Country Lifestyles
January 2017 profile: Shawn Hays — Training with Dedication
By Jessica Crabtree
People start any endeavor with an intention, a goal. Some stay true to the course of the path, never wavering, while others embark on new trails. In the equine industry, when trying to place your mark in any of the disciplines, one must work hard and dedicate oneself, no matter the start or background.
Many equine-related activities were derived from necessity, what the working cowboy uses on a regular basis on the ranch. Some events date back to historical meaning, like the tactics of the vaqueros from centuries ago.
Reined cow horse trainer Shawn Hays has trained professionally 12 years. His resume is impressive, but started out very different. Hays was born and raised in the rural West Texas town of Snyder. Hays’ influence of horses started with his grandmother, Judy Hays. Judy trained horses herself on the ranch, first rope horses, then cutting horses and later in her years, halter horses. Judy saw great success in each event, even gaining the World Champion Heeler title in 1956.
That influence and presence allowed Hays to compete in horse events as a youth, showing in all-around western pleasure events. After high school a young Hays made the commitment to training horses and started first as a western pleasure trainer. Doing so for a few years, at 20 he moved home and was introduced to roping. “I started heading with Mickey Gomez. Then when I was 24 I moved to Colorado to work for rope horse trainer J.D. Yates,” Hays said.
To read more pick up a copy of the January 2017 NTFR issue.
The Hays family, left to right— Hunter, seven, Tammy, Shawn and Bryce, 10.(Photo courtesy of Tammy Hays, by Jackie Jean Photography)
Hays practicing fence work on a four-year-old gelding named Hez The Cats Meow. (Photo by Jessica Crabtree)
By Lacey Vilhauer
Ingredients:
1 whole lemon, seeded and roughly chopped
2 cups sugar
2 pounds strawberries, hulled
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons
¼ cup water
Directions:
Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Puree the strawberries in a food processor and add to the lemon mixture along with juice of one lemon and water. Taste and add more juice as desired.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Nicholas Waters
As winter plods along – come Spring and gopher mounds – homeowners and farmers find themselves playing a familiar song – fiddling while Rome is burning.
Let’s make a mountain out of a molehill. Those mounds on your lawn and pasture could be moles, but they’re more than likely gophers; Plains Pocket Gophers to be pragmatic – Geomys bursarius to be scientific.
These rodents dig and chew, and the damage they can do goes beyond the mounds we mow over. Iowa State University cited a study in Nebraska showing a 35 percent loss in irrigated alfalfa fields due to the presence of pocket gophers; the number jumped to 46 percent in decreased production of non-irrigated alfalfa fields.
The internet is replete with academic research from coast-to-coast on how to curtail gopher populations, or at least control them. Kansas State University – then called Kansas State Agricultural College – also published a book [Bulletin 152] in February 1908 focused exclusively on the pocket gopher.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Annette Bridges
Everyone needs a room with a view that makes their heart happy. My honest favorite panorama would be either the mountains or the ocean. I have yet to convince my hubby to make permanent moves to either, although he does enjoy the visits as much as I do.
The location of our house on our ranch does not provide the expansive field of vision of our land that I would enjoy. So, I have created a room decorated and furnished in a way that gives me smiles, giggles, and a wonderful peace-filled feeling when I am hanging out in it. I am in that place right now writing this column. I am in a lounging position with my computer in my lap on the chaise that was once my sweet mama’s. I had it reupholstered this year to give it a fresh look.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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