Congratulations to Matteo Sala and Winning Wisely, winner of
the extremely competitive Junior Trail at the Congress. The 5 year-old bay mare
by Investing Wisely traveled nearly 5,000 miles all the way from Italy and
endured almost three weeks of quarantine in the United States to compete at the
All-American Quarter Horse Congress, and it certainly paid off.
“I am really, really excited!” the 33-year-old Sala, a
native Italian, told GoHorseShow.com in perfect English following his big
win. “She was clean, didn’t touch
anything and had no penalties. I was very satisfied with my go and would have
been happy no matter where I placed, but I didn’t expect that. Winning was a real surprise and I am
very thankful.”
Sala is thankful to owner, Sibyl von der Schulenburg who has
been a customer for 10 years, his girlfriend and graphic designer, Dasi. He also credits the team
at Highpoint Performance Horses with helping both him and the horse compete at
the highest level.
“I am more excited for Matteo’s win than for my win earlier,” said Charlie Cole. “I was in the barn listening to the placings
over the loud speaker and when they got to third I took off running to the
arena as fast as I could so I could be there!”
Cole had worked with “Angie” in Pilot Point, Texas, since
she made the voyage to the United States in June. “The horse was already a
great trail horse when she arrived, I just helped expose her to the harder Tim
Kimura style of courses. Matteo works hard, finds great horses, gets help when
he needs it and he has definitely made it. He did an amazing job with this horse and he deserves all
the credit.”
Sala has come a long way since being introduced to trail by Michael Colvin in 2001. “I want to thank Michael for teaching me the first steps in trail and also thank Keith Long for his support.”
“This win is hard for me to put into words,” said Sala. “I
have a lot of pride. It has been a
challenge, but with some luck and good circumstances, it worked out. This is a big thing. I don’t know how big, but it’s
big.”
Winning Wisely and Matteo Sala are no strangers to winning
big. Together they have won
multiple European Champion titles in Western Pleasure and Trail as well as
Reserve European Champion in Western Riding. Additionally, they have earned European Year-End High Point
Awards and qualified for the World Show for the past two years.
Next up for Sala and Winning Wisely is competing at the AQHA
World Championship show in Oklahoma City.
The pair will show in Junior Western Pleasure, Trail and Western Riding
and we wish them the best of luck.
Angie’s American Adventure
1 day Travel by trailer from Italy to Amsterdam
8 hour flight to New York
3 day Federal Quarantine in New York
15 days CEM quarantine at Blue Diamond Stables
in Ohio …
20 hour trailer ride to Texas
Total Time of trip: almost 4 weeks
