12/13/24 to 12/14/24
Dawn Asher. We wanted to stay in a 5-star hotel and see what was all the fuss about horses.
The juxtaposition of the bathroom we tried to use at a gas station outside of Ocala and the restroom in the hotel was mind blowing. I so WISH I had taken a photo of the restroom we almost used. It was at the back of a little 7-11 type store. You walked through the back door into a warehouse with 2×4 shelves and the mop and bucket for cleaning the store. It was unheated on a very cold day. To the right was a door to the unisex toilet. It had a hole in the door large enough that I could see a woman moving around in it. A man was next in line. I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. I really had to go, but I finally came to my senses and we left before Dawn ever saw it.
THIS is the public restroom on the main floor of the hotel. Spotless, marble, cloth hand towels, soap and hot water!! (I pick THIS one!!)
The World Equestrian Center and The Equestrian Hotel. It’s only less than 2 hours from our house! Dad is amazed we stayed in a hotel overnight instead of coming home. He’s also amazed neither of us is particularly enamored with horses. But it was something we wanted to experience and I wanted to stay in a 5-Star Hotel.
This hotel is what greeted us as we drove up in my little Honda Fit. Needless to say, I did not valet park.
There was cute holiday decorations everywhere. We got to check-in by 10 AM.
The hotel was FILLED with oil paintings of dogs. I know, the whole place is called equestrian, which means horse. But a deep dive into the owners of the hotel proves they love dogs. When they would come across a beautiful photo of a dog, they hired one of several artists to do a huge oil painting of the photo and then add a wide and expensive frame. It was amazing. I remember chairs covered with zebra print also — they must like them too,
This life-sized horse is made entirely of gingerbread and peppermint candies. Even the base is gingerbread. The saddle is real. It smelled delicious!!
Decorations everywhere.
Even the hallways were beautiful!
The room seemed like an apartment.
And THIS was the view out our window!! Horses running and jumping. And on the jumbo-tron at the back.
This is what we were looking at from our room. Circled is our room.
We had lunch at the Yellow Pony at the hotel.
A little imaginary trees. You can see it was cold.
We kept our distance since we both are afraid of horses! Most were young girls; but there was a young man competing also,
The outdoor arena held about 1,000 seats and there were only about 10 people watching. And all shows are free. Again, the jumbo-tron showed the jumpers close up.
It was a beautiful day.
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Click to watch. I guess I didn’t get any video of actual jumps!!
There’s one more section that includes dressage, the lights and our dinner.
Linda Jeanne