The calendar of events dedicated to the western world scheduled at the 121st Fieracavalli is expanded with many new items. The debut of the Elementa Masters Première sees reining – the queen of Stars and Stripes disciplines – take on a new look with the preview of the most important pool of competitions for reiners among those qualifying for NRHA world standings, with a prize fund of 300,000 dollars. The Elementa Masters Première has Open and Non-Pro classes competing in Hall 12.
The reining discipline traces its origins to the Wild West, when cowboys had to perform almost acrobatic movements to vaccinate and look after cattle: long slides to cut off the escape route of fleeing animals, sudden turnarounds and “ground skimming” gallops. This is how reining came into being. Reining stylises those movements – so old and yet so modern – which were then encoded in sporting terms as a series of manoeuvres making up the “pattern”, the course to be performed in the competition ring.
The competition, inasmuch, is also a spectacle with freestyle costumes and music on Saturday 9 November starting at 21:00. Performances include one by FEI world champion, Gennaro Lendi, who – after his recent experience as Sylvester Stallone’s coach on the set of “Rambo: last blood” – will impersonate the most famous Vietnam veteran in the world. There are also high expectations for Cira Baecknei as Wonder Woman and, among the top non-professionals, Gina Schumacher, daughter of the famous Formula 1 champion, with a Ferrari-themed choreography. And precisely Gina Schumacher, a lady-rider well-known to reining audiences, took her horse Gunstep, aka Eliott, to the top of the standings (levels 4 and 3) of the Non Pro category yesterday (Friday 7 November).
The multi-medal winning rider – who is only 22 years old yet was already NRHA Non Pro World Champion in 2016 and won the World Young Riders Championship individual and team medals the following year – says: “It is not easy to describe what makes Quarter horses so special for me. It is about all a series of things that help you create a special relationship. I can say, though, that Eliott is one of the most talented horses I’ve ever ridden. What do I think when I pass through the gate into the ring? The dominant feeling is hope: trust in my horse and therefore the hope we will do well.”
