The Heart O’Dixie Championship Walking and Racking Horse Show is Friday night in Tylertown.
The annual event held by the McComb Lions Club at the Southwest Event Center is a major fundraiser to support the club’s charitable endeavors in the McComb and Pike County area.
Tickets are $6 each, with children 6 and younger admitted free. Gates open at 4 p.m.
A stick-horse class for children 11 and younger starts at 5:30 p.m. Registration is free, but stick horses can be rented for $5.
The competition classes start at 6 p.m.
“We’ve been involved with this event for 30 or 35 years,” said event chair Wayne Hutchison. “It’s a highly festive event, with big, beautiful horses and the riders in fancy dress.
“It’s the best family entertainment around. All types of people are involved. People pick out their favorite horses and riders to cheer for.”
How many horses and riders will compete is not yet known, but Hutchison and club member Tony Nettles said competitors are expected from Texas, Tennessee and across the Southeast.
The event judge is Larry George of Shelbyville, Tenn., the home of the Tenneessee Walking Horse Celebration, “the Super Bowl of walking horse shows,” Nettles said.
Perry Taylor of Ellisville will be the announcer, and Larry Bright of Tylertown will be the organist. Bright has also played for the Celebration in Shelbyville.
Inspectors will also be on hand to insure the horses are in good condition and treated humanely.
“We’re going to have good quality horses, and it’s going to be good, clean family fun,” Nettles said.
The McComb Lions Club uses proceeds from the horse show to support local causes such as eyeglasses and reading technology to the visually impaired, and other community concerns.
The club also supports causes related to the national and international advocacy of Lions Clubs International, including diabetes awareness, childhood cancer, hunger and the environment.
