Texas Bound

We left for Texas on a cold snowy Monday...in April...mid-April to be exact. 

             Needless to say we were not sad to say goodbye to the weather.

                                                       We made it to Austin

 First stop was Allen's in Austin for some cowboy boots.
I got really really bored waiting for my Mom to try on a million pairs of boots. As you can see, I am not exaggerating...there are really a ton of boots here.


 Then we needed some hats. I chose a bunny hat because my Mom said 'No' to a giant horse head.

  

After we had Texanized ourselves it was off to Wahoo's Fish Tacos with our friends, Joey, Johnnie, and Larry. 

  

 

Our friends took us to a really cool chalkboard on a person's garage. We each took turns writing something we want to do before we die.

I'm sure you can guess what I wrote...

Larry is my Dad's friend since they were young. He owns lots of tattoo shops in Austin. Here is the one we visited.









 Larry and Johnnie live in Gonzales, TX about an hour southeast of Austin and an hour east of San Antonio.   They have a beautiful home with a pool and a guest house.

This is Dixie

And they have 4 really cute dogs.

This is Dotty

This is Lexi, a pitbull puppy

 


I LOVE taking pictures of Dixie






                                                        And let's not forget Dolly.

 They have snails in Texas.....

                                                         

                                                                 ALOT of snails

People here don't think they are as cool as I do. They want to get them out of their yard and gardens.

White Dog Farm

The rest of my vacation was spent at White Dog Farm, a 21 acre horse farm in Alpharetta, Georgia, right outside of Atlanta.
                                                                                 

To get to White Dog Farm, we had to drive through mountains in Tennessee, which my Mom keep telling me to look at. I had more fun making videos on the iPad with my new horses. I did take these pictures though.

White Dog Farm is owned by Miss Betty and Miss Anna, family friends of my Mom.

 The first horse my Mom ever rode was Star, Miss Anna's horse a long, long time ago. 

Miss Betty and Me

Miss Anna Feeding her Horses

Miss Anna has raised and trained horses all of her life. At one time she took care of Polo horses. She named the farm White Dog Farm because she has three of these: 

This is Pax. Jane and Narnia are a little more camera shy

She also has a Jack Russell Terrier named Slider. 

My Mom and I wanted to take Slider home with us, he is such a sweetie. 

There are also two goats on the farm. 

Lilly

Star

Miss Anna also some kitties but I think they were inside sleeping most of my visit. 

Almost all of Miss Anna's animals including the horses are rescue animals that made their way to White Dog Farm. I can tell the animals love living on the farm and they all get along really well.

It didn't take me long to figure out that owning a horse farm is a lot of work. Every morning, before the students arrived, I walked down to the barn and helped Courtney sweep and rake the inside of the barn. 

I also helped feed and water all of the horses. We had to do this twice a day. 

Riding in the back of the pickup truck was so much fun!

Miss Anna's barn is very clean!

Hay for hungry horses

Miss Anna has all riders groom their horses first. Since it is spring, the horses are shedding like crazy! 

Coco wins the prize for losing the most fur every day!

Bags with curry combs, brushes and hoof picks

 At home I ride with a western saddle (which is a heavy saddle with a horn on the front), and I use an English bridle and learn English reining. Miss Anna uses English saddles which a smaller and lighter than Western saddles, and she uses bridles with no bits which are the metal pieces that go in a horse's mouth. I loved riding with an English saddle but found it a lot harder to direct my horse with a bit-less bridle. It was really good practice!

Miss Anna lives right near the barn while Miss Betty lives down the road in a beautiful white house. 

Miss Anna's house 

  

Road to Miss Betty's

Miss Betty's House

 Every morning, I woke up to this...

And this...

And best of all, this...

Moose 

Apple

Day Two of Lydia's Wild Ride Vacation

I woke up so excited to go to the Kentucky Horse Park. First we had to eat so off to Waffle House.

I wanted a chocolate chip waffle and white milk. I got a plain waffle and chocolate milk.

We drove past Fasig Tipton, the biggest auction house for thoroughbreds.

At last, we arrived!

Mom had to take a picture of the snow. Like we haven't seen snow before.

I thought this picture was awesome!

First stop: gift shop!

Morgan statue that even had a frog on its hoof.

Tennessee Walking Horse

We met lots of horses...here is LJ, an Shire Sport Horse who is 19 hands tall! He is the tallest horse in the park and is friends with the smallest horse.

Lord Rafiq, the fiery Egyptian Arabian

Albion, an English Shire.

Hey, how did Bullseye get here?

Check out this big barn which is called, no surprise, the Big Barn. It is 476ft long

My Mom was way more interested in this picture which talk about the Kentucky Bluegrass Region and a very famous road called Iron Works Pike. Some of the most famous horses in the world were born on farms along Iron Works Road Pike.

Here was one of my favorite parts of Kentucky Horse Park, the Kids Barn with all of the Breyer Models.

Big Chex to Cash...one of my favorites!!

I met a friend who likes Breyers as much as I do.

I also got to groom Hank.

I made friends with a muddy police horse who had no mane.

And a cat wearing a mustache.

I bought the Breyer of Secretariat. Here are some of his trophies and his jockey's silks.

The International Horse Museum was awesome. My Mom was happy because it was inside out if the snow!

She told me she would only stop singing "Surrey With the Fringe on Top" if I posed for this picture.

We stayed at KHP all day and in the end I walked away with three Breyers. I am so glad I saved my money for this trip!