Spring Break - Part 3

The day after we toured Mammoth Caves National Park, we had tickets to travel a little farther north to do some horseback riding.  The kids had never really done this before (unless you count leading them around the orchard on one of our older horses with a lead rope).  We arrived early -- as the place had requested -- but soon learned that the trail guide was running behind and we had almost an hour or time to kill.

Luckily, the weather was beautiful ... high 60s and sunny ... so we spent the time exploring the property.  There was a zip line, a pond, some cornhole boards set up, a sleepy dog and quite a few horses.

We're not sure what the dog's name was, but he was certainly a hit with the kids.

Soon, it was time to mount our horses.  I was a tad bit nervous about Jimmy because they put him on a horse all by himself, leading our group (directly behind the guide), but he had the time of his life and was not intimidated at all.

Jimmy's horse was named "Shorty:"

Jack rode on "Pickle:"

Sophia's horse was named "Whiskey:"

Sam rode "Jack:"

All lined up, ready to lead:

My horse was named "Sleepy" and Steve rode "Charlie."  We also had two other ladies from near Chicago that joined our group and rode along with us.

I was originally picturing riding on flat trails and was quite surprised that we took the horses up a mountain (and then back down again!).  There were rocks, lots of mud, some standing water -- and a few times that I questioned whether the kids would be having fun.  But they loved every second of it.  In fact, they are still talking about how Sophia's horse chose to go 'rogue' and stepped out of line to go around a tree and then the rest of us just followed her.  All in all, it was money well-spent on a true one-hour mountain ride with the horses.