Samantha Youngblood and Kim Youngblood exchange a high five atop their horses during a virtual 100-mile endurance event they completed earlier this year. Samantha and her mother Kim are the owners of Youngblood’s Natural Animal Care Center and Massage in Wilkinson. Tom Ellis photo
By Shelley Swift | Daily Reporter
WILKINSON — Break out your dog’s best ugly sweater or your feline’s festive finery.
Youngblood’s Natural Animal Care Center and Massage in Wilkinson will offer a pet portrait session the day after Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season.
The annual event is always a blast for Kim and Samantha Youngblood, the mother-daughter team behind the pet shop at 310 S. Main St. in Wilkinson.
The holiday portrait event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 29, caps off an especially great year for the entrepreneurs, who offer animal massage and other holistic pet wellness services and supplies.
They completed a 100-mile virtual endurance event in June, and their shop was named one of the “coolest” pet shops in America in August.
On June 22 they completed the Virtual Tevis Cup Ride by riding and hand walking two of their horses a collective 100 miles over an 11-week span.
Kim completed the race with her 21-year-old mule, Luther, while Samantha did so with her 26-year-old horse, Skeeter.
As part of the adventure, they enjoyed “rides in the rain, headlamps in the dark and all the adventures in between. We hope to encourage others that age is just a number and to go have fun with your horses,” they shared after the event.
This marked the 70th year for the annual Tevis Cup, a 100-mile endurance ride that has taken place in California since 1955.
The virtual event the Youngbloods completed in was created in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. It now takes place annually as well, as a fundraising alternative to the endurance event in California.
On Aug. 13, Youngblood’s Natural Animal Care Center was recognized as one of “America’s Coolest Pet Stores” at SUPERZOO, North America’s largest annual pet retail trade show, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
As part of their awards package, the Youngbloods received VIP buyer benefits, educational sessions and three nights at the Luxor Hotel.
Samantha said the award “means everything to us.”
“This business has not been easy, but seeing it evolve and grow into what it is today is life-changing,” she shared back in August.
The Youngbloods opened their holistic pet wellness center in 2013, inside a former church building in Wilkinson.
“We desired to provide a natural approach to animal health for cats, dogs and horses after dealing with health issues with our own animals, to which traditional medicine had failed,” Samantha Youngblood previously shared.
“We wanted to turn pet owners into advocates for their animals. Knowledge is power, and we want all our customers to feel empowered to make the best decisions possible for their animals.”
Services at the center include animal red light therapy, kinesiology taping, nutritional counseling and personalized training, as well as an Animal Neuro-Myofascial Release technique which allows a pet’s body to reset.
The Youngbloods host several dock diving contests for dogs each year, and foster cats available for adoption in the store.
For more information, visit youngbloodanimalmassage.com.
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