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Early on in their relationship, Yolanda Hadid’s fiancé, Joseph Jingoli, whisked her away on a date to a horse show in Fort Worth, Texas. The reality TV star and the construction company CEO had met in Pennsylvania, where Hadid bought a farm and moved in 2017 after raising her children—models Gigi, Bella, and Anwar Hadid—in the Los Angeles area. Both were horse lovers, but Hadid, who began riding as a child in the Netherlands, was more familiar with English-style equestrianism than the Western cutting horse world that Jingoli adored. “That trip was really my first introduction to Texas,” Hadid says. “We went straight to Fort Worth, where there was a huge horse show with hundreds and hundreds of real, authentic cowboys. It was like being dropped right into a Western movie.”
As their relationship blossomed, the couple returned to the area often, and Hadid fell in love with Texas horse culture, particularly the world of cutting horses, which are bred to separate cattle from a herd. “If you know how to ride horses you can ride any horse, but the culture around it is very different. It’s a down-to-earth [scene]—that’s what I loved,” Hadid says, who will appear as a judge on the upcoming season of Holland’s Next Top Model.
Eventually, Hadid and Jingoli realized it was time to establish a home base in the Lone Star State, and they found the perfect wooded plot overlooking a river. When it came to building their retreat, this was not Hadid’s first rodeo: Fans of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will recall that she designed the Malibu mansion she lived in while on the show, right down to its one-of-a-kind walk-in refrigerator, which has enjoyed its fair share of internet notoriety over the years. This time around, Hadid mapped out her ideas and enlisted contractor S&B Construction to help bring her drawings to life. The result is a single-story, horseshoe-shaped dwelling with a stone exterior and an industrial modern interior that still feels connected to nature. The home is full of ideas dreamed up by Hadid and executed by local makers and artisans—or in the case of the lavish primary closets, Italian furniture brand Molteni&C. Reclaimed wood paneling by Southwest Log Homes can be found lining almost every room, and nods to Hadid’s affection for horses are plentiful.
In addition to creating a welcoming front courtyard resplendent with succulents, the home’s U-shape adds versatility. When it’s just Hadid and Jingoli in residence, they can stick to one side of the property, which feels like “a big apartment,” she says. “It has my bedroom, my bathroom, the closet, and my Pilates studio.” When family comes to town, however, there’s plenty of room for them to stay in the rest of the home and a huge kitchen island for them to gather around. There’s even a bunk room, which was designed with Gigi’s nearly four-year-old daughter, Khai Malik—and any additional grandchildren who may arrive in the future—in mind. (Life in Texas certainly seems to be a family affair for the Hadids: Bella, who has been seen competing in cutting horse competitions as of late, reportedly also made the move to Texas.)
In addition to creating a multigenerational gathering place, Hadid has crafted a tribute to the local culture she so admires. “I want people to be able to come in and wear their cowboy boots. I’m not going to worry about mud on the floors. It had to be casual,” she says. “I wanted to use a lot of organic materials because there’s something about cowboy culture that feels organic to me—going back to the earth.”
