn on my own. As growing seasons came and went I learned important lessons; chickens love gardens, too much or too little water both spell disaster, weeds will take over if you don't do a little each day, and oh boy the harvest is worth all the blood, sweat, prayers and tears you have to put into a garden for that first crispy cucumber and that first taste of sun ripened juicy heirloom tomato!

 My love of growing things has inspired me to produce fruit, herbs and vegetable for our own CSA program. A Community Supported Agriculture program is a weekly share in the naturally grown produce from our farm. Last year we sold five shares and this year we offering more shares. This year we are offering a smaller share of produce for twenty weeks at $10 per week. We already have potatoes, leeks, onions, radishes, spinach, beets, swiss chard, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages,  english peas and blackberries planted.   We have started our tomato and pepper varieties in the greenhouse and are planting more veggies daily!  We are offering a large variety of vegetables including some that we hope will be new to you.  We also will be selling produce at a local farmers market if there are extras you would like ask we hope we have just what you are looking for.

These are a couple garden pics from our 2013 season.

If you are interested in having some fresh vegetables and herbs this summer we will be happy to serve you.  This weekly Taste of Fresh Veggie Pack will be available for pickup in Gilmer on Wednesdays or at the farm on Saturday.  You will pick your day and that will be your pick up day for the season.  If you can not pick up that day have a friend or relative pick it up for you.  The pack will have three or more varieties each week. For example one pack may have parsley, onion, spinach radishes and broccoli; then another basket may have green beans, tomatoes, basil and garlic.  The contents will totally depend on season and success.  Remember you are buying a share of the harvest!   The deposit is half and is due when you sign up and the remaining amount is due at the first delivery date which will be the beginning of April.

Our next animal adventure were pigs.  A dear friend gave them to us.  "Bacon" and "Porkchop" became our friends as they greeted us with their soft snorting sounds morning and evening.  They lived a happy farm life until they became escape artists and then they had to go to colder climates.  The children adjusted well as they were young and it took some time at the processors.  The bacon and sausage were superb!

This is a handsome Zebu bull, they are an incredibly interesting breed of cow.  After having several other breeds we are now raising Zebu.  They eat a greater variety of forage and are drought tolerant.  They are the original small breed of cattle.  The smaller breed is easier to handle and provides an amount of meat and milk more appropriate for a family.  We were milking one last spring and she gave just over half a gallon per day verses our jersey who gave over 5 gallons each day.  Recently we butchered our first farm raised beef critters which when processed was just 200 pounds of meat verses a large breed that can be 600 pounds of meat.  These family sized animals eat less and there is less waste in the end.  Again I was surprised at the taste difference, I had no idea that fresh, farm raised, grass fed beef hamburg could have so much flavor!  The hamburg, stew meat, jerky and roasts for the slow roaster beat any we have ever had before!  We are currently taking orders for fresh beef. 

We will be sharing our projects in progress and new ones with you through our pics and daily articles.  Please share this with others that might be interested in us and our farm products.  As the produce ripens we will have a couple events on the farm.   In July we hope to have a homemade salsa contest and for the fall maybe a pie social!  These events will be for family, friends, neighbors and farm fans; that we might share in the bounty of good fun, community and harvest.  Thank you for your time and interest in our new blog. Angie Robertson