ERCHA European Reined Cow Horse Association

Written by Antonella Gliori

Tuesday, 07 October 2008

Martin, how long have you been training and showing cow horses? What do you like most of this discipline?
I`ve been training and showing cow horses for now 8 years, and most of all I like the team spirit in this discipline: I have to trust my horse and my horse has to trust me and I think that is what makes the cow horse so great for me.

Please, tell us something about your great horse, A Smarty Pants: what is the story of this horse? What kind of horse is she/he? How long have you been training/showing this horse?
A Smarty Pants is a 2004 born quarter horse mare by A Sparkling Vintage out of a Smartin Off mother. My girl friend bought her as a two year old and I started her and trained her . She is a very cute little mare, who always try to give everything she has. She has very less show experience because of she is our horse, and all the trainings horses owned by our clients always come first. This is why she came to the Americana with only two shows before. A Smarty Pants is a physically very strong horse and I think she was strong enough to go the same final the day after again.

Can you describe your run at the Americana Ercha Futurity? How did you handle the competition, from the preliminary Go round, to the final?
I knew that at the Americana cow horse futurity final the most important thing would be to be as safe as I could be, in every single part. I knew all other competitors and I knew that they were all good enough to win the final; so I tried to go to the limit in every single discipline.
I was sure to have a very competitive horse and I knew that I had enough horse to chase her through the final.

Which were your emotions when you realized you had won the most important event of the show season?
After winning the final I was more than happy because I had horses in the final often before but to win the cow horse futurity at the Americana is very special and I`m very happy that I had the opportunity to ride such a great horse. Moreover, I would like to thank right now Jörg Pasternak , Maik Bartman, Christian Mayer and Uli Kofler for their help in the herd work and their support through the whole contest.

What about your programs for the future in this discipline? And what about A Smarty Pants: are you going to show again next year?
I´m looking forward to the next show season because I have some very good looking youngsters in my barn and I will try to go on showing A Smarty Pants the next season as well maybe at the derby in Reggio Emilia.

Where do you live and train at present time?
I live and train in the south of Berlin, right beside the beautiful city of Potsdam, at our trainings facility Gut Sputendorf: anybody who is interested to visit us can give me a call and stop at our place! For more information about our trainings facility, you can have a look at www.gut-sputendorf.de!

[by Antonella Gliori]