Twin Photographic will be in attendance on the day taking photos - don't forget to get some before you go home.
The American Pleasure Horse Show was established in 1988 - making it the longest running show of it's kind in the UK.
It is held on the FIRST SUNDAY of AUGUST (3rd Aug 2008) at Pachesham Equestrian Centre, Leatherhead, Surrey - which is easily accessed from J9 of the M25.
The site has wonderful rings, ample parking, refreshment facilities and toilets. First aid will be on site as will TWIN PHOTOGRAPHIC who do a grand job taking all our photo's and enabling YOU to take them home with you - visit their site on our links page & go check them out!
We cater for all breeds - the American ones, Iberians, other foreign breeds, as well as the traditional "English" breeds. We have a ring of western classes, which are all affiliated to WES, a ring for Skewbalds & Piebalds, which are all affilaited to BSPA (and WCoC Qualifiers held at the end of August), a ring for our "Foreign" breeds and a ring for our "English" breeds. In addition, in 2008 we will also be holding a host of breed specific and open breed youngstock classes, with their own championships. Many of our classes are also qualifiers for the Royal International Showing Society "Royal London Show", which is held in September.
All styles of riding are also catered for - the usual "English" style is refered to as "hunt seat", we cater for stock seat riders (western) and the flashy and flamboyant "American" saddle seat.
The aim of this show is to bring the "flash" and "zip" of the "American" style of showing together with the traditional English showing - hopefully combining the best of both - to ensure that everyone has FUN, while still enjoying showing to the highest standards.
We have classes for the young horse/pony, the novice or those new to the ring right through to the open classes for horses and riders of any calibre.
We have lots of championships, all with wonderful ribbons (rosettes) plus a sash for both our Supreme Champions & Reserves. We will also be making a special presentation to the best in hand exhibit in the Supreme Championships.
Prizes for 2008 include goodies from WAHL(UK) Ltd, a western saddle bag (sponsored by Cattle & Land), goodies from FEEDMARK, a padded tail bag from POLYPADS, gift vouchers from WESTERN WINNER SHOW CLOTHES LTD (who will also have their stand in attendance at the show) and a years free subscription to FREEREIN. Keep checking back as we add to this as our sponsorship list increases.
Rosettes will be presented in many of the performance classes for the Best Saddleberd (sponsored by the United Saddlebred Association) and for the Best Lusitano (sponsored by the British Lusitano Society). This is in addition to the Best Iberian ribbons presented by the show. I am hopefully this list will grow as more companies and breed organisations support us.
If you win one of our "American" ribbons (you'll know, they are completely different than the usual "English" ones) and submit a picture of you or your horse wearing it to the manufacturers, you can enter a free competition to win up to $2,500. Entry forms for this are included in the show programme as well as on this website.
Many of our showing competitors are National and International Champions as well, so we really do have a diverse range - literally something for everyone.
The schedule for 2008 is finalised and posted - have a look at the schedule and don't be put off if some of the names sound a bit strange. For all our ridden classes in Ring 2, these will be judged under "American" rules - you come in at trot on the left rein, walk and then canter, change direction (the call for that is "reverse") and the repeat it on the right rein. That's it - great fun, takes about 10-15 minutes and means you can do 3-4 ridden classes easily.
All the "English" ridden classes have been moved to the new all-weather 70m arena and so we have been able to include even more classes for those of you that prefer to ride than to show in hand. In total there are 65 classes on offer for 2008 and 10 championships.
This show has made donations to a number of charities and good causes, as well as sponsoring classes at other like-minded shows. These include:
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR THE PROTECTION OF HORSES
INTERNATION SADDLE SEAT EQUITATION ASSOCIATION-GB
BSPA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF COLOUR
WES CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW
USA-UK CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW
BRITISH TEAM RIDERS
Unfortunately due to our losses in 2007, the 2008 event will not be a charity show, as we need to rebuild the show fund. I hope you will still support us.
The idea behind holding this show was to have somewhere "south of Watford" to show my Saddlebred - at the time there was only one show in the country where I could do this - the American All Breeds Show (held in Birmingham).
As such this page wouldn't be right without a picture of my Saddlebred "Miami" (photo courtesy "Horse" magazine). To find out more about her and the American Saddlebred Horse in general, go to the Saddlebred page & the KC Saddlebred page.
To find out more about the "American" saddle seat way of showing, class definitions, what to do etc. go check out the UNITED SADDLEBRED ASSOCIATION (USA-UK) site link below - check out the "Diary dates & showing details" page.
We've had to make slight amendments to the ring layout (didn't realise the small ring was going with the refurbishment!) See picture below for where your rings are.
