Many little girls dream of one day owning a pony.
But ponies are expensive and impractical to keep in a residential backyard. So oftentimes, the request is denied and the dream of owning a pony eventually fades away.
But not for all little girls.
Julie Park of Whitesboro is among the minority in which horse ownership never left her mind.
Despite the fact that Park grew up in the thick of the city, just north of Dallas in Richardson, Texas, this dream is one she held onto through school, a career and everything in between.
“Life was very normal for me as a suburban kid,” Park said. “We did all the sports, all the school activities... And then horses came in for me when I was 10 or so through riding and taking lessons at an awesome barn near Richardson called Merriwood.”
Although Park had always loved horses, she didn’t come from a family immersed in the equine world. After all, they lived in the city, not the rural land as Texas is often recognized.
Nonetheless, the passion for horses might as well have been in her blood.
“I always had a strong web for horses, and taking lessons just sparked this thing in me,” Park said. “I was obsessed, and I think the only reason I stopped doing it after a couple of years was because I was getting into the age of getting better at volleyball and getting more involved in my school activities – life was kind of going in a lot of different directions.”
It’s typical for life to evolve in a way that pushes one more towards the path of reality than that of childhood dreams, but Park knew horses would emerge back into her life – it was just a matter of when.
After graduating high school in 2002, Park attended Colorado State University. After college, she moved back to Dallas for work, getting a job at a production studio that made animated movies.
“That was my whole 20s,” Park said. “Working there and just kind of going back to old friendships and making new friendships. I would actually say my early adult life was probably the longest stint I went without any horse interaction.”
Park was surrounded by a striking skyline and urban living, but the chance at a more rural life was one she wanted to always keep within reach.
“Even before I found this obsession with horses as a little girl, I would walk around our backyard in Richardson and pretend to do barn chores,” Park said. “It has always been a little seed of a dream inside me. For a long time, I didn’t know if that would ever happen because I got into this very busy and fun life in Dallas. I was very much living a city life, but I just kind of got to a point where I thought, ‘Okay, this isn’t going to happen unless I end up marrying someone who wants to do that, too.’”
Not too long after, Julie met her husband Aaron Park, who also shared that same ambition of owning land outside of a big city.
“After getting married, we lived in McKinney because it’s a little bit more affordable than buying a home in Dallas,” Julie said. “We loved it in McKinney, but knew our goal was always to end up with some land. We just weren’t sure exactly where. Then the pieces kind of just started falling into place.”
Her husband’s family was a big piece of the puzzle. Julie knew they wanted to buy land to build on but hadn’t yet viewed Whitesboro as a possibility.
“One Easter in 2019, we were out here with Aaron’s family in Whitesboro, and his granddad had a lot of acres, maybe 200 total between different spaces,” Julie said. “And it was like an epiphany that we had while out there—in the exact spot where our house is now—that was like, ‘Why aren’t we considering this?’ It felt like divine intervention – very faith-led and God-led.”
The couple was able to buy 12 acres of that Whitesboro land and, within a year, were building a house on it.
“We just loved what we saw in Whitesboro,” Julie said. “We saw a thriving school district, a thriving athletics program and maybe most importantly for me, we saw the epicenter of North Texas horse country here.”
Now that it was more geographically possible, Julie knew she wanted to share her love of horses with her two young daughters, Savannah and Reese. She was put into contact with Claire Marcell, a trainer who operated a barn in nearby Collinsville.
“We just fell in love with Claire and her partner Jim’s barn,” Julie said. “And then shortly after Savannah started riding, Claire asked me, ‘It’s obvious you are interested. Why aren’t you riding?’ Then it was off to the races, and now I’m at the barn twice a week. My skill came back and I learned a lot that I never knew.”
That revelation opened the door for Julie to own horses at home.
“Moving up here and getting to ride these show horses with Claire and getting back into a lesson program has opened this whole door to a community of women that I just love,” Julie said. “It provided these friendships, this belonging, in a new town. As soon as I got plugged in at the barn, it just provided an immediate kindred spirit type of friends – people that love horses, too, and mentorships where I don’t have to figure all this out on my own.”
Although Julie still fine tunes her own riding at that beloved barn, she and her family now have a pony, a horse and a miniature donkey in their own backyard.
“It’s been everything I wanted and more,” Julie said. “I’m getting to experience this horse world and this farm life with my husband and two little girls. We get to do that together, and it’s just so fun to know that the girls won’t know anything but this. This is their life, and they will hopefully grow up to always cherish being raised on a farm, having animals and loving horses.”
Although it has been many years in the making, keeping the dream of farm ownership close to her heart is one Julie is grateful she never lost sight of. She encourages others to hold their dreams tightly, too.
“It’s never too late to make the jump,” Julie said. “You’re never too old, and it’s never too late to change course, go try to do what you think you’ve always wanted to do and follow your heart towards your passion. It doesn’t always happen overnight, and it took a few years for us to figure out how we could make it work, but now it’s here.”
Although Julie’s passion has materialized into an accomplishment after making that jump from a city zip code to that of a more rural one, the life lessons haven’t stopped there -- especially through the lens of her daughters.
“This life is special to me because they’re learning skills that most other kids don’t get to learn living in the city,” Julie said. “Taking care of our garden, taking care of animals, being responsible and thankful for the land that we have – there are just a lot of those ‘blue-collar skills’ that they’re really only going to get experience of because they live here. It’s neat that me and my girls are getting to learn these things and appreciate nature and these animals at the same time at such different ages.”
There are countless things Julie cherishes about living the life she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl, but perhaps her favorite thing is that owning a pony is not just a distant dream for the two girls of her own – it’s a reality.
And it’s a reality that wouldn’t be here if one little girl living in the big city of Dallas didn’t dream of one day owning a pony herself.
