Story:

            Shelby Williams of Merit is not the average 13-year-old.

            She is home-schooled, president of the Hunt County 4-H equine group Rope-N-Ride, competes in riding competitions, plays softball, will be traveling with an elite educational group to Europe this summer, will start high school early at ….. high school next fall, and is already pursuing a career that includes horse rehabilitation and training.

            Shelby said she got the idea of becoming a horse rehabilitation specialist (a physical and emotional therapist for horses) last fall when she was going through rehabilitation for a wrist injury.

            She began thinking to herself, “Why can’t they just do that for horses?”

            Later, Shelby, who has been riding since she was 8, said she began researching different careers that included horses. She decided on becoming a horse rehabilitation   specialist, a field, she said, that would allow her to rehabilitate the emotional and physical characteristics of injured, abused, and neglected horses.

            Three months ago she got her first subject: a 25-year-old mare of an unknown breed. The mare had long, matted hair, poor feet, several bone and joint problems, and seemed emotionally troubled. Shelby’s great-uncle purchased a Palomino mare and was told he had to take the rescue horse, too. He gave the horse to Shelby eho has spent hours with the horse.

Greenville Herald Banner March 25, 2006

Cutline: Shelby and Kim Williams of Merit bundle up in a blanket to keep warm during the 4-H Horsemanship Clinic Saturday morning at the Ingle's Areana in Greenville.   Comment: There wasn't a story written about the clinic, but they did put in a few random photos from the event and ours was one of them.  Ha! Can you tell that it was cold and rainy that day?

Commerce Journal August 10, 2005

Cutline: Hikaru Hashimoto, right, of Japan pets Ginger, a horse owned by Shelby Williams, left. Hikaru is visiting with Shelby and her mom, Kim Williams, for a month through the 4-H International program. The Williams were picked for Hikaru based on her love of horses and camping. Headline: Japanese girl gets the full Texas experience Byline: Jay Strickland

Story: If everything seems foreign to Hikaru Hashimoto, there’s a good reason. The 12-year-old girl is from Japan and is spending 30 days in Texas with Kim Williams of Commerce and her daughter, Shelby.

            Shelby is involved in 4-H in Commerce. She’s shown rabbits in the past and wants to show her horse this coming year. But when she saw a chance to host a foreign exchange student through the 4-H International program, she knew it was something she wanted to do.

            Hikaru speaks only 30 to 50 words of English, so they do a lot of pointing and gesturing, according to Kim.

            She was chosen to spend time in Commerce based on her own interests.

            “Shelby has a horse, and we camp all the time,” Kim said. “Those were two major things that Hikaru wanted to do, was to camp and ride a horse. ‘Uma’ is horse in Japanese. She loves uma.”

            Hikaru is from the city of Kagamiishi, northeast of Tokyo.  This is not her first international experience. She spent time with a host family in Korea and hosted a Russian student in her home.

            Still, Texas took a bit of adjustment, according to Kim.

            “It took a while to get used to swimming in a river with slimy rocks (when we went camping),” Kim said. “But within about 15 minutes, she was jumping off the side with the rest of the girls. She loves it.”

            Hikaru is also an avid baseball fan. They are planning a trip to see the Frisco Roughriders. Kim says that Hikaru loves American food.

            “She hasn’t eaten anything that she doesn’t like,” Kim said. “She loves hamburgers—loves them, loves them. Beef is a delicacy in Japan. You can spend $100 for a steak half the size of a fillet mignon. Families may have beef once a week or once a month depending on how well off they are.”

            She also liked roasting hot dogs over an open fire while camping and, of course, s’mores.

            “We made s’mores while we were camping,” Kim said. “She calls me Mom, and she was saying, ‘Mom, Mom, what’s name? What’s name?’ “She wanted to know what’s in it and she took a picture of it. Of course, the whole time, I’m taking pictures of her eating it.”

            The Williams are also planning trips to the Alamo and a family ranch in Jarrell.

            Hikaru is a member of an organization in Japan known as Hippo, which shares some of the same basic philosophies as 4-H. The two organizations teamed together to make the trip possible.

            One of the hardest things for her to get used to in Texas is the heat, according to Kim.

            “She’s constantly saying how hot it is,” Kim said.

            When she first got here, she also had some adjustments to the climate because it’s very humid in Japan compared to Texas. Its kind of funny because Texans think, ‘Oh, it’s so humid today.’ … She had a really hard time the first two or three days getting used to it.”

            Shelby is also planning her own international adventure through the People to People program. She’s received word that she’s going to France, Italy and Greece for 20 days.

            In the meantime, the Williams have a fun time trying to communicate with Hikaru. The other day, Kim said she was using the Japanese word “suki” while at a restaurant. She thought it meant “good,” but it actually means “do you like it?” She kept asking Hikaru, “Is it do you like it?”

            “We have found that the best thing to do is just laugh about our fumbles and try to move on,” Kim said. “It’s been a fun adventure.”

            To learn more about Hikaru’s trip and Shelby’s plans to go to Europe, visit www.shelbysworld.net.