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Mountain Trail
By Mark Bolender
32 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Chase Baumburger
Becky Burnell
Cyndi Lane
t the Italian Mountain Trail Championships held in November the pattern for the open riders was technically a very difficult pattern of which most riders completed with style. Overall, the pattern required many difficult maneuvers and skills and many transitions which the spectators loved and cheered. As I judged this class of competitors I realized how far Mountain Trail in Italy had come in just seven years since we traveled there for our first clinic. In that time Mountain trail has moved from a novelty interest in Italy to a new discipline which has challenged some of the best riders in Italy. IMTCA – Italy, International Mountain Trail Challenge Association, held their national show at a beautiful facility where truckloads of shrubs and flowers were brought in. There were large and small banners for a backdrop, with all the sponsors names. The course included logs, rocks, an arch bridge, a suspension bridge, a rolling bridge, a twenty-four-foot raised balance beam, turn around boxes, a gate, a cowboy curtain, a squirting water box, a teeter totter and a cross buck. The arena remained pristine without any sign of mud and all the flowers and shrubs made the course very pleasing to eye. It did not hurt that all the obstacles where made out of stainless steel with beautiful stained wood tops.
difficult pattern of which most riders completed with style. Overall, the pattern required many difficult maneuvers and skills and many transitions which the spectators loved and cheered. As I judged this class of competitors I realized how far Mountain Trail in Italy had come in just seven years since we traveled there for our first clinic. In that time Mountain trail has moved from a novelty interest in Italy to a new discipline which has challenged some of the best riders in Italy. IMTCA – Italy, International Mountain Trail Challenge Association, held their national show at a beautiful facility where truckloads of shrubs and flowers were brought in. There were large and small banners for a backdrop, with all the sponsors names.
The course included logs, rocks, an arch bridge, a suspension bridge, a rolling bridge, a twenty-four-foot raised balance beam, turn around boxes, a gate, a cowboy curtain, a squirting water box, a teeter totter and a cross buck.
The arena remained pristine without any sign of mud and all the flowers and shrubs made the course very pleasing to eye. It did not hurt that all the obstacles where made out of stainless steel with beautiful stained wood tops.
In just seven years Mountain Trail in Italy went from watching YouTube videos of Bolender Horse Park and Mountain Trail in the USA to a beautiful indoor Mountain Trail Course and brilliant professional rides which were a joy to judge at this national challenge. Here is how Italy was able to jump into and master Mountain Trail in such short period of a time.
The arena remained pristine without any sign of mud and all the flowers and shrubs made the course very pleasing to eye. It did not hurt that all the obstacles where made out of stainless steel with beautiful stained wood tops.
In just seven years Mountain Trail in Italy went from watching YouTube videos of Bolender Horse Park and Mountain Trail in the USA to a beautiful indoor Mountain Trail Course and brilliant professional rides which were a joy to judge at this national challenge. Here is how Italy was able to jump into and master Mountain Trail in such short period of a time.
In 2013 we had our first guest from Italy travel to Bolender Horse Park to evaluate and see firsthand what Mountain Trail was all about. They spent their time immersed in Mountain Trail by attending a riding and a judging clinic plus took many riding lessons. Even though this discipline was designed for the recreational rider it also challenged their most experienced rider which was much appreciated by all. They left with a new appreciation of Mountain Trail and the beauty of a new discipline that is neither Western nor English and a discipline for all equine.
Upon returning, their enthusiasm spread throughout Italy and a Mountain Trail Course was built. With the help of the internet, Mountain Trail was started. We were invited by Renzo Canciani of Gottolengo, near Milan, to hold several clinics at his facility which has 100 horses plus a Mountain Trail course. We held riding clinics plus a judging clinic with 31 participants. Mountain Trail was welcomed with open arms by the trainers and the judges. Many facilities were rushing to add obstacles to train on and trainers were working hard to learn so they could pass the information along to their students and help build a new discipline. We left Italy in 2014 with excitement knowing that Mountain Trail had taken a solid footing and the new officers for IMTCA – Italy were in place. In the spring of 2015 we were back in Europe building Mountain Trail Course in Germany where we held riding and judging clinics, judged a show and
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