Large horses were challenged to pull a shed full of concrete blocks as far as they could at the draft horse pull held at the Marion County Fairgrounds on Sunday.
Rex Lappin of Sesser took first in the lightweight division and David Cox of Newton was first in the heavyweight division.
Allen Barksdale of Salem was one of the competitors, finishing fifth in the lightweight division. He is in his 35th year of competition. Barksdale explains how much weight the horses are pulling.
“They start out with 5000 (pounds) and they put 1000 on each round,” Barksdale said. “If everybody crosses, when I get back around I hook on to 6. When I get to round three it will be 7, and in round 4, they’ve got 8000 plus on there.
A Mt. Vernon puller, John Dublo, finisehd in fourth place in the heavyweight division.
The competitors in the competition came from Kentucky and Mississippi as well as Illinois.
