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horse sense
Caring for animals teaches its own lessons
 | | Sally Robarts teaches Matthew Reynolds how to hold the reins. |
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By Mark Clabaugh and Ashley Lane Splash!
Last Christmas local Mom Shelley Reynolds was looking for something different for her 3 boys, Matthew, Tanner and Chas. Something different from the zillion toys, computer games, X-Boxes, etc that Santa and family flood the tree with. So, looking back to Thanksgiving when a cousin invited the family out for a day of horseback riding in Chipley, Florida the answer came to her. Horseback riding lessons.
Reynolds reasoned that horseback riding lessons were something all three boys could participate in, something that would stay with them for a lifetime and genuinely fun. It was not that long ago when she watched them having a great time on Thanksgiving riding horses. The family also enjoys traveling and it would be fun to ride horses while on vacation too. Many cities offer horseback on beaches, in the mountains, backwoods trails, etc and what could be more educational and fun than being out and enjoying nature.
Shelley then contacted Sally Gray Robarts at Robarts Farm. Sally, to me is a true cowgirl from her down home personality to her log cabin home. She is big on respect and hard work and knows that these virtues are important.
When you pull your car into the driveway, you're struck by the way this house doesn't seem to fit into the neighborhood. It's a hand-hewn log cabin with an antique stained-glass window. The fence around the property looks like it came out of a rural life exhibit. There are chickens and a turkey roaming freely in the yard, dogs are loose and napping in the sun, horses are grazing lazily in the pasture; it's almost a step back in time. This place definitely doesn't fit into the Pensacola neighborhood it's tucked into.
"Forty years ago, when we moved onto this property, the road was clay and we were the only house down here; we weren't in a neighborhood," says Robarts' Farm owner, Sally Gray Robarts.
Something about the fence line draws a line between this place and the rest of the world. Days aren't ruled by traffic, cell phones and computers here. Life isn't defined by a car, career, title or beauty - unless, of course, you're referring to the beauty of the horseflesh.
"Our horses carry top bloodlines from various competitive ancestors and our dog has a designer hunting pedigree, but as far as us? We shop at Goodwill and prefer to be at our barn than by the TV," says Robarts' youngest daughter, Annie.
It doesn't seem that the animals are aware of their pedigrees. While they're elegant and graceful, the horses seem to take great pride in teaching children to ride and don't really miss the show rings. And the dog with the top of the line hunting background? She's the most gorgeously built lap dog that's ever graced this planet.
Robarts has been teaching children and adults to ride for over 30 years. She specializes in working with handicapped and underprivileged children, but loves her private students as well. She swears there's nothing like seeing children learn to control her thousand-pound horses, and that she's never seen a child who hasn't benefited from riding.
A horse is an animal, she says. And while hers are as safe and docile as they come, they aren't carousel horses either. They won't hand you anything; they teach as much as she does. These delights me every time, she says. it as much today as I did when I watched it happen with my own children.
Children here aren't judged by grades, looks or ability. Actually, and playing, even when not riding. This leads to interaction between parents and children as well as with the animals. As for Shelley's family, everyone has participated and enjoyed helping with the horses when taking the boys out for their lessons.
Robarts lists her job benefits not as insurance or a 401K (she has neither), but as always having new children to love and their parents to call friends. She's always receiving help from her "people," as she calls them. And she credits all this to God.
"I know there's no way I have earned these people. God just sends them as blessings for me. You should meet the woman helping me with my stalls right now. Jo is amazing, and she just volunteered," says Robarts.
The Robarts farm is definitely a unique place, a special place, a blessed place. Any child can learn to love a horse, and they get the benefit of learning responsibility. This place sees miracles, small and large, daily.
Bring your family here, get involved with the horses and each other, and you'll never regret it.
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