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Avenue Bank’s Country Ride ’n Roll offers fun for the entire family Avenue Bank’s Country Ride ’n Roll for Saddle Up! offers fun for the entire family and fundraising for Saddle Up!, middle Tennessee’s oldest and largest therapeutic horseback riding program and the only one exclusively serving children and youth with disabilities. Open to the public, the Ride ’n Roll is a two-event-in-one combo packed into a single day on Saturday, Sept. 20. It begins with a ride-a-thon trail ride, which is similar to a walk-a-thon except that it’s done on horseback.
General public trail riders provide their own horses (proof of negative Coggins test required to participate) and can ride on their own from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the farm’s park-like trails. Each group of riders will start from the same event staging area but will use different trails to ensure the safety of Saddle Up!’s riders. During the trail ride time, both riders and non-riders can participate in multiple activities including hay rides, stick horse races, games, face painting, a scavenger hunt and more. The Men of St. Paul will be grilling hot dogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers onsite for lunch (available onsite for $8). Retired Saddle Up! horses King Bee and Alyska – who are both still in need of a retirement home – will also be there for petting. “We want this to be something the whole family can enjoy,” said Colleen LeVert, who is chairing the event. “We’ve added more activities this year for non-riders to make it even more family friendly.” That night, from 6:30 to 9:30, the fun continues as some of Music City’s hottest songwriters perform at a benefit concert. Both the trail ride and concert will take place at the private, 300-acre Duke It Out farm located at 4105 Columbia Pike, Franklin, TN. Saddle Up! deeply appreciates the generosity of Sarah and David Ingram for opening their farm exclusively once a year for this event to support the program. For general public riders, participation in the trail ride requires a minimum of $50 in sponsorship or donation per rider or $100 per family (immediately family only – parents and children), with children under 12 free. Registration deadline is Friday, September 5, for the trail ride, though riders can register at the event. Saddle Up! riders were notified at the end of summer lessons about the chance to participate. Concert tickets are $50 if purchased by September 18 or $75 at the gate. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged for both events. For more details, to register for the trail ride, or to buy concert tickets, please contact Development Coordinator Tina Carpenter (615-794-1150 extension 3 or at ). A big thanks to Avenue Bank for its sponsorship of the event, whose leadership is instrumental for Saddle Up! to achieve the fundraising goals of the event. “The Saddle Up! recreational therapeutic riding program is certainly one that we are proud to support, and we are looking forward to being a part of this day and contributing to the mission of this great organization,” said Ron Samuels, Avenue’s president and CEO. Thanks also to event Chair Colleen LeVert and her committee for all the work they’ve done to make this a fun and successful event to support Saddle Up!.
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Once again, up to 25 Saddle Up! program participants will also ride, using Saddle Up! horses. Saddle Up! riders are selected based on the most dollars raised. In previous ride-a-thons, Saddle Up! riders have been top fundraisers at this event.