Twin Photographic will be in attendance on the day taking photos - don't forget to get some before you go home.
NEW comments page - a couple of questions for you all about next years show (2009) - please add your comments, so I can decide what to do with the schedule next year. Schedule is finalised in NOVEMBER - so please vote by then.
Thank you to everyone that supported the show, to our sponsors, our judges and helpers and all our competitors.
Supreme Champion was Rhd-Ddu Mascen and Reserve was Abbotswood Gorgie Boy – both yearlings WOW! Photos of some 2008 champions below, courtesy Twin Photographic.
Please take part in the poll on the comments page - schedule is finalised in November.
2009 date is 2nd August and confirmed judges so far are Dr J Bishop (English Ridden) & David Lloyd (western).
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 (2nd Aug 2009) 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, 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 August/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.
Rosettes will be presented in many of the performance classes for the Best Saddleberd (sponsored by the United Saddlebred Association) and for the Best Iberian ribbons.
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 2009 wil be finalised and posted in November. For all our ridden classes in the Foreign Breeds ring, 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.
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 was not a charity show, as we needed to rebuild the show fund, which we have now almost done, so hopefully in 2009, if it is as good a show as 2008, we will be able to make a small donation.
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.
