Just south of Elgin, off Dunham Road in Wayne, one can escape the usual suburban life and enter a different world. And there's no charge for leaving cares behind.
On any given weekend through the fall, the parklike Lamplight Equestrian Center will host competitions featuring some of the best riders and finest horses in the country.
You might even bump into a future Olympian, Charlie Jayne, 22, of Elgin. The champion jumper spent most of May competing in Europe, and he is up for a spot on the United States Equestrian Team.
In past years, Jayne said he has spent about four weeks a summer at Lamplight.
'It's only 10 minutes away from home, so I can sleep in my own bed. And it's a beautiful facility,' he said.
Jayne's sisters are topflight riders, too. Haylie, 19, earned a riding scholarship to the University of Georgia. Maggie, 23, rides and works at the family business, Our Day Farm in Elgin.
'I focus on training young horses,' said Maggie, who, like her brother, specializes in jumper events.
Richard Wilkinson of Tubac, Ariz., has traveled the country judging horse jumper events for 30 years.
'It's about speed and power. The key is to be fast and clean,' said Wilkinson.
Working with Wilkinson in early May as an announcer was another circuit veteran, Frank Waters, who enjoys the facility.
'It's one of the most beautiful show grounds in the country,' said Waters, who lives in DelRay Beach, Fla.
According to Waters, the raw athleticism of the jumper events make them a popular spectator sport in Europe, while hunter events, with smaller jumps and precision moves, can be likened to gymnastics.
There's even a triathlon of sorts for horses and riders. Eventing features cross-country riding, show jumping and dressage, said Katie Lindsay of Wayne.
Lindsay oversees the Maui Jim Horse Trials, which will be held from Thursday, July 10, to Sunday, July 13, at Lamplight and just across Dunham Road at Pratt Wayne Woods.
But the best riders in the country will be in Wayne from Wednesday, Sept. 10, to Sunday, Sept. 14, for the 2008 United States Eventing Association Wellpride American Eventing Championships.
Eventing is an iron-horse competition, but the dressage component is similar to figure skating. Riders communicate silently with their horses through subtle moves and shifts in body weight. The horse and rider are judged on how well they perform the required moves.
'There is constant submission. The horse has to be willing to be bossed around,' said trainer Yvonne Barteau of Gilberts.
Barteau's KYB Dressage team took more titles than any group in the nation last year, she said. Barteau's daughter, Kassie, 19, is a champion rider, too, one of the top in her age group.
Lamplight is the home stable for Kristin Allen of St. Charles, who was named by the United States Equestrian Association as top owner in dressage for 2007. Her four horses accumulated enough points to be best in the field.
'I enjoy the company of horses. That keeps me going every day,' said Allen, whose fiance, Stephen Cooper, has owned Lamplight since 1989.
Since then, the facility 'has raised the bar immensely here in the Midwest with the level of competition it brings in,' said Pat Boyle, manager of Showplace Productions, which runs shows for Lamplight and Ledges Sporting Horses in Roscoe.
Events at Lamplight draw as many as 1,000 competitors, Boyle said.
The facility is 'developing riders who could really take off,' he said.
Lauren Lewis of Munster, Ind., puts a bridle on her horse, Klaus, at Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne before practicing for the Dressage at Lamplight event May 30 to June 1.Federation Equestre Internationale rider and trainer Kim Barteau said, 'Instead of going fishing or to the movies, I do this.' Barteau and his wife, Yvonne, and their daughter, Kassie, are world-class champion riders.
