Photo Credit: David McClisterMiranda Lambert is excited to release her new studio album, Platinum, next week, but all the TV appearances and interviews that go into promoting the project are distracting the singer from her favorite new hobby — horse-riding competitions. She recently picked up a few ribbons in her first competition, and Miranda is planning her upcoming Platinum tour around even more horse shows.
She says with a laugh, “I’m trying not to let myself take away from my career, but I already marked on the calendar, ‘Cannot tour this weekend and this week. I have a horse show.'”
Miranda’s obsession started last November when husband Blake Shelton bought her a Gypsy Vanner show horse for her birthday. That’s when Miranda decided to begin taking proper English riding lessons.
She adds, “I knew how to ride a little bit here and there, but I wanted to learn for real. So, I’ve been three times a week, every week since January first.”
There have been mishaps along the way, though.
“A couple times I’ve jumped and she didn’t,” Miranda says with a laugh. “My horse didn’t, so that was fun, but you gotta hit the dirt a couple times to be a real cowgirl, I guess.”
Miranda has now added two Welsh Cob horses to her stable — one named Sayeth, as in “Sayeth the Lord,” and another named Ellie. Her love for those horses runs just as deep as her affection for her large pack of adopted dogs.
Says Miranda, “I’m just enjoying it. I love animals, and I’ve been really enjoying a challenge learning something new.”
Miranda will leave her horses at home in Oklahoma when she performs “Somethin’ Bad” with Carrie Underwood on the 2014 CMT Music Awards coming up Wednesday, June 4.
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