Welcome to the Farm!

Whether you’ve known us for a while, or you’re just checking in, welcome to Hilton Family Farm! Each day brings new challenges and adventures, and we want to share the blessings that God has given us, that they might be a blessing to our friends and community too. Over the past year, we have been renovating our home and transforming the surrounding fields into pastures with safe, secure fencing for horses; our own and those that come in for training. It was no small feat, and my father in law Jerry was a huge help, drilling holes with the Bobcat auger and helping put up posts and boards.

This spring, I sold Kitty Hawk, a Dutch Warmblood mare that I had been developing for almost four years as a dressage horse. She found a wonderful home with a dressage trainer in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. While it’s hard to let go of a horse after spending that much time getting to know them in depth, I am so excited for her future in capable hands!

Veronica, our Quarter Horse mare, had a filly in March (sired by Dutch Warmblood, Sir Sinclair). We are filled with joy to have Amelia as part of our family, she is growing like a weed, and is developing such a character already! My hope is to develop her for working equitation. With dressage at it’s core, working equitation is a relatively new discipline here in the states, although it has been very popular in Spain, Portugal and much of Europe for a while. This year was the first time that Working Equitation USA sent riders over to compete in Spain at the international level. I’m excited to be a part of the sport as it develops here, and we have hopes to create a cattle handling facility that would allow us to practice here eventually.

With the drought that we have been under here in North Carolina, our grass is stressed. As we are weaning calves from their mothers, we have been moving the cows out to other pastures that we own or rent in the area, giving them access to more grass, and allowing our home pastures to regenerate. We started cutting our Orchard/Fescue hay fields this week, and they have held up surprisingly well despite the lack of rain.

At home, we are getting the garden planted and enjoying each day, as everything grows so fast this time of year, it is fun to watch the progress. My favorite time of day to be outside is in the evening, when the sun is low in the sky and the shadows get taller. I’m usually watering plants and feeding the horses, but I try to slow down enough to appreciate the moment.

We ask for your prayers as Adam is going in for surgery on his lower back on May 29th. He has a herniated disk that has been pinching nerves in his legs and have be painful for a long time. The previous surgery on his neck helped temendously, although the recovery was slow. We are praying that this one would be the last, and bring him relief from pain, and that he could regain the strength to go about his work uninhibited.

To top it all off, we have been trying to conceive, which has proven complicated in the implantation process. We are working with a great care team called Reply Fertility; they’ve been assessing our overall health and supplementing us where and when needed. Our prayer is to have a healthy child someday, but we realize that it’s all up to God’s plan and timing. We are so thankful for the blessings that the Lord has given, and we aim to keep him first in all that we do.

I have been sharing my gifts as a vocalist and guitarist on the praise team at Mt Pleasant church, and am growing to love my new church family. I continue to journal and write, and feel the Lord calling me to start writing songs of praise. I have written folk songs, but never a praise song. When I asked myself why, I realized I didn’t feel qualified, so I’ve started studying the Psalms. More than beautiful songs of praise, many of the Psalms were penned by David, the anointed king. David’s songs came directly from God, and later Jesus sang and prayed those Psalms while he was on earth. Today, the Psalms are our example of how to approach the Lord in prayer, praise and worship. The Psalms illuminate how we can (and should) express our gratitude to the Lord in praise. In Psalm 145 David reminds us to declare God‘s grace and mercy; when we turn our eyes to God‘s greatness, the weight of the world slides off us.

The Lord is faithful in all his promises

The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads

(We look to the Lord in hope, knowing he sees us and what we need)

You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and rescues them

Psalm 145:13-19

There’s so much to be thankful for in this season, and I’m loving the way we are seeing the Lord’s hands working in and through our lives. There’s much more to come, so stay tuned!

Blessings,

Rachel & Adam Hilton