Press Release
Written by: Antonella Gliori
ERCHA AUTUMN SHOW 2017 – TRAVAGLIATO – 21-22 OTTOBRE 2017
The nice and famous facility of Palacittà, in Travagliato (BS), hosted the last Ercha event of the show season 2017. The Autumn Show, approved by the NRCHA, was held in the weekend of 21st and 22nd October 2017, and was entirely judged by Italian judge Manuela Maiocchi.
Almost 50 horses from at least five different countries came to Travagliato for the Autumn Show and for the final section of the National and European Championship of this exciting discipline.
There were twelve horse-and-riders combination competing in the Ercha/Nrcha Autumn show, in Travagliato. The event started on Saturday, with the Herd work sun, and followed on Sunday, with Rein Work and Fence Work.
9 competitors were running in the Open class: the title of Open Champion went to young trainer Giovanni Campanaro, riding the athletic stallion Smart Wrangler On Me, a 5 year old stud, by Smart Easy Deal x Wrangler So Good, owned by Rabboni Reining Horses, to a composite score of 215. The talented trainer and his sorrel mate started with a consistent 72 in herd work, followed by a nice run in reining, worth a 71 score, and ended with a brilliant fence work, scoring 72. ‘ He is a very nice horse, with a gentle temper and really talented with cows’ explained Giovanni after his win. ‘I was just a little bit worried about the herd work, but then we gained a good score there, end therefore everything became easier for us. The horse was very quiet and relaxed, and he is always very cooperative. He has such a strong cow sense, but he is nice in reining too. A very complete one!’ . The horse was broken by Giovanni as a 3 year old, and then spent one and a half year training for reining with other professionals. In April 2017, he was back to Campanaro’s stable, who prepared and showed him in the Ercha/Nrcha Derby, and in Americana in the Hackamore class, always ending with good results.
Andrea Santini and Andrea Sanfelici shared the Open Reserve Champion title, both scoring 211,5. Santini was riding his And Snack Cat , AQHA Sorrel Stallion 2013, by Ans Mokie Cat , a product of his breeding activity: the pair was Ercha Open Prefuturity Reserve Champion, and Limited Open Champion in august, and scored 71 in herd work, 70,5 in the reining, and 70 in fence work. On the other end, Sanfelici had the same composite, riding his powerful Rh Tremor In Style, a five year old gelding, by More Than Stylish x Mariah Diamond. Andrea owns this horse since he was only 20 months old, and their first show together was the Ercha/Nrcha Derby in Cremona, were he placed Reserve in the Open and won the Limited Open ranking. In the autumn show, thanks to a better fence work, Sanfelici and his mate gained the Limited Open title, scoring 73 in herd work, 67,5 in reining, and 71 in fence work. ‘I love this horse, and his athletic style’ claimed Andrea, ‘he has talent and cow sense, and he can easily read any cow. After our good score in herd work, I was totally relaxed.. Even too much, probably! I had some misunderstanding with him in the rein work, resulting in a 3 point penalty. Fortunately, we managed to catch up in fence work: we did our best , and gained the second best score of the show, even if it was not enough to win the Open, but I am very happy anyway!’ Sanfelici is a professional farrier, who rides for fun in his spare time, and therefore he is extremely satisfied about his results, competing against some of the best Open riders of European cow Horse.
Andrea Santini placed second in the Limited Open, and was also 3rd riding his other horse, Lil Merada Shiney, quarter horse born in 2014, by Cats Merada and out of Shiney Lil Squirt, owned by Tony Dual Pep. The pair scored 70, 67,5, and 70,5, for a total composite of 208.
Three horse and riders combinations competed in the Non Pro section of the Autumn Show. Alessandro Tugnoli, riding his Smart Easy Boon, definitely took the lead with a composite score of 207,5. The nice 4 year old stallion, by Smart Easy Deal x BoomPepp, who was Ercha Prefuturity Champion 2016 with Giovanni Campanaro in the saddle, scored 67 in the herd work, 69,5 in the rein work, and finished with a great 71 in fence work, after a thrilling run. Alessandro, who is a professional surgeon and does not have much time to ride and train in cow horse, bought this horse two years ago and he immediately assigned him to Giovanni for training. He brought him back home in the last November, and since then, he trains and rides by himself, due to the huge distance between his home town and Giovanni’s stable. ‘I love this horse! He is so elegant, and pure’ Alessandro said of his mate. ‘He is always cooperative and he’s so calm and relaxed both during our training and also any competition! During this show, we tried to stay clean in the herd work, which was my main concern, because we don’t have much experience in that. The reining was good, with credit in the spins. And in the final fence work, we found out a nice cow: we enjoyed our run, and we also grabbed a title, and I am so happy for this!!’
Reserve honours in this class went to Swiss rider Nathalie Ten Sjthoff, riding Magic Nu Cash, with composite score 191 (62 / 67 / 62). The pair, who trains with Christoph Seiler, was also Autumn Show Limited Non Pro Champion, while Marco Piersanti, and Dark Little Lena Mr placed second with a 130,5 composite.
In the Novice AMATEUR class of the Autumn Show, performing Boxing instead of Fence Work, the winner was French rider Audrey Buttigliero, riding his nice bay roan stallion, Spangled Speedy, by Star Spangled Whiz x Smart N Speedy. The nice young lady, who works as a physiotherapist in sport team, bought this horse from Mauro Taccia last year, and since then the horse has been trained and shown by her husband Laurent in open classes. ‘I don’t have much time to ride him at home, so it took me all year long to trust him at the shows. He is a very nice guy, but very talented and therefore not easy to ride for me. But now I know him better, and therefore I really enjoyed the show and took pleasure at it!! I am very happy about the win, and looking forward to showing him in the two reins, next season!’ told Audrey after the show.
In this class, the reserve honors went to rider Nathalie Ten Sjthoff, riding Magic Nu Cash, with composite score 199.
The Autumn Show was enriched with a full slate of ancillary classes, eligible for the regional, end European Championships of Working Cow.
On Saturday, the Herd Work All Ages classes took place, with a huge number of contestants competing. In the Herd Work All Ages Open, Marco Sacchetti took the lead, riding his PedalToTheMedal, to a consistent 73 score. American rider Sheri Mason placed second, with score 72, astride Time Cat, owned by Antonio di Corso.
In the Regional All Ages Open, the winner was Roberto Marchi, riding Mr Max Hickory Lenas, owned by Carlotta Zigiotti. The pair scored 67,5. The reserve honours in this class went to French rider Laurent Buttigliero, astride A Red Little Star (score 63).
Italian rider Claudia Guerra, experienced cutting rider, topped the chart in the Herd Work All Ages Non Pro, with a score of 70. She was riding her Lenas Gangster, a 7 year old quarter horse gelding, by Lenas Starfish x Zina O Lena. Second place was gained by Swiss rider Shirley Schalcher, riding the powerful chestnut Big And Sweet BB, a 2011 paint stallion, by Big Chex To Cash and out of Sweet Lil Diamond BB.
In the Regional Herd work all ages Non Pro, Giulio Leonardi topped the chart with score 69, riding his Lil Scoot N Pep, while Carlotta Zigiotti was second with score 62, astride her Mr Max Hickory Lenas.
In the Hackamore division, Markus Schopfer and Miss Betsy Chex were the one and only competitor, in this class, scoring a consistent 142 (RW 70 – FW 72). The beautiful dun mare, owned by Agostino Novaresio, is by Big Chex To Chex and out of Hollywood Betsy Cody.
With reference to the Non Pro Limited Bridle class, with 6 entries, Italian rider Ilaria Traverso took the lead scoring 140,5 (rw 68,5 – fw 72) astride her seven year-old quarter horse gelding Player Cat (by Smooth As A Cat x Dual Play Shorthy). Richard Forster, from Germany, placed second, by only half point, scoring 140 (70,5 rw – 69,5 fw), riding his Jacs Royal Boonsmal, an 11 year-old stallion by Royal Boonsmal and out of Zans Glenda Jac. This pair also topped the Regional Non Pro Limited Bridle ranking, while Richard placed second in this section with score 138,5 (69,5 rw- 69 fw), riding another horse, Genuine Ruf Dunit, and 8 year old quarter horse stallion, by Reminic N Dunit x Genuine Ruf Girl.
In the Final Regional Novice Horse Open, Fabio Fossa topped the chart riding his sorrel Cobra Tarissurprise, with a score of 136,5 (69,5 rw – 67 fw).
Markus Schopfer and Spat Sailor Lena, owned by Jeannette Krahenbuhl, won the Open Bridle class with a composite score of 144,5 (72,5 /72). The bay horse, born in 2009, is bay Spat Olena x Heidi Sailor. Schopfer also placed reserve in this class, riding the 13 year old bay stallion Achtung Baybe, owned by Susanne Goettlich (score 143,5). With this latter horse, the top trainer from Bolzano also won the Open Two Rein class, scoring 142,5 (70,5 / 72), while he placed second with Surley A Peptocat (141,5), owned by Lilly Baudinger.
The Open Two Rein Regional had one only rider, Fabio Fossa, who scored 136 astride his sorrel stallion Cobra Tarissurprise, by Ot Taris San Peppy.
Swiss rider Shirley Schalcher won the Limited Open Bridle astride her Big And Sweet BB, nice chestnut stallion, by Big Chex To Cash : the pair scored 137,5 (71,5/ 66).
German rider Richard Forster was both champion and reserve Champion in the Ercha Non Pro Bridle, and also in the Non Pro Bridle regional: he scored 138 with both his horses, but the win came riding Genuine Ruf Dunit, thanks to the higher score in fence work (70 – 68). The Horse is a 2009 quarter horse stallion, by Reminic N Dunit x Genuine Ruf Girl. The reserve title came with Jacs Royal Boonsmal, a nice red roan stallion, by Royal Boonsmal x Zans Glenda Jac. Riding this horse, german lady Bettina Konigsbauer won both the Ercha Novice Riders and Novice Riders Regional, with a score of 139,5 (70 /69,5).
Swiss rider Mariella Pfeiffer placed second in the Novice Riders scoring 139, with her mare MY Coco Girl Annie, trained by Christoph Seiler, while in the regional, the reserve champion was French rider Carla Gomez riding Sujo Pine Wrangler, with score 135,5 (69,5 /66).
