FAIRFAX, SC - Hugh Weathers, Commissioner of Agriculture, and his wife, Blanche, will hit the trail on Saturday, March 17, 2007. They are scheduled to participate in a trail ride at Lakeview Plantation in Fairfax, SC, which has been chosen to be the filming location for the television show “Best of America by Horseback.” The show appears on RFD-TV to millions of viewers via DIRECTV and Dish Network.
Executive Producer and Host, Tom Seay, said, “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to meet horse enthusiasts and trail riders. We chose Lakeview Plantation with Hayward and Donna Simmons because we feel they best represent South Carolina where the community is so warm and friendly.”
The “Best of America by Horseback” television show travels to the most beautiful and scenic places in America that can be visited by horseback. Lakeview Plantation’s 2,600 private acres offers enjoyable year round riding for trail riding, driving and horse camping.
The old fashioned “Horse Fair” will also include educational exhibits, fun family events, and horsemanship clinics by Kerry Kuhn. An exhibit of Salkehatchie area art created by local artisans from the five county area served by USC Salkehatchie and the Salkehatchie Arts Center, and apple pie cook off by local homemakers, a social on Friday night with musical entertainment of folk, bluegrass and gospel music by the Slaytown Strummers, a banquet on Saturday night followed by musical entertainment featuring the Doug Gray Band from Round O, South Carolina and cowboy musician/poet Delbert Shields from Nashville.
Other than a small fee to be on the official trail ride, the other events will be open to the public free of charge. Those events will feature trail riding seminars with nationally known clinician, Kerry Kuhn, and special events for the children, such as the “buckaroo and buckette” stick rodeo.
In addition, selected sponsors of “Best of America by Horseback” will be providing “hands-on” demonstrations such as, saddle fitting with the Tucker Saddle Company, small farm equipment demonstrations with John Deere, educational demonstrations by the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeder’s and Exhibitors Assoc. (TWHBEA) demonstrating the Tennessee Walking Horse’s versatility.
The entire event at each location will be showcased in a special “Best of America by Horseback” television show, as well as be printed in a “coffee-table” style book, which will not only include all the names the riders and their horses, but beautiful photos of the host site and town.
Before hosting the current television series, Seay is well known for his 1995, 3,000-mile, Atlantic to Pacific trail ride from Tybee Island, GA to San Diego, CA. That adventure captured the imagination of thousands, was seen on CNN World Wide News and featured in a European television documentary entitled, “The American West.”
For more information, call Amy Pittman, Production Coordinator, 540-829-9555 or visit www.bestofamericabyhorseback.com.