English Leadline at PCHA

Last weekend I went to PCHA, which stands for Pinellas County Hunter Association. It's a group that holds horse shows in the Tampa, Florida area.  The barn I ride at took a few horses to show, so I tagged along to take some photos. This post will be all about the Leadline class, and the next post will be about the over fences classes. The weather was icky and I had to keep my flash off, so they aren't the best photos. Hopefully you enjoy them though, and feel free to use them in performance setups!

The first class I watched was lead-line. We had one horse in this class. Lead-line is for young riders, and they can focus on their equitation without worrying about steering as much. With kids this little, it might not also be safe for them to have full control.

As I was saying, we had one horse in this class. He is a sport pony (not sure of his exact breed), and his name is Tebow. He's very cute and looks great with his young rider! Also, as you can see, my trainer is VERY serious about showing.

Isn't Tebow cute?

For riders, the attire was like that of any Hunter class. Tan breeches with paddock boots and a navy jacket. All the riders had their hair in two braids with a bow on each.  For the 'leaders,' attire is casual.  Many were showing themselves later in the day so had show attire.

Such a little rider, start em' young I guess? And an adorable pony!

There wasn't a pattern, you just walked along the rail. They did one lap in each direction.

Those socks though.

Most of the horses were pretty small, but others were pretty good size horses!

The riders also had to two-point for about half a lap. You can also see here that the lead rope was connected to the bit.

The breeds also varied. Some horses looked like random crosses, but some were pretty clear. 

Methinks Welsh Pony...

After they finished their laps the horses lined up and the judge went to each rider and asked them a simple question about horses. For example, one was asked to point where the withers were.

As soon as the questions were finished, placings were called. However, each person received a blue ribbon.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the over fences classes!

-Emma