Pitalito Horse Fair 2026: Grado A Show, Copa Surcolombiana, Nov 14-16

Pitalito horse fair 2026: dates, venue and what is on

The Pitalito horse fair 2026 runs from Saturday, November 14, to Monday, November 16, at the Coliseo de Ferias in Pitalito, Huila, in southern Colombia. It is a Grado A show for Colombian Criollo horses, organized by the Asociación de Caballistas Laboyanos (Asocala) and judged under Fedequinas rules.

Three editions share the same weekend, according to the announcement Asocala posted on November 3: the LXVIII Exposición Equina (the 68th), the XXXIV Feria Exposición Equina Grado A (the 34th) and the XIV Copa Surcolombiana (the 14th). Monday the 16th is a national holiday in Colombia, so the show takes in the whole long weekend.

A note on dates: an earlier version of the Fedequinas calendar, from August, listed November 13-15. Asocala's own site, the current Fedequinas calendar and its event page all say November 14-16, so those are the dates to use.

The fair weekend opened on the street a day earlier. Intrapitalito, the municipal transit institute, and the mayor's office announced an inaugural horseback parade for Friday, November 13, from 1 to 7 p.m., on a route starting and ending at Asocala, with temporary road closures.

What is not confirmed

• Hours and ticket prices. Neither Asocala's site nor Fedequinas publishes a daily schedule or entry prices. We won't guess them.
• Results. Judging ends on November 16. Nothing has been decided as we publish.

What the fair is and who Asocala is

Pitalito is the main town of southern Huila, and its people are called laboyanos, after the Valle de Laboyos where the town sits. Asocala, the Asociación de Caballistas Laboyanos, is the local horsemen's association and one of the regional members of Fedequinas, the national federation.

On its site Asocala calls Pitalito the "cradle of riders and paso horses" and says it has kept the tradition for more than three decades. La Nación, the Huila daily, reported that the 2025 fair marked the association's 40 years.

Asocala's work doesn't stop at Pitalito. Fedequinas' calendar also lists it as the organizer of Grado B shows in Timaná (November 21-22) and San Agustín (November 28-29), so southern Huila has a show almost every weekend this month. The rest of the month is in our November calendar of Colombian paso fino shows.

The Copa Surcolombiana

The Copa Surcolombiana is the cup that gives the Pitalito show its regional weight. "Surcolombiana" means from southern Colombia, and this is its 14th edition.

In 2025, Huila's governor said Pitalito had hosted the cup for 13 years and that the event drew representatives from the United States and Ecuador, La Nación reported.

How big is it? Last year's numbers

There are no official 2026 entry figures yet, so the best guide is last year. All of the following refers to the 2025 edition, and the two sources don't agree on the count:

• 251 horses registered, according to Fedequinas' 2025 management report, which places Pitalito 14th among the 29 Grado A shows by entries. We use the federation's tally as the baseline.
• More than 300 registered and 280 on the track, according to La Nación's report of November 18, 2025, which does not say where the figures came from.

La Nación also reported:

• Breeders from several Colombian departments, plus exhibitors from abroad.
• Criadero La Carolina, from Tenjo (Cundinamarca), took the main judging honors.
• A national artisan fair ran in town over the same days, with more than 210 exhibitors.

Those numbers make Pitalito a strong regional date rather than the biggest show in the country.

What Grado A means

Fedequinas' 2026 calendar grades its regular shows AA, A or B. The grade tells you how much a show weighs on the national circuit.

• Grado AA: the top grade, with only three shows on the 2026 calendar, among them the Copa América Equina in Palmira.
• Grado A: major regional shows. Pitalito is one of two Grado A horse shows in Huila on the 2026 calendar, with Neiva in May.
• Grado B: local shows, the base of the circuit. This is also where aspiring judges begin.

Above the three grades sits the Exposición Nacional, which Fedequinas itself holds once a year. Under the federation's rulebook it awards triple the points of a Grado A show, and a Grado AA show awards double.

The grade changes the judging too. A Grado A show uses three national judges: Fedequinas draws two by lot and the organizing association names the third, under the federation's rulebook. That matches the three names Fedequinas posted for Pitalito. The one exception is proven force majeure, when Fedequinas can authorize a Grado A show with two judges.

How Colombian Criollo horses are judged: the four andares

A Colombian Criollo horse show is not one contest. Horses compete in four gaits, called andares, and each has its own classes by sex and age.

Judges listen as much as they watch. Horses cross a wooden sounding board set into the track, and an uneven rhythm is easy to hear even for a first-time visitor.

The score is split three ways. This is the general table in the Fedequinas rulebook, in force since January 1, 2026:

• Movement in the gait: 40%
• Phenotype (conformation and type): 35%
• Training: 25%

Young horses are the exception. In the Campeón and Campeona Joven classes, for horses of 36 to 48 months, the split is 35% movement, 35% training and 30% phenotype.

A judge can also excuse a horse from the ring for lameness, for rearing or for moving outside its gait class. We explain each footfall in detail in What Is a Paso Fino Horse?.

What a visitor should know

You don't need to own a horse to enjoy the fair. A little planning helps, because the organizers publish few details online.

Before you go

1. Confirm hours and entry with Asocala. Its site lists WhatsApp +57 311 231 8321 and its address at the Recinto Ferial in Pitalito.
2. Plan for long days. Classes run back to back, and the last ones can finish late.
3. Bring water, a hat and something for rain. Book lodging early on a holiday weekend.
4. Expect traffic controls around the fairgrounds. The mayor's office issued Decree 500 of November 12 with security measures for the horse fair and the artisan fair, Nación Huilense reported. Among them: men over 14 may not ride as motorcycle passengers from 8 p.m. on November 13 to 10 a.m. on November 17.

At the coliseum

• Watch from the stands or behind the rail, never in the path of horses warming up.
• Keep children close and away from the back end of tied horses. Our safety page covers the basics.
• Ask before touching any horse, and skip the flash near the ring.
• New to the vocabulary? Keep our glossary open and follow the announcer.

About the cabalgata

A cabalgata is a parade, not a judged class, and it brings heat, noise and hours on pavement. This year's was scheduled for the afternoon of Friday the 13th. In 2024 the fair went without one: Asocala's president said insurers were not selling policies for this kind of event and that a heat wave was affecting the horses, Huila Hoy reported. Diario del Huila reported that Asocala and the municipal authorities presented the suspension as putting the horses' welfare first.

Colombia's Congress is also debating national rules for these rides, which we cover in our article on the cabalgata bill. Whatever the rules, the basics hold: water and rest stops for the horse, and no drinking in the saddle.

What to watch next

• Through November 16: judging in all four gaits and the Copa Surcolombiana. We will add results once they are official.
• November 21-22 and 28-29: Asocala's shows in Timaná and San Agustín.
• Entry numbers: whether 2026 passes the 251 horses Fedequinas counted last year.
• November 2027: the fair returns every year around the mid-November holiday. Check Asocala and the Fedequinas calendar for the date.

For more horse stories from the Americas, browse Horse Academy trends or meet the breed in our breeds guide.