By By Adam Prestridge
Cowboys and cowgirls from all over kicked up the dust last weekend for a good cause.
The Atmore Saddle Club held a benefit horse show Saturday at Ray Lambert Horse Arena in Atmore to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
"We had talked about it several times and had heard of other horse people having trail rides and other events to benefit the American Cancer Society and we felt like this would be a good way for our riders to contribute," Atmore Saddle Club secretary Kathy Stephens said.
The event wasn't your typical horse show though.
"Normally we have a horse show the first Saturday of the month and they're the more typical classes, barrel racing, pole bending, flag toss, arena race and the classes that we had for this show were based more upon just crazy, fun, have a good time while you're riding your horse type classes," Stephens said. "We had hoped that it would help draw a bigger crowd, and for the riders in the club it was a nice break to do something different."
The first through fifth place finisher in each event, which ranged from the Egg &Spoon game to the shovel race, received ribbons.
"We had so many people that expressed how much fun they had because we had so many classes that really challenged the kids and it was really fun for the spectators to watch," Stephens said. "We even had people out there that don't really ride or are not familiar with horses. There were so many fun classes that even the riders expressed how much they enjoyed the events that they participated in."
The event raised $500, which will be donated to the American Cancer Society. The money was raised through entry fees, concessions, hayrides, pony rides and much more.
"I'm very happy with the results of the event," Stephens said. "We ended up raising more money than we thought we would. We had a good number of participants and it seems like everybody that came out had a fun time and were able to enjoy themselves."