Shayla Shipley - 1st Generation Cowgirl/Horse Breeder/Maine Coon Breeder/St. Berdoodle/Newfi Poo/Bergerpiccard Breeder/AQHA Congress/Modern Cowgirl

 Shayla Shipley

Wed, Aug 09, 2023 10:45AM • 52:31

SPEAKERS

Brandy Von Holten, Shayla Shipley

 Brandy Von Holten 

Welcome back to Big Boss Mare with Brandy Von Holten. Today I have someone with me by the name of Shayla Shipley. Now Shayla has been at Von Holten Ranch for I think about two years now. She came here to a clinic, but she's one of these people that she probably could have taught the clinic if she wanted to because her horsemanship is just stellar. She's here with her mom and with her niece now when everybody sees her here, she always thinks everybody thinks that her niece is probably her daughter, but not the case. So it's a little bit of a I love whenever families come here but it's a mom, a daughter and a niece okay, so Shayla, let's talk about so where do you live at?

 

Shayla Shipley 

We live in Tourney, Missouri, which is in pretty much the middle of nowhere. It is just south of Cameron Missouri, which is North Kansas City.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, now then you you had something pretty cute you were talking about because before Shay being Shayla Shipley, originally you were Shayla cook and your mom whenever she remarried. She is now Nona Baker. Yes, so you're a cook and Baker?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Yes, we were gonna whenever they got married, we were gonna make a restaurant called the cooks and the bakers.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, so tell us a little bit so you are one of four sisters. Yes. Okay. So tell me about them.

 

Shayla Shipley 

I'm the baby. So my oldest sister she's eight years older than me. She lives in Springfield. And she is the mother of four dogs. And then my next oldest sister would be Tanya she is four years older than me. And she is actually the mom of Karissa. And Chris actually has twin 12 year old sisters that nobody knows that she has because they never come. So I do think she likes it coming here because she's not the twins older sister. She has her own identity.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

All right, and we're talking about von Holten ranch because Shayla comes to von Holten ranch for our Country Tough Trail Versatility competitions. You know, and Karissa has told me before about the twins, you know what, and I'm sure that the twins get a lot of attention. And then here we don't even know that the twins exist here. You know what I mean? So a bit that is nice for her to have her own identity. Yes. So was her mom. You said Tanya is her mom Tanya? Yes. Is Tanya? Is she a horse woman like you she is scared to death of horses. Okay, so this right here you are creating more cowgirls? Yes without creating another cow girl. Exactly. Exactly. So you've got your the cool and the cool and that can ride horse.

 

Shayla Shipley 

I have finally become the cool and I am a strict Aunt. No but she's she's learned to enjoy that and she likes the structure and she likes to me helping her and she likes to understand that she's she's finally understood my personality that I'm not. It's just who I am. Okay, so what about the other sister? Tasha is two years older than me and she rode horses with me growing up, but she quit that when she started high school because she was a she was our track star. But she's got two children. She lives in Kansas City with her husband. And but she I don't remember the last time she was even on a horse. So,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

okay, so was your mom always into horses? No. Okay, so you are like in this family of non horse people basically and then boom, then you're like, I'm a cowgirl and here's how you ride Yes.

 

Shayla Shipley 

And and it started in middle school and high school and all that stuff. I always had friends that had horses and I seeked out the friends with horses so I could go ride and then when my mom married mark he had two horses and he always jokes that we went from two horses to 50 horses in two years because of you. Oh so when it was because of me we got horses and then because of my love for horses, my mother started riding. Okay, so and then from there then my nice ride so it's it's kind of one person from each generation rides and nobody else rides.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. So I will tell you my online horsemanship courses sound like I wish I would have met you in your middle school but I would had to have been the person I am now so it wouldn't have worked out because you're a 1985 I'm a 1979. But I my online horsemanship courses which they're available at horsemanship with brandy. I meet a ton of people where the kids the girl like the the 10 year old, the 12 year old, the 14 year old whatever, they love horses, but their mother does not have the experience and then the mom is like oh my gosh. So now I am providing these online course. Horses where they get, it's 12 weeks long, they get two videos a week, but it's just horse knowledge. But it's not a lot of fluff. It is we're actually here on a ranch, and then here, but I get to see a ton of people. I wish that that would have been available for your mom, I bet she would have loved that earlier on.

 

Shayla Shipley 

And I know she would have because I mean, and they did they did really good with probably since the time I was 12, I was writing with multiple people with multiple disciplines, which is, which has made me who I am so mean without them pushing me and getting me into lessons and get me the qualified teachers because they didn't know anything. So they did me a good service to to get me to people that actually did and could teach me.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Well, you know, I wish that I wish that my parents would have put me in horse lessons whenever I was younger, because I didn't have my first horse lesson until I was 33. And so I had to unlearn a lot. I will tell you the biggest thing for me to learn when I was 33 is these leads. I always thought that those were for people that rode English, I did not know it was for anybody that did not ride English. And then I didn't really understand why you would even care what I mean, I just thought it was going to be some pretty fancy stuff. But that was a big, like, wish I could have learned about that. Now I host all these kids camps here. And I have my online courses. And then I also have Country Tough Trail Versatility. I try to make sure and help people. I help people from the age of I don't know I have from a mature for I know that people know exactly what I'm talking about whenever I say it's got to be a mature for. And then I think the oldest student that I've had so far was 82. So that is such a big range. But I know I meet so many people that don't get horses until later in their life. And then they they don't get the opportunity to go through 4-H you know, and a lot of them feel awkward not getting to take those lessons because they feel like they should already know it and they feel awkward learning things. And then the kids, I don't do like these little little kid camps. I'm just like, nope, here, let's learn how to pick up their foot. Let's hit Learn where ticks like to hide, you know, and like, I don't hide anything from them. And I think it's going to help the entire equine industry with being a little bit more real. You know? So what that's what you're providing for Carissa.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Yes, yes. And that's what I like, I like clinics, I like to push her to clinics, I like to, to go to them. So she can she can hear it said in a different way. And it may click with her better that way. And I do think it's nice to hear it from somebody else. I think clinics are really important for everybody. Because you learn a lot and you can see other people are struggling in the same area that you are, you are not the bad problem. It's you just need to learn more.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh, right. I just got through with a clinic last weekend with me actually being the student. And it's my instructor that's been with me for a long time. And he had said, Man, cuz he's seen me go through all these different clinics with all these different horses and mules. And so he's like, Okay, this one, it's kind of awkward, because he's like, your hands are kind of shouting. He's like you're not heavy handed handed. But you've got to give that animal enough time to process what you're thinking. But then this animal is a little bit lazy. So I'm all like, he's like, you gotta give her thing time. But you can't give her the incorrect amount of thing time. Because she's also lazy. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's really hard to process.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Be gentle. That soft, or gentle and hard. Yeah. In general in her,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

like, Give her time but not too much because she takes too much. But then you still got it and so I'm like, okay, all right. So like even though I teach clinics for a living, I learned stuff from people all the time and I'm always taking pictures and sharing with people. It's a journey. If you ever find an instructor that doesn't have an instructor, then you need a new instructor. I agree. Yeah, everybody you can always get better my instructor changes I'm I see him twice a year for two three day long clinics. And he changes something every time I see him not not big changes. But just his horsemanship is still evolving. And he even just It's Lee Hartley hearts the main guy train with even just got selected for the road to the horse wildcard challenge. And so like this is a massive thing to be selected for. And and he's still evolving. He's 50 and he's still evolving. So let's talk about some things like you have a BS and ag business. And where did you grow up?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Straight from Northwest up in Maryville,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

okay, that's where my current intern is from. She has an an ag, she's an ag Media major with an emphasis in advertising. It's just like, oh my gosh, I have her transcribing these podcasts to put them on my blog of my website, because a lot of people don't want to. A lot of people don't understand how to find podcast and they don't have time to listen to them. Why also make it where they can read it. So there's a lot of people that would rather just read something, right. So you sell insurance, yes. What kind of insurance?

 

Shayla Shipley 

I sell commercial insurance. And I am the primary person that quotes new business for our commercial agents or commercial insurance.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, commercial insurance for construction for the equine world.

 

Shayla Shipley 

If you can insure it, we can write it oh,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

there needs to be on a t shirt.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Yeah, but we do we like to say that we specialize in and anything and everything. Um, I see one day actually right now we see a lot of truckers and nobody likes the trucker premiums because nobody wants to write truckers right but outside of that you know we ride anywhere from our the small single one owner no employees lawn mowing companies up to our multi state conduit construction companies that have you know, 150 employees. So there's no big no no small.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

What is the name of the insurance company you work for? I work for a JBL the Insurance Group. Okay. Now and then this right here you in your this? Mark? Mark, your stepfather did insurance before and now you and your mom Nona? Both so insurance? Yes. Okay. And then so in his parents had it before? Yes. So you are third generation? Yes. Now didn't mark bring any children to the marriage whenever you know?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Oh, he married into us four girls. Wow. I

 

Brandy Von Holten 

want to meet Mark. Give him a drink of something. Whatever he wants. I'm going to get it for him for a man to marry into four girls. What? A what a saint. Yes, yes. Wow. Okay, well, Mark is now 10 foot tall in my, in my mind enabled to carry all sorts of loads of everything. What a great guy love stories like that. So you do all sorts of breeding. Okay, so let's get into these. Before we get into the breedings let's talk about a little bit of your past competitions. So first thing you were the Missouri rodeo queen is very high school rodeo Queen Missouri high school rodeo queen. Okay. And that tell us about that experience.

 

Shayla Shipley 

That was a lot of fun. I never really planned on ever doing anything like that it friends that I competed with in high school rodeo. They convinced me that I should do it because they thought I would do good. And it was a lot of fun. We I won the state and then went and competed at Nationals. Met a lot of people had a lot of fun. It was it was a good learning experience. It was I mean they you you've got to do interviews, you've got to do impromptu, you've got to do the speech. So there's a lot to it. And it does help you build to be a to be a good adult in a sense, I guess.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. Then AQHA you did AQHA showing for around 10 years. Yes. And you the one of the biggest things that you did you actually went to Congress? Yes. And out of around 500 entries. 500 entries? That's massive. Yes. Okay. You came in first. Yeah. First and showmanship. Yes. So excited. Because the people that listen to my podcast, I have different categories of people. I've got people in the horse world and then people just in the business world. Explain showmanship to someone that does not compete with horses or even have a horse

 

Shayla Shipley 

and showmanship is it is on the ground. It is you the horses on a halter and you are leading it. And so it's innocence. You want the horse that's correct, that is responsive. That is the minds you you have to look pretty and poised the entire time. So it's kind of like modeling with the horse in a sense, I guess would be a good way to put it. Okay. All right. But yeah, Congress, Congress was a lot of fun. That was the first time we'd ever been there was a very first class I competed in My trainer was actually competing at the same time. So I had a friend that was there to kind of help me in school me and give me confidence. And I really didn't think I was even going to make it out of my heat. And I did I went back and then I placed there were four judges I placed first under three and second To under the fourth one. So it was it was a lot of fun. It was an amazing high to go on to finish Congress. It was just it was an amazing experience.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Who was your trainer at that time?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Joni and Craig Nelson.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. Do you still train with them? No.

 

Shayla Shipley 

They actually separated and we are no longer. My mom is still in contact with Joanie, but we no longer train with them at this time.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. All right. So you also won the novice amateur all around? Yes. So tell us what all is in the all around

 

Shayla Shipley 

so and that that was at Congress. The novice amateur would be all of the novice amateurs and all of the novice amateur events and so that you're at Congress, I competed in showmanship Hot Seat, Hot Seat equitation in horsemanship, so I had four events and I was in the top 10 Because I was seventh in horsemanship, and then I was top five and the other two, and I think that was the first year or close to the first year that somebody that didn't do jumping, won the novice amateur all

 

Brandy Von Holten 

around. Okay. All right. So then you went to Dixie? It was Dixie National. Yes. The Dixie nationals. Okay, so tell us about the Dixie National.

 

Shayla Shipley 

And that was down in Mississippi, and that was probably the next biggest show that we had competed in after Congress. And we went down there and I competed in trail showmanship, horsemanship, equitation and hunt seat, and we ended up winning, like we were first and showmanship we will reserve an EC reserve and horsemanship. And then we won the, the amateur all around and won a hair saddle.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay? All right. So, trail at AQHA. And Congress, I want you to explain trail to me, because here's what I have seen is, it's in an arena, and it's timbers just white, like things that you would put into a garden or a flower bed, just the white wooden poles. And then there'll be also some potted plants. Yes. Okay, so that's what trail is. So let me ask you this, because in country tough trail versatility, we our trail don't look like that

 

Shayla Shipley 

our trail does not, not at all. In Country Tough Trail Versatility, we're

 

Brandy Von Holten 

trying to build a versatile horse. So we don't we don't do it as versatile of what you've done before. But it is trail riding, then you have a ranch horsemanship pattern, and then you have natural obstacles. And we combine the score from those three for an overall, but our trail, I mean, like, I mean, you gotta go through a ditch and up a heel. And so has your heavier horses done well with transitioning from trail competition, and like the arena setting, and then doing actual trail riding, and then competing in something that's more close to actual trail running. Have you seen any,

 

Shayla Shipley 

and they've done good, I've seen that I've got to approach obstacles slightly different than what I used to. Because in the Quarter Horse trail industry, I mean, it is very controlled, you put this foot where you want it to be you count your strides, you know how many strides you're doing in a lope over how many strides it should take to get the next pole. You know that when you're doing trot overs, you can time and get which foot you want to lead over that poll to set you up for the next poll and to prevent them from from from hitting the pole. And so moving on to something like this, it takes a lot is like okay, I'm not in as much control as what I would, in essence like to be because I've got to let that horse do whenever you go over some deadfall logs, you have to let that horse find its foot, you've got to let it take its course and to go where it thinks it needs to

 

Brandy Von Holten 

1. Okay, well I know some things like I love to actually low powered on the trail, but I'll have to slow down in some areas because it'd be too many tree roots that are exposed, you know, nothing they can get their foot hung up on but I don't want them to hurt their foot or if it's a rockier area. So like, man I can be I can go and then I have to stop and slow down and then I'm like Jesus take the wheel here. Just get us through this. Okay, then I'll go back to doing my fancy stuff, but not as fancy as what you're doing. No, no, no, no. Well, you know, it's hard for me to be fancy right now when my main mount is a it's a Tennessee Walker mule. I do not have any experience with gait and animals and then I have two but one of them is gated and one is not like I have one. So a mule is half donkey and half horse. Okay, well, in both cases My Tennessee Walker mule I guess the donkey must have been gated cuz she's gated, but then the donkey was not gated with my Missouri Fox Trotter mule. So he's not gated, but he's extremely smooth. There's not a lot of jiggle and wiggle on my part. Whenever he's cantering. Now then have you ever rode a mule? No, no. change that.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Well actually take that back. I did ride your mule at the first clinic for my road, Coco. I worked Coco for like maybe two laps. Oh, okay, I have written a mule. Okay,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

I will have to let you ride her again, she's getting a lot more fancy. I'm beginning to be able to get my right lead. For some reason she had never really cantered before me. And her right side is so underdeveloped that like whenever we canter, or for people that are not horse people, it's like running, but it's not a full fledged run. It's like a slow controlled run. To the left is beautiful. And to the right, it looks like she needs a drink of VA, she falls in and I'm trying to pick her shoulder up the whole time to be like stand up. But whenever I make her run with her right lead, she'll be sore for a little bit just because that side is underdeveloped. And now we've got to bring it back to its equal with the left side. So for the people that did not know about horses, you want them to be even balanced. Okay, which is kind of, it's kind of odd to say that because you know, if I was a tennis player, I would have one like Donkey Kong sized arm and then one that was like not, but then I require my animals to be balanced. I think I probably need to work on being balanced myself even more to make them more balanced. So let's go into now your your heart horse. Okay, so this heart horse that she loved that she did a lot of the stuff on, was a horse named toad. Yes, Toad. And then he ended up he's no longer with us. He had some You said he had some front feet issues. And so what happened to him?

 

Shayla Shipley 

He had an injection on his front foot which caused an infection. And so he basically tore a tendon and then in the process of tearing the tendon, he also broke a bone and he had to be put down.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh, man. So what did Toad look like?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Toad was a 16, two hand red Roan with a tail for days. He had this. The first time I saw him, I thought he had a fake tail in and he it was his real tail. I mean, it's just

 

Brandy Von Holten 

like, he's like the Fabio 16 in red Roan quarter horses.

 

Shayla Shipley 

And it was funny because the first couple years we showed him he always had braids because hotseat was his main focus while at Congress, the Congress that I won. After showmanship, we had hot seat that night, and I had convinced my trainer that we didn't need a braid, and we would just wrote him. So we wrote him at Congress. And since then he was roached. And kind of the rotating drum came in to the Quarter Horse world for a short period of time.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

So you shaved

 

Shayla Shipley 

you? Oh, yeah, he was roached Oh, yeah. I love I love roached ponies.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

I've had so many people make fun of me in the past because I used to shave all of our horses manes and like I shaved them off. Oh, yeah. Well, and now my mule one of my meals is kind of Stegosaurus Mohawk just to be cute and different. The kids love it. So it's cut like a stegosaurs a stegosaurus dinosaur, but the other one is shaved. And, man I loved it so much easier. The horses are like they

 

Shayla Shipley 

do well and that's what my red horse that I show here a bow. He's got a he's got a roach. So.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, how did I miss that?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Because he didn't he just got it again. Here this last week.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh, so you had a lot of people would not do that. They you know, I've had trainers before in the past and tell me man, if something's got a long mane, you can add $1,000 At least onto that horses price like people pay for long they do they do. So. All right. Now then. Let's get you have had other horses you had toad. Then you had tadpole. Then you had TC which was tadpoles? Clone. Yes. Then you had Cletus and what's your horses that you ride now?

 

Shayla Shipley 

We have Luke Leroy Frederick and bow.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. And which two are which are your, your main

 

Shayla Shipley 

one i Two are Frederick and BOW and BOW is actually technically my husband's horse. And he of course named him off of John Wayne's horse named Bo.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. Now your husband. Is your husband a horse guy?

 

Shayla Shipley 

He is now he was not originally you've

 

Brandy Von Holten 

your world to cowboy. Yeah. Okay. I was not expecting that because I know that your husband is a roper. Yes, but did you know how to rope before him? Yes, I

 

Shayla Shipley 

did because I roped in high school rodeo but and I'm not a teacher. So I found them people like what my parents did. And I got him lessons and I got him and around people that actually knew how to rope. And that's where he

 

Brandy Von Holten 

learned to rope. Or do you and your husband have a header and a healer ranking?

 

Shayla Shipley 

We do not. We haven't competed in many ranked ropings we mainly just do it for fun and socialization.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, we had a you'll have to go back and listen to my podcasts. I have one with a lady named Karen Peck and I used to host these all around cowgirl challenges where you had to do like for horse events and for non horse events. But she won that at the age of 56 and then turn around and weren't wanted again at 57. So it's easier to become a champion than to remain a champion. Yes, that's so like, read that's the big deal is whenever you can win something and come back. But she was a her and her husband at the time was hitters and healers. And I think she was a four on the head and maybe a five healer, which I think that's cool, because I don't think they separate men and women. No, no, it's all combined. Yeah. So I love that that's the way it is and mounted archery also, they do not divide you up by men and women. So and that's the same way it is and obstacles. We don't separate you. I think one of the few places that they separate men and women in a horse competition is in Mounted Shooting.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Okay, that's the real I didn't know that either. Yeah,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

that's what I remember. I took a mountain shooting clinic once before and then I think that's what I remember from that. I mean, they might do it now, but I don't. That's what I'm, if you're wanting to separate men and women, there you go. Alright, so right now you have around 30 Total horses. Yes. Okay. And tell us what about your breeding program. So we'll start with the horse one, but then we've got two other types of breeding. So I'm going to keep you on the hook for that. Okay. Yes. All right, because you're going to be amazed by what the heck they're also breeding because we never have these kinds of breeders on here. All right. So tell us about the horse breeding. horse breeding. We

 

Shayla Shipley 

started out with quarter horses and paints we had about 50 bird mares full time vet. I think we stood six or seven studs at the time, we would stay in studs for other people collect ship AI all of that life cover. And then after college, I kind of started taking over more of the breeding industry. When my husband and I first started dating, he assisted me and we started reducing the herd and going down to one stud and about 15 brood mares. We started live covering everything it was my husband and I that basically handled everything. Probably about seven years ago, I started taking over a lot of the vet work AI or sonogram being our own horses. And so that was that was a learning experience. But it's it's been a lot of fun. It's something that I really do enjoy. It's really interesting. You can really start learning your mares tracking them timing them, knowing when they're going to ovulate knowing when to breed to save the stud because the stud we use and is the sire of three of the horses we ride right now. He is 19 years old. So we're basically trying to save him as long as we can. Right. So but, but now we've kind of transitioned into raising half drafts. So we still have a quarter horse that we breed to our drafts. And the way that he is is he's homozygous black. And so he only throws buckskins so it's kind of nice, because we know what we're gonna have. But then again, buckskins are kind of getting boring.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh my gosh. Oh, no. Do you know the my little Palomino that I have glamours her name? Well, I used to do full contact finding and I was glamour with the hammer. But I named her just after that. But her mother is a buckskin. But she's Palomino. So no telling what we would get? I don't know, I don't know horse color breeding enough to know what we would be able to get out of her.

 

Shayla Shipley 

I won't bore you with that side of things.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

You won't bore me! Oh my gosh, we'll have to talk about this later. Do you know off the top of your head about what colors

 

Shayla Shipley 

would depend on who you are and breeder too, because if you wanted to get a buckskin you would have to breed her to a horse with the black gene. Because right now she does not have the blockchain she'd have one on one dilute gene. So she could throw buckskins if she was bred to say like a bay or black or even bred to a buckskin. But she would have to be bred to something with the black chain now even even a buckskin can technically be homozygous black, even though they're just a buckskin because they can only throw black so if you brought her to a homozygous or a hyung homozygous black buckskin you would you would potentially get either a bay or a buckskin.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, Nina You're like buckskins getting boring. I would love to have a buckskin you know, my absolute favorite color and if you've listened to big bosmere With brandy von Holten you probably know what my favorite color is. But I'm liver chestnut. I love liver chestnut. And I love black. Yep, I love them to be just as black as they can be. And

 

Shayla Shipley 

I love a sorrel a sorrel with a lot of white that is that really pretty red sorrel with white. I mean, those are some of the prettiest horses.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Yeah. All right. So now the draft crosses, what made you decide to do that just because that's where the industry is kind of taking you to

 

Shayla Shipley 

know honestly, I think it's because every little girl secretly wants a draft horse. Okay, and so I kind of, I came back and I told my mom, I was like, You know what I was like, I'm gonna start raising horses that I want. And I'm not going to worry about what anybody else wants, and hopefully they'll want him to. So that's when we got our first Shire. And after that it's become an addiction. And I love them. I mean, the draft horses, a good friend of ours. They used to trim our horses, he was actually left the Amish community. But he always said that draft horses will kill you gently,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

will kill you can see like, Oh my god. Well, you know, I'm seeing a lot of draft horses here. And as long as they are trained not to be pushy with stern. They're pretty docile. They're docile, and then they they don't run as fast but they can still be extremely useful it with being cross. Yeah, they can be very athletic and very well. And they can also carry the low. Yes. I mean, you can you can put heavier runners bigger, taller riders, and then these things have energy for days. And they're just a gentle creature. Yes. So I love the mix. All right, so what what's your goal with them? You don't want to train them? You're wanting to sell them?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Yes, we sell babies. That is what we like to do. I like to mess with the babies. I like to see him in the pasture. Really, you know, it's very exciting to sonogram the mare see him at 14 days. And then 340 days you see them at just when they're born. So I mean, it's I handle all of the babies when they're born you know, we we've got cameras in the barn. I know when they're going to fall I check the milk for the pH level to see how close they are. And I mean, we are pretty much spot on and right there at the farm every time a baby's born.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, so in addition to the horses, okay, so let's do this little bitty breeding first and then we're going to talk about the very odd breeding to me. Okay, so you're also a cat breeder. Yes. And y'all have What's your specialty?

 

Shayla Shipley 

We have Maine Coon. Okay,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

so your Maine Coons um, I've had a Main Coon before or actually I've had to, or they're different colors for other people.

 

Shayla Shipley 

But I mean, it's it's a typical whatever color a cat can come in is what a Maine Coon can come in. I know there's fancy names for their colors. But basically what we have is we have a tabby and white king. And then we have a tortoise shell queen and then a dilute tabby.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. And then you also sell half Maine Coons. Yes. And people love that people

 

Shayla Shipley 

love the half Maine Coons because they're significantly cheaper than a Maine Coon. But I think it goes right along with your your mix breeding you get a harder your baby. It's amazing. When we have a Maine Coon litter and then a half Maine, two and a half Maine Coons take off better they grow better there just hardier in general.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Yeah. Okay. All right. So now here we go. I told you she did three different types of breedings. We've got the horse. We've got the cat. And now this dog breeding. Okay, so let's talk about you have a couple of different females and then your male and then what all you get, so let's go ahead. All right, are y'all ready for this? All right, go ahead.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Okay, so we've got a female St. Bernard. We've got a female Newfoundland, and then we have a male poodle.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, so you make St bernedoodles. Yes. And you make Newfie poo. Yes. Newfie pues if it is alright, so let's go into explain to me. A St. Bernard. So that's a big husky dog. Yes. And then a poodle is not small.

 

Shayla Shipley 

No, no. Oh, there is a standard poodle. Yeah, he's our male is William and he is probably 70-75 pounds. So he's, he's a smaller standard is what he is. We didn't want to raise gigantic dogs even though they're St. Bernard and Newfoundland. But we didn't want a giant standard. And then Kate or Catherine is our St. Bernard. And same thing. She is on the smaller side of St. Bernard but she is a A perfect picture as type of St. Bernard she's got a drier mouth, which makes it so that the puppies have a less chance of being drooly, like St. Bernard is because they're known to be drooly.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

I'm just remembering that movie. I know you're you might be too young for it because Turner and Hooch and he was talking to the St. Bernard. And then he was like, it looks like you swallow the sneaker and you got the tenant, the laces hanging out your mouth. And

 

Shayla Shipley 

I remember Beethoven whenever he's in the living room, and he goes to shake and the drool is covering everything. So, so yes, Kate doesn't do that.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Alright, so the Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Newfoundland, yes.

 

Shayla Shipley 

That is Elizabeth or Liz. And she is she's actually bigger than the St. Bernard, Newfoundland and St. Bernard's are very similar in size. It's just a Newfoundland is generally a little thicker, a little heavier made, but not quite as tall as a Saint Bernard. But she is bigger. She's actually the biggest female and she is the biggest puppy dog. I mean, she is a sweetheart.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. So I have been hearing about people breeding poodles with all sorts of dogs for years, like a poodle must be where it's at. I mean, do they have a good mind or not a poodle poodles are,

 

Shayla Shipley 

they're not number one for the smartest dogs, but they are right up there with a border collie. They're very trainable. They're good family. Dogs are good with kids. And they don't shed that that is the big key with the poodles is they don't shed. Now if you breed them, and you get your F1 crosses, which is what we are, F1's are the first generations. And so that's where you've got the St. Bernard and the poodle would be an F1. And so they generally do not shed but they're not guaranteed not to shed, right. So you have the different hair coats, you have the curly, the wavy and the straight. And this last letter we had we had several curlies, we had several waivers, and we did have a couple straights, so the straight ones are going to shed and be more like St. Bernard have more St. Bernard tendencies, whereas the curlies are going to have more poodle tendencies. Now, with Elizabeth even where she's a Newfoundland, they would still be F ones. When you breed, a St. Bernard or a poodle to a saint bernedoodle You would get an F one B, which would be your second generation. Those if you breed a curly st berjudul to a poodle. Generally every puppy would be non shatters, okay, that's because it's going to be doubled up from the poodle. So right now you also get more of that poodle tendencies, those poodle characteristics. And if you have not been around a poodle, a poodle is a clown. They have all kinds of personality and they are very active.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, so we were I was always raised with boxers. And they are just as goofy as can be. I don't know if you've seen it on Facebook or tick tock where this lady went through the training of her boxer and they were supposed to go from point A to point B and the ladies at point B and they let it go. And this thing does spins in the air runs around and then comes from where it's supposed to be at. And I'm all like, oh my gosh, that dog is so happy. That's what I kind of envisioned, unlike the energy of a boxer is that in the mentality? Is that close to

 

Shayla Shipley 

a poodle? Yes, yes, I'd be very similar. I think they're a little smarter than a boxer is are a little bit more trainer than trainer or a little more trainable than a boxer would be. But But yes, that type of clownish type of personality is a poodle. Okay? And so with the St. Bernard Zebrina, and St. Bernards, and St. Bernard's are very lazy. They're couch potatoes, they just want to cuddle. They're kind of velcro dogs too. But they that type of personality mixed with a poodle you get a little bit more chilled of a dog. I know a lot of the crosses that a lot of the really popular crosses are your golden Deuter doodles, and your Labradoodles while you're breeding a very active poodle to an active lab or an active golden retriever, I mean, you're gonna get a very active puppy. So that's what we wanted to focus on. more laid back type of personalities.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

So your personal dog so your personal dog, his name is Mater. Now Mater is a it's Barr ze P car. Yes. Okay, so tell us about your personal dog. How did you end up with this? This dog looks like he looks like Michael J. Fox and Teen Wolf from like, I don't know whatever whatever your that movie came out. So tell us about Mater.

 

Shayla Shipley 

So I actually did research on the breed when I had taken a test to see what breed suited me. And the bars AP car came up as an option. That was one of the breeds that I never heard of. So I started doing research on them. And they are a French sheepdog. They actually were almost extinct because of World War One and World War Two were both fought over in the Picard region which is where they were bred. So I think there's only about 600 of them actually in the world right now. So they're they are a very rare breed, which is one thing when everybody asked me What is he is like, Oh, he's a Barbie car. It's like, we've never heard of that. It's okay. Nobody really has.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

So what is this dog's personality for it to match up with your personality? If you say anything bad, you're gonna be talking bad about yourself. Oh, my God. He's

 

Shayla Shipley 

so sure he is antisocial and so am I. But no, he's he's very loyal. He is a Velcro dog. He is very active. very intelligent, very trainable. He is a minimal shutter. But he's he's still a cattle dog at heart which I love cattle dogs. I will probably always have a cattle dog. So he still has that. cattle dog. Personality is just mixed in with everything else.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. Yeah, I am. I love boxers. I love blue healers but I don't know. You know, I always thought I wanted to Great Dane until I realized the the bombs that they put into the yard. So I don't know if I'm going to end up with a Great Dane. But every great dane that I've seen they've been just lovable. Their dog their

 

Shayla Shipley 

big clown stew. That's actually my oldest sister. That's two of her fur babies are Great Danes.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh, my God. Y'all don't like little dogs. So yeah. I mean, these dogs are big enough for sandals on which I'm sure you hear that all the time. Like you can put a shadow on that dog. I guess. So you were talking about maybe next year you have some other competition goals. So what are you thinking about? What What's your next step? Because you've got Carissa with you. Yes.

 

Shayla Shipley 

helps develop her. Yes. And I think yeah, we want to try the Pinto, the pinto world which they have a ranch horse division and they have a solid Breen ranch horse division. So we'd be able to take our, our buckskins and compete at the pinto world and the ranch horse division, which they've got ranch showmanship ranch horsemanship ranch trail, and I believe ranch conformation. And then we've also talked about going to the buckskin world since we have three buckskins we would fit in.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

So you're I always assumed that y'all competed in the buckskin world, but you've always done the AQa che

 

Shayla Shipley 

we always have we had a couple of buckskins and we went down there actually, this is a really funny story. So I've got to tell it. So we had a he was he was a done, and he won the buckskin world as a two year old. In the one I think they do yearly and two year old division together. And so he was a Star Wars. His name was Elvis, and my stepdad, Mark, he had to have them. He loves halter horses. That's that's one of the things he really likes. So he bought Elvis and we showed him at the quarter horse shows since we didn't do buckskin. But we had planned to go to the buckskin world, while our trainer at the time was Aaron Hall. And I had told him that we're going to put them in the done factor class. And he was telling me oh, I think he's gonna be too tired. This is a lot of work. It's a lot of classes. It was two classes in one day, and I was halter. I mean done factor is halter. You go in and you stand and you get judged on your color. So he was like, I think he's going to be too tired. Well, secretly, he didn't want to compete in it because he didn't want to get lost. While he goes in there compete shows. And under the first judge he was placed first. Second judge he was first again. Third judge I think he put him third. And of course about this time I was like oh my gosh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. So then actually, the fourth judge put Him first again and he got a world title from that and he didn't want to show he thought it was so stupid to do he thought he was gonna get dead last and lo and behold, he won the class.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Oh my gosh. Well, you know, I do something that I take away from Shayla is your ability to just try different things. I mean, you have you came from not a horse background. And now you are you are breeding them and you're you know what you like, and your mother's doing well, your nieces doing well. And your horses look amazing. Thank you. And it's like a big operation and you understand a lot of stuff and you did not come from a horse background. I think that's going to be so motivational for a lot of people to hear because a lot of people think that if they were not they didn't have horses since they were born that they're lesser and that they're like not going to be a cow girl. And I will tell you, Shayla can out ride. Yeah, I mean, like, today, we have something called she's competed. And then I like pulled her and said, Hey, can you do this podcast interview with me? But we usually have we have something called cowboy roulette. And I have them enter it and they've got to pay for it before they're allowed to compete. And then they don't know what they're competing in until they show up and I make them do stupid stuff. One time I made them go down and this is before shale little bit I had them run down and we had a goat tied up and they had to put a pair of Iron Man underwear onto a goat get back on their horse and run down. Okay fastest time and it had to be done correctly one and they pay $10 to enter well half of it goes to them and then 25% goes to a charity and then 25% goes to von Holten ranch for hosting the event. Anyways, we'll Shayla has been doing pretty good in our cowboy roulette so what have we had to do so far?

 

Shayla Shipley 

The first one which I wrote bow for the first time so bow is always on my husband's horse but he is our jack of all trades. He is a master of none but he is a jack of all trades. He is the Mr. Dependable if you need to go catch some cows. You go get bow if you need to. If it's the apocalypse, you ride bow.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

A masters in general education. Yes, yes. General Studies. Yes. Okay. Yes. You know, in college they have they have that major where like, you just took a whole bunch of other classes and you end up with like a bachelor's. But it's not any specific area. Yes,

 

Shayla Shipley 

that would be Bo. That's about that's about Okay, so the first cavalry roulette, it was you went down between two cones, you picked up the log, you walked it around the two barrels, and then you set it back down, it couldn't follow. Okay,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

so that right there is called wind the clock for some people that might know that in obstacles, but the it's a garage pole, and it's seated on top of two barrels that are standing up and then you have to one in has to stay as the pivot point. Okay, but then it had to be done fast. Because yeah, because usually that's not a speed of it. No. So have you seen that one before? Yes. Actually,

 

Shayla Shipley 

we did a an obstacle clinic a couple of years ago, and that was one that we did and actually I had Bo at that time. That's who I was writing and we played around with it. I think we just walked in rotted it we didn't actually like around it. But But yeah, I had an idea of what to do because I had done that. But But yeah, so we go bussing in there and we slam on the brakes and grab the pole and go as fast as we can and then bus down to there which I run barrels on But why me mo is the horse that he runs barrels he runs poles he ropes he goat ties, he does everything And how

 

Brandy Von Holten 

old is bow bow is 15 Okay, so perfect. A Yes. And I love that he's your husband's horse that yard and roping? Yes. Have you competed in any of our other cowgirl? Cowboy roulette

 

Shayla Shipley 

the last one because we didn't do today just because of the heat. So we decided to give them a break and unsettle them and let them chill. So when I watched it, and I really think I've kind of wished I would have done that. Oh,

 

Brandy Von Holten 

yeah.

 

Shayla Shipley 

It looked like a lot of fun. But the other one was the the poles on the ground. And whoever hid the least amount of poles with with Allen, I knew we probably wouldn't do any good because of all the resources like the clunk bowls.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Well, and we put it in a weird shape and had them do all sorts of stuff. And then today's cowboy roulant was, we made us a circle almost. But they had to be able to run into the circle and the circle is made out of timbers. And then there's a much narrower chute where they had to come in, do a circle and then back out. But then I had told everybody hey, if you're a jerk, and I was like, I want to see good backing, I don't want to see horses mouths open. I was like, I'll give you a warning and then I'll DQ you. But the deal was, it was the best time that they could not touch a pole. So if they touched a pole, I would go I would like thank you for your money. That's what I would do.

 

Shayla Shipley 

Yes, yes. It really looked like a lot of fun. I really wish we probably would have done it.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

You know what I love doing that cowboy Roulette is just something extra. I mean, like,

 

Shayla Shipley 

well, it's fun. You don't know what you're doing and there's no cause I mean it's just for fun literally for fun you just enjoy your wars and you only try something new

 

Brandy Von Holten 

well and you know whenever and I usually play some 90s rap music be some salt and pepper going on or whatever. Something like that or some Yeah, yeah, yeah, like what is that? Who is that?

 

Shayla Shipley 

I don't know mute. Oh, sure.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay, okay. Anyways, we it's kind of catches people off guard because here we are out in the middle of nowhere and then I'm playing some salt and pepper while you're like doing something goofy and people are like, do we have to put Iron Man underwear on this goat? We sure do. Anyways, okay, so if they would like to contact you for buying a horse, or buying a cat or buying a dog or forgetting insurance, but Let's get something straight. Shayla is not a professional trainer. No. So she does not do lesson so do not contact her for that. She dislikes to compete.

 

Shayla Shipley 

I'm not a teacher. I don't teach you don't want me teaching anybody. I yell and I don't explain anything. I just do. I'm not there are people that can train that can't ride and there are people that can ride they can train and that's very true.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

So how do they get in touch with you if they wanted to talk to you about insurance

 

Shayla Shipley 

insurance, we have a website, it would be the www.jblb, which is Jerry Baker, Lois Baker, which is mark my stepdads his parents, and so it's JBLBinsurance.com.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

Okay. Now then if they wanted to talk to you about buying a dog, a horse or a cat, how do they get in touch with you?

 

Shayla Shipley 

The best option would be Facebook. You can search for galloping B ranch for any horse related. And then meenie doodles would be for any dog related, and Mimi's category for cat related category Hattery were fancy.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

and Facebook and of course if you always wanted to contact Shayla you could if you couldn't find any of this stuff, you can contact me because I keep everybody's information email phone number you can contact me and I can get you in touch. So there you go. So Shayla, any your thoughts on Country Tough Trial Versatility about who should try that?

 

Shayla Shipley 

Anybody should try it. Honestly, it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of divisions. It is very user friendly. And it's made to work for the people that anybody that rides horses, I mean, you can have your trainers, you can have your amateurs, your day riders, anybody, anybody that even just wants to start showing. It's a great atmosphere. It's it's it's a fun place to come.

 

Brandy Von Holten 

You know, something I remember whenever y'all were signing up, you had signed up. You needed like, I don't know, four or five stalls. Y'all stayed for a couple of days. You did clinics, you did competitions times for and whenever I told you the total, your mom laughed. Yeah, he was like, That's it? Yes. Because the some of the competition Y'all went to it was a comma? Yes, absolutely. Oh, yeah. So I will that is something that we pride ourselves in is that we're affordable for people. So a lot of these competitions, you'll get there. And then it's another entry. It's another 45 It's another 100 or something like that. And ours is $40 and you get to compete in two events on Saturday one on Sunday. Cowboy Roulette is its own little thing. That's 10 bucks. So it's super affordable. It is. All right, well, thank you all for tuning in to Big Boss Mare with Brandy Von Holten