Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger recently enjoyed a delightful family outing, taking their two daughters horseback riding. This heartwarming event comes amid reports that the couple is expecting their third child. Schwarzenegger, 34, shared the joyous moments on Instagram on Saturday, June 29, posting a series of photos that captured the family exploring a barn, riding horses, and walking through a garden. “Things that make me happy: A gloomy morning followed by a barn visit ☺️❤️,” she captioned the post.
The news of Schwarzenegger’s pregnancy, reported by People and TMZ on June 28, has yet to be publicly confirmed by the couple. Us Weekly has reached out to their representatives for comments. The couple already shares two daughters, Lyla, born in August 2020, and Eloise, born in May 2022.
Pratt, 45, also has a son, Jack, from his previous marriage to actress Anna Faris. The couple divorced in 2018, and Faris has since remarried cinematographer Michael Barrett in 2021. Despite the changes in their personal lives, Pratt has always spoken highly of Schwarzenegger, praising her as an “incredible mom and stepmom” even before Lyla’s birth. “She has changed my life for the better in so many ways,” Pratt told E! News in February 2020. “My soul, my son, I feel all are so safe with her. She’s a great stepmom, she’s — willing — going to be a great mom one day.”
In 2019, Pratt expressed his desire for a large family, envisioning “lots of kids” in their future. “Maybe less time spent working, more time spent enjoying life,” he said. “I always want to be that guy that works to live, not lives to work. I think [I want to spend] just a lot of time at the farm and a lot of time catching a lot of fish and seeing lots of sunsets.”
Schwarzenegger shares Pratt’s enthusiasm for a big family. In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly in October 2022, she said, “I come from a big family, so I love the idea of having a lot of kids around and a big family. Whatever God has in his plan for us is what we’ll do.” She also emphasized the importance of family time and often seeks advice from her mother, Maria Shriver. “I feel really lucky to be able to have obviously an amazing role model in my mom, and just being able to see how she balances it all,” she said. “Just learning from her, being able to bounce things off of her and, at the end of the day, just knowing that family time is the most important time.”
The horseback riding outing is not just a fun activity for the family but also a way for Schwarzenegger to share her love for horses with her daughters. As a child, Schwarzenegger’s parents, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, introduced her to horseback riding, igniting a lifelong passion. She now hopes to pass this love on to her daughters, starting with Lyla, who has already been introduced to her beloved 26-year-old horse, Cinco.
“Introducing Lyla to Cinco was so fun,” Schwarzenegger said in PEOPLE’s 2021 Beautiful Issue. “I’ve had Cinco in my life since I was in middle school, so to be around him now with my daughter made me so happy. Then to be able to have her pet Cinco’s nose and get so excited about it made my heart swell!”
Before Lyla met Cinco, Schwarzenegger introduced the horse to Pratt, who got along well with him. “The first time that Chris met him was definitely a wonderful, heartwarming moment for me — similar to when he first met [my dog] Maverick,” she said. “When you can get all of all your people — or your animals — in one room, it really is a nice moment. When your pets aren’t worried about somebody, that’s a good sign.”
Schwarzenegger believes that being around animals and spending time at the barn is crucial for her daughters’ upbringing. “It’s really important to me to have the barn be a part of her life as it was such a big and important part of my life,” she said. “Growing up in Los Angeles, I think it’s important for people, especially kids, to have a place to get dirty, be free and be around animals in open spaces. It was a huge help for me growing up, and I know it will be for her too.”
Cinco has been a significant part of Schwarzenegger’s life since she was 13 years old, a gift from her parents. “I had a show pony that I started with that was the first love of my life,” she said. “I was obsessed with her, and her name was Brandy. But then I got too tall, and I had to get a taller horse. Cinco was the perfect one.”
Schwarzenegger’s parents made sure she and her siblings were comfortable around horses and other animals from a young age. “My mom grew up riding when she was younger and had a show pony that she used to compete with,” she said. “My dad also grew up on a farm. They used to take us horseback riding, and they had two big horses, so I grew up learning to ride on bigger horses very quickly.”
Having Cinco taught Schwarzenegger responsibility and resilience. “Every single day after school, no matter what, I went to the barn, and I rode my horse, and I groomed him, and I took care of him — even if it was raining,” she said. “So it was a big responsibility, and I think it really shaped who I am today.”
Now retired, Cinco lives at a barn near Santa Barbara, where he enjoys a peaceful life. “He basically just walks around in a field all day long with other horses that are also retired and eats and gets to be fat and happy,” Schwarzenegger said. “He really lives the life now!”
Despite the distance, Schwarzenegger makes frequent trips to visit Cinco. “I love L.A. — I’ve grown up there, and I will live there forever — but to be able to have a place where you can escape and be in nature and be around animals and get dirty and do barn work is really important in anyone’s life and has been tremendously important in mine,” she said.
For Schwarzenegger, the bond with Cinco is special because of their shared history. “We’ve been in each other’s lives for such a long time, and he and I have grown up together,” she said. “It’s a really fun thing to be able to look back and see pictures of me with him when I was 13. To now be 31 years old and have him is a huge gift.”
Source: People, TMZ, Us Weekly