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