The second annual Equestrian Poker Ride to benefit the Loxahatchee Groves Scholarship Fund will take place on Sunday, Jan. 10. Riders will assemble at C Road just north of Southern Blvd.
“It’s a dead-end, dirt road,” said organizer Councilman Robert Shorr, who explained that there is lots of space on the side to park horse trailers. “It’s a trail head for a new trail. We’ll meet at 8:30 a.m. and be in the saddle by 9:30 a.m. We’ll have a barbecue afterward.”
Riders in a poker ride pay an entry fee and collect cards at five different stops on the ride, and the winning hand gets a prize of two tickets to the South Florida Fair, Shorr said.
The ride will go through Loxahatchee Groves Park, the trail behind Loxahatchee Groves Commons/Publix shopping center via the new trail on the north end of Groves Town Center where the Aldi grocery store is nearing completion.
“They have that 300-foot easement that they put a new trail through there,” Shorr said. “There’s trails there that people don’t even know are there. We’re using this as some public relations or our trails system. We’re going to have a lot of riders not from our town, some people from The Acreage, come over.”
The trail ride is to raise money for the Town of Loxahatchee Groves Scholarship Fund.
“Last year, we had 18 horses,” Shorr said. “We will have five stops where you draw cards for a five-card hand, and there will be refreshments at each stop.”
He is looking for sponsors for the card stops.
“Last year, we had Big Dog [Ranch Rescue] set up a table, we had the fire station and we had one at somebody’s house,” Shorr said. “Our landowners group set up one at the park. I’d like to talk to Aldi and have them set up a table.”
He explained that riders do not have to get off their horse to draw a card.
“A person walks around with a deck of cards, and they just pull it, and they have water and different refreshments there,” Shorr said.
