Horse Trails, Horse Shows, and Horsepower

Today's horse-theme brought to you by Chuck, who chose our adventures,
and helped me title my blog. Thanks, Honey!

One of the benefits of Take Your Wife to Work Day (see yesterday's post HERE) is the adventure that awaits as soon as Chuck gets off work. 

Yesterday, for example, we headed off into our weekend, making plans as we went. My Chuck is a wonderful adventurer, and true to form, he suggested fun things for us to do. He knows how much I like to hike, and even though I was wearing my Birkenstocks and blue jeans on this very hot day, and he reminded me that all of the trails in Illinois are flat, I jumped at the chance. We stopped at the county forest preserve on our way home to go for a walk in the woods. 

Admittedly, I like hiking a little more than Chuck does, so I know he chose this activity for me. I was thrilled to see the shady woods, knowing that we would keep relatively cool in the shadows. We walked across the mown path through a field that led to a well-worn horse trail. As we left the sunny meadow, and entered the forest, Chuck admitted that he was a little less than thrilled about this part of our adventure.

"I prefer my nature to be less nature-y. I like places like Cantigny Gardens and golf courses that have well-organized, tidy nature."

"You mean there are less ticks."

"Well, yes, that, too."

Poor Honey. He really is a city boy, but there's no one I'd rather tour downtown Chicago with. He knows his way around the Metra system, and knows all the best places to shoot photographs.

After we had walked about 2/10 of a mile, we approached a highway which had to be crossed to continue the horse trail.

"Oh, look, the trail doesn't end here; we just have to cross the street," I said, but then I saw Chuck's face. He'd already had enough nature for one day. "But you don't want to cross the street. You're done, aren't you?"

He seemed relieved that I was willing to turn around, and head back to air-conditioning and the car. I knew our adventure would continue, but with a little less wild nature. And I was right. He took me to the Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Illinois for my first horse show. The grounds were landscaped, and there were several show rings, and large stables. Yes, the nature was nice and tidy, except for the muddy lanes on the property.

Smelling all of the horses, and seeing all of the young women with their handsome steeds made me remember my first love, way back in the day. I'd had a chestnut Thoroughbred, who at one time had been a jumper, but I'm pretty sure my fear of flying over downed trees on the trail took most of her natural instinct away. It was fun to watch the girls take the jumps in the show ring, and watch them mill about in the shade with their friends and horses.

After the horse show, we headed to the Toyota dealership to check out the new Highlanders. (See what we did there with horsePOWER?) He knows how much I miss my favorite car of all time, and we think in a few years, we might be able to afford the 2016 model. They've come a long way since I had my 2007 golden SUV. I never should have sold that car to get a sedan. Well, not never; it's not immortal, but I just wish I'd held onto it a lot longer than I did.

We finished up our evening with pizza from Rosati's, mutual massages of our respective sore spots, and then we edited pictures until we were too tired to stay up any longer. I love our Take Your Wife to Work Days, and today's horse-themed activities was one for the books.

Seriously?