Leadline Help

Have any of you ever done leadline with your young'uns? I' mgoing to start showing wit h my four year old this year and I need some technical help! I've never really paid attention to the class!
Okay in leadline showmanship, I'm confused as to how to attach the leadlines. Claire stands on the near side and I stand on the far side, right? Her leadline is attached normally to the halter, right? How do I attach the second lead? Also, she'll be showing some with our little Arab? I wonder about attaching to an Arab halter! Do they make the little kids do the switching sides on inspection? What do I do during this? Just stay out of the way?
Now , in leadline horsemanship, I should just put a halter under the bridle and lead with this, right? Is that the way most people do it, or do they attach some way right to the bridle? It looks bulky with the halter under , but I think that would be the best way
I hope someone has some experience, after this huge letter. I'll be sure to post lots of pix, she's going to be so cute. Our first show isn't until April, though, but she is excited and is getting her show outfit together!

leadline horsemanship, You are suppose to attach to a halter. If you want a neater look, you could get a cavison, and put under the bridle, I would guess, at least you are not attached to the bridle, You see alot attached to the bit.

Guess, you will be all matching! Guess you HAD BETTER post picutes!

Haha! Thanks for the tips. I still need some on SMS, though.
We are going to be coordinating rather than matching, because I didn't want to pop 200 hundred bucks for a matching screaming pink shirt!! She is in pink with white collars and plenty of pink and clear crystals and all the other stuff is black (chaps, hat, boots, etc). I'm going to be wearing a white shirt ( like the Hobby Horse Hope shirts) with a screaming pink scarf and all the other stuff black. That way I figure if we get bored of the pink shirt and find another, I can just buy a matching scarf and coordinate CHEAPLY!! We are not ready to throw thousands of dollars into leadline, when Claire has no concept of winning and likes the pink ribbons way more than the blue ones!
I just don't want to look like too big a fool out there! This is just for open shows. We are not putting her on our quarter horse, he's just too big and unproven.

I love that, a little girl that keeps her horse in our barn was upset that when she has yet to win all the colors of the ribbons yet. She looks at it is a collection.. hee hee

Rudy was a leadline pony at one show for a family friend's son. I was sorta worried, because he can still be spooky on occasion, but he seemed to really know the difference between an uneducated rider and those with more experience. I've never seen Leadline SMS, but it sure sounds confusing.
Anyways, at our open show, no matter how many kids there are in leadline, mysteriously "the judge just CAN'T decide between so many good riders!" and there's a "six way tie for first place!". It's adorable-everyone gets a ribbon and a teddy bear, and no one ever catches on:D
Not

Ok, so I was in the middle of typing that ^ and it informed me my message had been sent. GR!

Anyways, not sure any of that helped, but oh well!

When I used to show, all the open shows used to give first place ribbons to all, just like you said, but here in MI, they actually place the class, but the kids still don't catch on that they are being ranked! They just love to hear their name and get a ribbon. I f there's more than 6 in the class at least those not placed get a little treat bag, but I think they should all get a ribbon and if everyone got first that would cut down on the competitiveness, which you don't really need at that level. They even have year-end high points for leadline on some open show circuits here. I'm sure it gets way competitive at the breed level. I don't even want to go there!

well, I think your idea for the clothes is great. The rider (the kid) will look super cute in a bright pink shirt, and you will get to wear a versatile shirt. It will still look nice because the pink scarf will still tie it in, and it will be much cheaper because you won't have to get a new shirt everytime she gets a new shirt! It's leadline- the way I see it, why spend a fortune on an outfit!

My old show gelding (he passed away ) did leadline with our family friends' foster child who has cerebral policy. This gelding was my 16.2hh show gelding, but he was SO quiet, we could trust him with anything. I swear he never did anything wrong really. Dudley (my gelding) was always such a champ for it. It was the cutest thing ever, seeing my HUGE gelding and my HUGE show saddle with this 5 year old boy with CP showing. Seriously it brought tears to my eyes haha. Another little girl, (the same family's other foster child, the little boy's twin sister) did the small fry showmanship with this same gelding. He was such a good boy that he seriously did showmanship for her just as well as he did for anyone else, and she was 5. He would spin perfect spins, trot right off with her, and he was such a big boy that he would hold his head lower so she didn't have to reach. Whenever she asked him to set up, she didn't get the actually concept of it, so she just jiggled the chain around, and of course he would set up perfectly but anyways... I went way off on a tangent... sorry!

But anyways, when we did lead line with this boy, we just put our showmanship halter overtop of the show headstall. It looked a little bit bulky and awkward, but it was still nice tack if you know what I mean, and it's what most people seem to do..

Taegan and Sean both show leadline. For SMS, I just walk beside her and make sure she doesn'r get into trouble. We also show with coordinating outfits rather than matching. Still looks great, way less expensive. Way easier to coordinate with Taegan than with Sean, because he only likes blue. I don't have any blue show clothes, but we usually end up grabbing a show friend to lead him in, cause both kids are in the same class. If the rules don't state that an adult needs to lead, then Brennen takes his brother in. Both my little ones wear helmets rather than cowboy hats.
Some shows here place the class and other have that wonderful tie.